Highly focussed, passionate and dedicated, also the first and only South Indian Chef who made it to the top 10 of BBC’s Master Chef UK Professionals, also renowned to create magic with Indian food, following the concept of progressive Indian cuisine… With over 15 years of hands-on experience both at the operations and managerial levels in the leading five-star properties and luxury kitchens in the UK, Dubai, and India, Bobby has created rich culinary creations that have inspired many the world over.
Unfolding the Culinary Journey
As far as he can remember, he always wanted to be in the creative field and with a heart to continually experiment, also create something new, made him choose the world of culinary to put his creative mind into action and very soon went on to become a much acclaimed culinary professional.
He began his career with the much revered Taj Group of Hotels in India immediately upon completion of his Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel Management from the Institute of Hotel Management Trivandrum, Kerala, India. His growth from a Management Trainee to Senior Chef de Partie at the Taj Hotels was quick, after which he moved to the UK in pursuit of better exposure and opportunity.
In the UK, Bobby worked for Hotel de France, as the Chef in Charge of ‘Saffrons’, a Modern Indian Cuisine inspired European Fine Dining restaurant, gaining much experience in setting up the restaurant, constantly developing new menus and high levels of guest interaction & understanding, during the hands-on operations here.
Later on, he moved on to the Accor Group of Hotels, where he got the opportunity to get trained in Michelin Star Restaurants such as ‘Noma’, Denmark, on of the world’s most famous restaurants, Belmond le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, and at the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental London, all helping him gain higher levels of serious fine dining knowledge and exposure.
Bobby has also worked at other places in the UK, including the catering major Compass Group and has also done Restaurant Consultancy for many of the top restaurants in London until 2017, before relocating to Dubai, to take up the role of the Corporate Executive Chef with the iconic Indian fine dining restaurant Asha’s, and here with his rich experience in fine dining from Europe, helped influence and inspire the team here to become world-class.
Setting the Bar High from the Very Beginning
From the time of his Bachelors itself, Bobby used to be a regular at several National level competitions and also bagged several laurels to his credit, thus setting a high benchmark for himself from the very early stages itself.
This high bar is what helped him strive for the best in whatever that he did and wherever he worked, also getting him the much-deserved awards & recognitions, that he has achieved to date, including the much-coveted AA One Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence for introducing an all-new menu as the Head Chef for the Podium Restaurant, Hilton, London, Semi-Finalist in the National Chef of the year the United Kingdom, Gold for Hospitality Chef Excellence award 2018, UAE and also the Pro Chef Awards 2018, UAE, as the best Indian chef in the Middle East.
The Author, Entrepreneur, and Consultant
Bobby has successfully published three Cookbooks to date, two of them are on Indian Cuisine and one of the recent, on the trending concept of Cloud Kitchens.His very recent work ‘Fine Dining India: Easy To Cook Restaurant Recipes At Home’, talks about fine dining and restaurant recipes that one could create at the comfort of their homes without having to miss out on the finesse and experience. The idea for this book to produce recipes and dishes for his YouTube channel came up during his three months of lockdown at home. The concept of this cookbook is to make fine cooking accessible to all households, and to Indian restaurants, as well.
“I have to set an example for all chefs out there, each one of us is an artist in his own right. Don’t wait until someone offers a hand, just do amazing things with what is within your reach”
Current Role
In early 2020 he moved back to the UK, after having completed a stint in Dubai and is now in the role of Chef Consultant Director at Fine Dining Indian Ltd, helping restaurants with setting up menu, layout and training along with managing the position for Corporate Executive Chef for an Indian Restaurant chain that has around twenty-one outlets, and three of which are in the UK.
While he is continually hustling and inspiring the younger generation with his successful multi-role in the culinary profession, he reminds the upcoming chefs to have a clear vision of what they want to achieve, with investing their initial 5 years to learn all they can and the next 5 years to put that knowledge to work, and thereafter, to make an identity for themselves, creating a brand of their own with all the experience they have gained.
