India and health food...

It's 21:55 on the 24th May'09...I'm still at Cafe Devilicious...looking forward to tuesday and a good workout session in the morning...read vir sanghvi's article about ice creams...well i wouldn't comment against a famous person..the same way i would not comment about my author cum self-proclaimed celebrity (sigh!!!) friend... Sometimes people just complicate things too much...I know we happen to be a democracy and we have the right to information and all that...But if I start telling you many calories u will take in from a cheesecake..will u still buy it?? i don't think so... but lets not forget what sort of a country are we...no offenses dude...but still...we like our salads because they are healthy...but we want sour cream and mayonnaise with that...and don't forget the pineapple and the canned fruits...and if i would toss lettuce,bellpeppers with viniagraitte, salt n paper...that is not for our palletes...
A health concious society???yeah we want a diet coke with our cheese n veg sandwich (extra cheese slice please chef)...lolz...that is the way we are...
Come on we are a country that is proud for its Kebabs (the only healthy stuff...trust me), samosas, bhaturas-cholas,jalebis...yummm...can't write any more...i have a peculiar habit of noticing people a lot whenever I'm eating out...that makes me a good prospective food critic.. (My other habit is seeing car registration numbers, so im elligible for a traffic havaldar also).. but jokes apart..I'm extremely sorry to say..Our indian society needs to understand what is healthy and what is not...
Pizza with Diet Coke makes no sense...
Similarly a sugar free ice cream is only for diabetics (yes it has all the fat intact..full cream??)..
but anyways I think i should sign off...i have made cafe devilicious while thinking of us...we beautiful people...so I don't want people to take seriously...

The hospitality industry taught me one thing... Work hard...Party Harder...

I adapted it to... Eat what u want...Work Out the way body wants...
My dad..when he was a kid..used to eat a lot of junk at his time (yes, if i eat all that...i will gain 10kgs in a month)...still he was petite...why???he would cycle 10kms...walk another 10 atleast...
So my suggestion...Don't curb your heart..but please look after it...

and for me... Practice before you preach...lolz..

I'm back with Cafe Devilicious

hey guys...so im back...its been a year almost that i last wrote my blog..Things have changed a lot and I have come a long way from the IT lab a year back...though not in terms of real monetory success but i hope I'm on the right track.. I opened Cafe Devilicious about 7 months ago...and it's doing pretty well...join me and Cafe Devilicious on facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1314529502195&sk=messages#!/group.php?gid=103479183026071 and I will be trying to blog as much as possible...

Cheerz..

Confessions of an Unemployed Chef

Well you leave a lucrative job offer in the UK...and you don't take it...because you feel family comes first and also you feel it is not correct to leave your degree in the middle...two years down the lane today the 25th May'2009 I got two things in the bargain..I got true love (for which I'm glad I came back) and I have graduated..I'm sitting in the IT lab of my institute for the last time..with most faculty members on leave, I'm waiting for eleven o clock..to see my transcripts and also to get the security refunded..I have written a mail to Jasneet's sister in the US...checked the news..etcetra...and then I realised I haven't written my blog for a long long time now...
Well I have two newses for all of you..the second one is good..but the first one..I'm confused myself..but I have accepted it as a blessing in disguise and I got my fingers crossed that it turns out to be one...Well I couldn't get a decent job..my campus failed to get me a decent Management Training (Taj almost selected me for their last round, and then forgot about it, perhaps i was never destined to work for them and four years down the lane the story is same)..so basically I'm jobless now...and the second news is that I'm opening a fast food outlet in Gurgaon...haven't got any other option...i wish i had a couple of years experience (the way I wanted, and yep it was extremely practical and a cakewalk for my seniors who graduated previous year. I saw them doing "Inky Pinky Ponky with three call letters" alas I don't even have an option here...sometimes I feel that an MT would have helped me mature...but I got no choice init!!! the advice for working for someone for free is very easy to give...but give me a break..I will be 24 next month...hope to get married in 3 years...and my last salary was over 200 pounds per week(after deducting accomodation)!!!even if i get a bloody MT i won't reach the same payscale in the next 5 years (70,000 in the kitchen for a month, I have to be a head chef for that, bloody hell they pay you peanuts here!!)..infact i feel by opening my own outlet..I'm giving myself a fair chance of earning this money in hopefully 6 months down d lane...then what about my specialisation???my dream..my fine dining mughlai restaurant (d name i decided 5 years back!!) well i have a solution 2...i need to be my own mentor, my own teacher and google zindabad...for the next 5-7 years i do my MT from my own outlet...and try recipes from home...
Well gotta go now...almost time to see my transcripts...catch ya guys later...and hopefully more regulary

Want Home Delivery...Get a Life!!!

I'm lying down on my bed, coughing profusely. My sister enters my room and announces that dad plans to order burgers for dinner from Mc.Donalds...I settle for a Mc Veggie without Cheese hoping it won't be too bad for my throat. And then I thought WTF!!!, we plan to get burgers home delivered in this chilly weather, where's the excitement gone man...of going to Mc Donalds and standing in a que...well personally I would top the people who have ordered a Pizza from Dominoes in my locality and since I didn't get a MT at YUM, I don't mind saying it loudly that yes I'm a loyal Dominoes fan despite they losing out with Pizza hut...but hey, I love the fact that almost every outlet of their's has a few tables now...Personally there's no harm in using delivery services from Restaurant's that either don't have a dine in or don't deserve a dine in (Chawla's Chik Inn, if that's the way they write it)...Well I'm planning to open a fast food outlet if I don't get a reasonable job, and with the current recessional trend, I'm doing a pretty right thing. But everyone's been advising me to beef up delivery processes...and I'm like..."Come on man, gimme a break, I'm talking of spending on interiors and all, and you're talking of deliveries, I'm not running a kirane ki dukan (a local daily needs store)..."
But let's face it, it's happening globally, I just hope that this recession, which is putting rapid breaks on jobs and salaries, manages to put some sort of resistance on hap hazard lifestyle...where people are forgetting the real sense of dining out (Bloody hell Punjabi by Nature delivers...beat that shit of me someone!!!)... With this happening I might not open a fine dining restaurant, and that too a true fine dining Indian Cuisine Restaurant (and if you think Bukhara and Kebab factory are fine dining, you can't even imagine what's in my head)...Frankly speaking Delhi and NCR lacks a truly fine dining experience...and if you prefer to stay in your cozy Rajais (Quilts)...the fine dining experience may lose its relevance...I just hope that five stars don't start with home deliveries...
And Yes, since I'm unwell, allow me to get a couple of burgers delivered for me...Cheers!!!

P.S.Don't get offended by this, it's been written by a very sick man...BUT BLOODY HELL PICK UP YOUR A** AND GO TO A GOOD RESTAURANT, TAKING YOUR PHONE TO ORDER FOOD IS A DISGUSTING IDEA

Peanut Butter Risotto Sandwich at the May Fair Bar Kitchen

CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED MY MIND TOWARDS WHACKYNESS

Well you think chefs are crazy people...then read on...what on earth could someone do to get himself moved out of one kitchen or the other...Well I always had a problem (and it's a good one I feel) I can't tolerate a quite kitchen...I was moved to the May Fair Bar Kitchen in january 2007 after the banqueting season dried out...the last week of December I did everything, from covering up as the Breakfast Incharge, to covering up for the Bar kitchen chef, and I was called for work to look after a party of 20PAX!!! pathetic..n so I was after my chef's life to put me to the may fair bar kitchen...n he said he's not lettin me in there at all...m too young 2 handle a kitchen alone...but i fought for it...n i finally could keep my knives just below the oven in the bar kitchen... Life was awesome there, my own kitchen, my own requisitions, my own space and no interference..n just 2 make sure that I was busy, Chanel (the fashion company, yep u got it right, the perfume company!!!lol)...was to eat everyday at the May Fair Bar...well feeding 20 prospective super models was a lot of satisfaction (the food I made, must have given a hard time to their physical instrustures)...

but three months later as the spending season down...I found myself killing time at the May Fair Bar...Imagine in a fourteen hour shift, I just got six KOT's (orders 4 d layman)...set up the continental breakfast (which had 7-8 takers)..so no major mise-en-place 4 d next day (preparations)...n d final thing...Chanel cancelled for the next ten days at least until further notice...I went to Villian Pascal (Head Chef)... and he said, "It's your kitchen Harsh,have fun in there, and after all you are a kitchen incharge, why would you like to work under anyone and unfortunately Mayur(Sr.Sous Chef, AMBA Bar & Grill, my idol) won't switch places with you" Well he thought his sarcasm was pretty humerous...Read on to know what happens when my humour takes a whacky turn

I NEED TO GET OUTTA THERE
I was sipping a nice cup of coffee in the Hotel Cafeteria...with Vicky, another chef and a good friend and he suggested, "Man, it's simple, you make a mistake that is small enough that you're not given a warning, but big enough that Pascal throws you out of the Bar Kitchen."

I was sure I was not going to do anything like that...I just had two and a half months left at May Fair...and I thought I had worked hard enough to deserve a relaxed job at the Bar Kitchen, as I was crossing the Main kitchen, I got a mail from Chanele,confirming 10 PAX for the next day, they had requested for Fish & Chips, a soup and cold sandwiches. Pascal gave me a tub of mushroom soup left from the party in the afternoon and told me that he had asked the banqueting staff to prepare 10 extra portions of battered cod (a kind of fish, very common in the UK), as they had a function in the evening. And I thought, I just have to make ten sandwiches and kill mosquitoes, on my way towards the Bar kitchen, I ran into Marta, a waitress at the Bar kitchens and asked for any confirmations for the evening and this is what she said, "Yeah, there's just a table of 5, but I don't think they will eat anything, why don't you go and sit in the cafeteria and I will give you a call if there's any order, I don't think there will be any". That was sweet of her, but not something I wanted to hear.
And that's where my brain went whacky...I had to get out of there...I had an off the next day and the dumb Zelia would serve the sandwiches without even checking (Wow, I was so damn sure about her dumbness)..I never really liked Zelia covering up for me when I was off because she would leave my kitchen in a shit with no mise-en-place...but I knew Pascal had no choice..

I had risotto rotting away in the deep freezer (it's been there for a long time)...i added some ketchup (what!!!), some mustard (OMG!!!), Vinegar (Ouch!!!), Peanut Butter (R U KIDDIN!!!), Chicken Tikka Masala (WHY!!), Mayonnaise (Shit!!!) and finally some wierdely chopped shallots (deliberate!!!), oops and I forgot the Jalepenos (man, I'm insane)...took some Herbed focaccia bread and some Olive Ciabata bread, spreaded the Yucky mixture and cut it evenly and decorated it beautifully (to just to be sure that Zelia doesn't care, after all it's not good to be overconfident on someone'sdumbness).. but as I picked up my knives to rest in my locker (I always kept it in my locker when I had an off, I didn't want Zelia to touch them)...as I walked towards Hyde Park Corner station to take a bus (I used to walk an extra stop to give my body some workout)...I smiled and thought, "Pascal,I warned you to not to flirt with my intelligence."

The next afternoon, I went to Central london (I was anticipating a call from the Chef Office), and bingo...as soon as I got off at the green park station, my cell phone rang, it was Pascal who asked me politely to meet him as soon as possible...I told him I was around and would be there in about 10 minutes...I smirked on my achievement as I started walking towards the hotel...
as i entered the hotel I saw Vicky standing there and he said, "What the F*** is this risotto sandwich,who puts bhaat inside a roti and now that Rascal knows that it was deliberate" I assured him I would handle it...

I could not convince Pascal, he said I have deliberately under-performed and since Chanel complained to the Bar Manager and the Banqueting Manager who informed Pascal and the HR Manager... I was given a formal verbal warning...and the HR manager said that's a very linient stand from Pascal and he replied, "Don't worry his punishment is that he stays at the May Fair Bar Kitchen" he smirked and winked as he looked towards me..

15 days later a severe back injury at work (which pascal thought was deliberate, but it wasn't) forced him to move me in a night shift...I was the Night Chef at The May Fair Bar Hotel for the rest of my stint from April, 2007 onwards...

The Bar Be Que Surprise

Well many people would think that what would be wrong in a Bar be que that went off perfectly (at least everyone said that it did)...well all hell broke lose...Puchi's car broke down and I forgot to get the lemons out...well I didn't notice until I had the first peaceful bite (it was the last one too, Jasneet was generous enough to feed me throughout!!) and at that time I preferred to remain shut...but many whacky things happened this morning when the same menu for the bar be que was repeated for the second time (I missed all the friends and also Jasneet couldn't make it today)...and I missed the dip she got the previous day...Well i took care of all the things I had prepared, but I forgot about the dip as I wasn't involved in it...so the garlic in the dip was replaced by GARLIC PICKLE (ouch!!!)...which was chopped carefully (I tried my level best to save my fingers, and guess what...I managed to save them too!!!)...and how did it taste...uhmmm.... I would rather not comment...

What's that Aussie Murg??

well its been almost three months that I created Aussie Murg after being inspired by Chef Nikhil Agrawal's idea and demonstration...but the problem was when i used my whacky brain...Ah, and not to forget it was appreciated by everyone who tasted it. But now I'm wondering what the hell was I upto...I have heard (and even seen on you tube) that chefs stuff a Chicken's ass with a can of beer and grill it (the can is empty of course)..but why did I hybridise it with the Butter Chicken I'm famous for...Phew...one can fosters beer goes into a Kg of Chicken and the Makhni(butter) gravy comes alive with cream and butter...but trust me...it stinks...not to forget that I had to put clarified oil in the rice and loads of Coriander...but ladies and gentlemen it rocks...I wish I wrote a poem for that one...it rocks because others say it...Isn't it funny that sometimes when you put your heart and soul in a dish and it comes out beautifully, and peopletend to ridicule it...and sometimes when you think, What the F*** have I made, you get to hear it's the most awesome chicken I've had...Thank you Mr.Sandeep Munjal and Mr.Sanjay Sharma for trying it (hats off to you), and i feel that Mrs.Swati Dabas is too lucky to have a sore throat that day (but I still would say that you missed the Chocolate Mousse, it will always be a trademark towards my excellence, if I ever deserve one!!!)...sometimes I feel that life would be fun without Critics...but it might get boring too...