After finishing school in 2006, Sneha Narula first studied design at NIFT-Bengaluru. “So there I was, a not-so-good designer, completely lost. You know the feeling when things aren’t quite right in life and food makes it all better? I would go out and eat everyday and then come home and recreate those dishes.”
Twenty-nine-year-old Narula says that it dawned on her then that this eating and cooking might actually be something she could do for a living. And so she flew off to Sydney to Le Cordon Bleu school there.
Narula says the experience was unmatched as were the internships in restaurants after the course. “I trained under Dan Hong, Executive Chef @ Mr. Wong, a two-hatted restaurant.” She adds that they once had Shannon Bennett at the restaurant. And Oprah! Best of all, she says, she worked in Kylie Kwong’s kitchen. “I was looking for a job and I saw her vacancy ad. I applied, never really thinking I would get a call. But she did call me and I went for a trial. And got the job!” While she was nervous, Narula says she was confident too as she had already worked in a Chinese kitchen.
“Commercial kitchens are very different to home kitchens. Everything is organised, dated, and labelled. Everything has a specific place. You move something somewhere else and it is chaos. And I love it! I love the heat and intensity. I love working as a team and celebrating a good day or grumbling about a busy day. We do it for the love of food and for the happiness good food brings to people.”
Le Cordon Bleu helped her understand and love food better. It gave her insights into the history of food, where it comes from and how it evolved over centuries. It also taught her that the best way to survive in the industry was to work as a team. She learnt that basic cooking skills had to be honed, as they stick with you for ever. Lists (prep lists, order lists, etc.) are a big big part of the survival kit in a commercial kitchen. “I also learnt to take care of my tools!” she says.
Narula hopes she will soon be back in Australia. “As it is for every chef, I am sure, I have a list of chefs I want to work for and learn from. So, for now, the plan is to just keep moving forward and working.” What excites her about working in Australia is its fabulous produce. “Australia has some amazing produce, and some great people farming and producing such beautiful ingredients. From veggies, meat and seafood to wine and craft beers, Australia is spoilt for choice and certainly the kitchens take full advantage of that.”
For the food festival she is presenting in the city, Narula wanted to showcase the new cooking techniques she learnt. “I didn’t want to stray very far from familiar flavours, but wanted to serve something that’s still unavailable in Coimbatore. I looked at my training at Le Cordon Bleu and the kitchens I worked in. The menu on offer is very simple, yet involves bringing together ingredients and flavours that work well with each other. I chose Europe because Coimbatore is starting to get into that kind of food and I wanted to see how far I could experiment.”
What I learnt from Kylie Kwong
She is a great chef but, more than that, she is beautiful, kind and generous. She is very encouraging and straightforward. Thanks to her I know that someone who loves cooking should:
Taste everything.
Go local and organic (We need to do our bit for the planet)
Use simple ingredients to make something very delicious
On The Go will continue with Sneha Narula’s European Food Fest till July 30.