<p>He started out in 1990 with the dream of becoming a sous chef. He went on to become an executive chef and then a regional chef, handling multiple hotels under The Lalit Group. <br /><br /></p>.<p>When he became a corporate chef, he soon realised that he was getting away from his core love — food. Which is why he decided to take the plunge to do something on his own and luckily found a place “shaped like a quarter of a pizza” to begin his long cherished dream of starting his own restaurant, Nimisserie. Chef Nimish Bhatia talks about living the chef life. Excerpts:<br /><br />Was it hard to give up a job to do something on your own?<br /><br />There was a big fight between my heart and brain. My brain told me — as a corporate chef you have a good salary and leaves, Sundays off; but my heart told me — you will turn 50 and you will still be working. I spoke to my wife about what I wanted to do and she told me to go ahead in spite of the fact that I clearly told her that I may not have the money or time for the family.<br /><br />With Nimisserie, I was clear I did not want to do anything run of the mill. I handpicked everything for the restaurant and created the concept of having tailor-made food. The Kebabree – a rotator tandoor hanging horizontally, the Naanree – a wood fired oven dishing out breads and bruschettas and the Tawakee – an ‘aspect cuisine’-inspired take on the flat grill, are part of the offering. I believe food can change moods and ingredients are the key to making a difference. We serve a 7-course, 9-course and 11-course degustation menu alongside an elaborate a la carte menu.<br /><br />What is ‘aspect cuisine’?<br /><br />Aspect is just my aspect or take on food. My aspect of cuisine is indigenous and connected to me and uses a lot of flowers and does not use any trans fat. And the idea is to make food healthy. My food connects with childhood as I believe that those are the best days of our life — whether it is cream horns, aam papads or churans. I also wanted to give vegetarians a choice beyond mixed vegetables and paneer.<br /><br />Experimenting with food in India...<br /><br />It largely depends on which city we are speaking of. Kolkata, for instance, is very conservative in terms of eating and spending on eating out. In Chennai, though eating out is popular, the trend is more towards their own cuisine. Hyderabad is also conservative and while there are more restaurants per square foot than any other city, the focus is mainly on biryani. <br /><br />Mumbai is a good market but it is more in pockets that we have experimental food being accepted. Delhi is more of a pseudo market where even if they do not like it, they will eat, because they want to be seen eating. Bengaluru, on the other hand, has a good culture of wanting to eat out at least 5 days a week and people are open to eating in different places.<br /><br />The most challenging meals...<br /><br />There was a time in Srinagar where I had to cook a course meal for several foreigners and it was hard to convince the cooks there to cook without ghee, mutton fat or beef. Likewise, when we were doing in-flight catering, there was a day when I got a call saying all 45 people had not reported for the morning shift. It was a real task to go and make sandwiches for all the passengers with the available staff. And on the day when The Great Eastern Kolkata’s hotel reopened, we had made about 150 kilos of cake but the rush was so much that we ended up making over 900 kilos! <br /><br />What is your favourite food memory?<br /><br />This was in Kathmandu, 20 years ago. My friend and I were in this place called Pokhara and we were very hungry when we spotted a small dhaba where an old lady offered us trout and chivda. The best part was that she sent a little boy to actually catch a fish from the stream that was flowing there. The temperature was sub-zero and she cooked the fish on charcoal... that was the best fish I have ever eaten. We went back after a few months but there was no sign of her or the dhaba, maybe it was a fantasy.</p>
<p>He started out in 1990 with the dream of becoming a sous chef. He went on to become an executive chef and then a regional chef, handling multiple hotels under The Lalit Group. <br /><br /></p>.<p>When he became a corporate chef, he soon realised that he was getting away from his core love — food. Which is why he decided to take the plunge to do something on his own and luckily found a place “shaped like a quarter of a pizza” to begin his long cherished dream of starting his own restaurant, Nimisserie. Chef Nimish Bhatia talks about living the chef life. Excerpts:<br /><br />Was it hard to give up a job to do something on your own?<br /><br />There was a big fight between my heart and brain. My brain told me — as a corporate chef you have a good salary and leaves, Sundays off; but my heart told me — you will turn 50 and you will still be working. I spoke to my wife about what I wanted to do and she told me to go ahead in spite of the fact that I clearly told her that I may not have the money or time for the family.<br /><br />With Nimisserie, I was clear I did not want to do anything run of the mill. I handpicked everything for the restaurant and created the concept of having tailor-made food. The Kebabree – a rotator tandoor hanging horizontally, the Naanree – a wood fired oven dishing out breads and bruschettas and the Tawakee – an ‘aspect cuisine’-inspired take on the flat grill, are part of the offering. I believe food can change moods and ingredients are the key to making a difference. We serve a 7-course, 9-course and 11-course degustation menu alongside an elaborate a la carte menu.<br /><br />What is ‘aspect cuisine’?<br /><br />Aspect is just my aspect or take on food. My aspect of cuisine is indigenous and connected to me and uses a lot of flowers and does not use any trans fat. And the idea is to make food healthy. My food connects with childhood as I believe that those are the best days of our life — whether it is cream horns, aam papads or churans. I also wanted to give vegetarians a choice beyond mixed vegetables and paneer.<br /><br />Experimenting with food in India...<br /><br />It largely depends on which city we are speaking of. Kolkata, for instance, is very conservative in terms of eating and spending on eating out. In Chennai, though eating out is popular, the trend is more towards their own cuisine. Hyderabad is also conservative and while there are more restaurants per square foot than any other city, the focus is mainly on biryani. <br /><br />Mumbai is a good market but it is more in pockets that we have experimental food being accepted. Delhi is more of a pseudo market where even if they do not like it, they will eat, because they want to be seen eating. Bengaluru, on the other hand, has a good culture of wanting to eat out at least 5 days a week and people are open to eating in different places.<br /><br />The most challenging meals...<br /><br />There was a time in Srinagar where I had to cook a course meal for several foreigners and it was hard to convince the cooks there to cook without ghee, mutton fat or beef. Likewise, when we were doing in-flight catering, there was a day when I got a call saying all 45 people had not reported for the morning shift. It was a real task to go and make sandwiches for all the passengers with the available staff. And on the day when The Great Eastern Kolkata’s hotel reopened, we had made about 150 kilos of cake but the rush was so much that we ended up making over 900 kilos! <br /><br />What is your favourite food memory?<br /><br />This was in Kathmandu, 20 years ago. My friend and I were in this place called Pokhara and we were very hungry when we spotted a small dhaba where an old lady offered us trout and chivda. The best part was that she sent a little boy to actually catch a fish from the stream that was flowing there. The temperature was sub-zero and she cooked the fish on charcoal... that was the best fish I have ever eaten. We went back after a few months but there was no sign of her or the dhaba, maybe it was a fantasy.</p>
