A person who vividly remembers the highs, lows and bends of his life and the people he
encountered along the way is certainly someone you can respect and learn from.
Full of anecdotes, experiences and passion, Chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE is a
classic example of such a person. The Chef Patron of The River Restaurant at
the Acron Waterfront Resort in Baga, Goa and Café Spice Namaste, Mr Todiwala’s
Kitchen and The Park Café, all in London, Cyrus is presently in Goa for the 3rd
Annual Cyrus Todiwala Masterclass for Chefs, which will take place at Fortune
Acron Regina, Candolim on February 21, 2018, along with Avinash Martins of
Cavatina, Mahesh lshwar and Stelios Theodorakis from Radisson Blu and Pravin
Kathoke of Rational International India. “Young chefs are the future of our
industry and we need more people with confidence, knowledge and skill, taking
our culture and cuisine abroad in a better light. We will have a series of
demos from local chefs with the idea of bringing them all together, and since
they are not all Goan, we will try to inculcate the spirit of Goan food in them
as well.”
Chef Cyrus believes that while young chefs
today have access to a wealth of information, culinary and otherwise, it is
important for them to not forget their basics and develop them further before
venturing into experimentation. “I’m very passionate about Goa and Goan food,
so it upsets me when Goan basics are spoiled,” he states.
Recollecting his first steps into this
profession, he says, “I was an insult to my parents and relatives as they could
not understand why I wanted to cook. But there was no turning back for me.
“My career began in 1975, when I worked at
the Taj in Bombay. The whole kitchen was dominated by Goans and if you didn’t
learn to speak the language, you wouldn’t be able to learn anything. So I
learnt to speak Konkani. My best experiences came from working with Goan
people. Goa’s famous Chef Masci had already retired but he kept dropping by.
“I then came to Goa to train the first
group of chefs for Taj Holiday Village in Goa. I worked for nearly nine years
in Goa till I was Group Chef of all the Taj Goa properties; I left Goa in
1989.”
He moved to London in 1991 to start his
own restaurant and present the authentic flavours of Indian, Goan and Parsi
food. “Indian food always had a presence in Britain but the flavours were
limited. I took over a typical Bangladeshi run kitchen and started changing
things. The first time I put prawn balchao and vindaloo on the
menu, people didn’t know what it was.” Chef Cyrus is sometimes called the
Father of New-Wave Indian Cooking in Britain because he revolutionised things
there. “We now have fabulous chefs of Indian cuisine in Britain, sometimes
serving better than what we can serve in India,” he adds.
Speaking about the rise of Indian food and its acceptance in the
UK, he says, “The British public is ready for anything new. Indian food is on
the rise there but we don’t have enough skilled chefs. This will be a problem
when food starts to evolve further; what we need is a proper training base.
Outside India, Britain is the best for Indian food and Britain is leading in
many respects in the development of Indian cuisine. The rest of Europe has a
long way to go because they are not connected to India.”
At his own restaurants in London, Cyrus serves dishes like sungatchi
kodi, pork vindaloo, chilli fry and pork assad, which are now
favourites and cannot be taken off the menu. “Once a month, we do an evening
called ‘Vino De Petiscos’. The first dinner will be on February 27 and it is
already sold out. We also do quite a few competitions for young people as we
are on a mission to teach the British about Asian food. This year’s winning
team will go to Vietnam for ten days to train at Hilton in Hanoi, and next
year, we hope to bring them to Goa,” he says. Cyrus is also writing his seventh
cookbook on vegan food, which is a growing trend in Britain.
In 2012, he cooked for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke
of Edinburgh as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He prepared a
dish called Country Captain, which is an Indian take on the classic English
Shepherd’s Pie. “I was nervous but not as nervous as I was during CHOGM in
1983. While cooking for the Queen, I had more facilities and I knew exactly
what I was doing; all I had to do was maintain complete secrecy. It was an
honour because I did the first lunch for the Diamond Jubilee for the world’s
most popular monarch,” he reminisces, adding, “Country Captain is on our menu
now.”
His love for Goa has increased over the years and it is shared
by his wife of 33 years, Pervin, who is the brains behind all his enterprises.
In fact, his older son, Jamsheed, was born at Bosio Hospital in Goa; younger son
Hormuzd was born in Pune.
Cyrus was also Goa’s first honorary wildlife warden: “I’m all
for Goa. I helped secure two sanctuaries in Goa, Chorão and Divar Island and
the Carambolim water tank for migratory birds. I truly believe that you have to
fight for your legacy.”
Ask
him about his favourite Goan dish and pat comes the answer, “My favourite has
to be sarapatel. I like it cooked the way we used to make it before –
rich, not overly hot and matured at least for three days. And served with very
good quality sannas. The amount of love and affection you put in sarapatel,
you don’t put in anything else,” he concludes.