Pramod Nair, a seasoned chef and perfectionist, always finds himself restless, trying to seek new avenues. His passion goes beyond cooking as he dons the role of a curator—with an eye for kitchen and menu design, catering, banquets, customer service, guest relation and staff training. With a head full of ideas and innovations backed by vast culinary experience in Iceland, Norway, UK, India, and Africa, Pramod at 47 is constantly refining and upgrading his skills.
“The greatest compliment for a chef is when he sees his plate licked clean,” he says. “Any dish cooked with love and passion tastes good. My grandfather ran a military canteen. So cooking is in my blood. It is spontaneous. But as was the trend those days, I applied for medicine but am glad I failed as I wanted to be a chef. As a chef, I can serve only what is on the menu. Yet, once I grease the pan and the aroma engulfs me, I get charged and I try to improvise and fine-tune the dish, blending originality with novelty.”
Popularising jackfruit
Pramod, who is from Badagara, began his career in 1993 at Taj Malabar, Kochi, as senior chef de partie. Early in his career, he tried out-of-the-ordinary dishes such as jack fruit soufflé, jack seed bread spread and the like. Years later, as executive chef at Mint and Mustard Restaurant, London, when he prepared these dishes with jack fruit imported from Bangladesh, they were a hit. He has even served a banquet lunch to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Taj Malabar.
Within a few years, Pramod became head chef of Coromandel Restaurant, London. Before long Coromandel was voted one of the top five Indian restaurants. A chef, he believes, should never compromise on quality. He/she should use only the freshest and the best ingredients to serve wholesome, healthy dishes.
Yearning to savour unexplored territories, Pramod embarked upon a culinary trip to Iceland. During his nine-year stint, he was head chef of Austurindia Felagid (East India Company in Icelenska) restaurant in Reykjavik, which bagged the Best Indian Restaurant title in 2001. Kaffi Duus Hotel at Keflavik too, where he later served, won the best Icelandic Sea Food restaurant award in 2005. He popularised Indian dishes contributing Indian recipes in magazines and hosting TV cookery shows. He even modelled for two brands of Basmati Rice in Iceland. Serving the presidential dinner hosted by the Icelandic President, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, for the then Indian President, Abdul Kalam, was a fulfilling moment.
Cooking game
From Iceland, Pramod took up an assignment in Norway, Hotel Rica, at Nordfjordeid. He recollects: “Norway’s culinary habits are outlandish. Hunting and cooking are synonymous, as many Norwegians cook what they hunt. I grilled, baked and fried wild ducks, wild pigeons, moose and many other game birds and animals. A hunter once approached me, with a dead reindeer across his shoulder, to be cooked.” Recognised for his expertise, he was one of the chefs chosen to cook for Queen Sonja of Norway for the inauguration of an opera house.
He later settled in London with his fam ily, where he served as the executive chef at Mint and Mustard Restaurant outlets at Taunton, Cardiff and Chai Street. Mint and Mustard, under his proficiency, received the Michelin’s Bib Gourmand award, a distinction for the best restaurant that serves high quality food with value for money. Somerset Life magazine selected him the best chef.
He had always felt an overwhelming need to popularise the rustic Kerala cuisine. A fondness for oriental, especially Indian cuisine, had swept over the west. But the hotels that did serve Indian food were not serving the authentic deal—it was diluted, deconstructed and was served in a fusion form. Pramod brought in his expertise here. At Spiceberry restaurant, Cardiff, Wales, where he was director and chef, he introduced the Kerala village concept in cuisine and ambience, by launching the Kuttanad Duck fry. He presented thattukada chicken and beef curries and baptised them ‘Truck Stop Chicken’ and ‘Hawker’s Beef’. Later as production and development chef of Chaiholics, Cardiff, an authentic Indian bistro cocktail bar, Pramod won the prestigious Welsh Curry Chef of the year award in regional and national categories.
After two years at Chaiholics, Pramod sojourned to Siguiri in the Republic Of Guinea, an isolated far away land in West Africa to offer his services to Praana, a remote camp management company that offers five star facilities for Anglo Gold Ashanthi, a gold mining company. Siguiri is famous for black magic and gold mines.
He says: “From the cool London climate to the scorching temperature in Guinea was tough. The chefs in the kitchen unused to cool temperatures, always switched off the exhaust and air conditioner whenever I switched them on. Venomous snakes always slithered at close range giving me the jitters. Language was the biggest barrier. French was the official language though many unknown tongues like Fela, Malinke, Susu etc were spoken there. Hardly anybody knew English. So I had to communicate through sign language, which was bizarre but fun later on. These factors however made me flexible and resilient to handle strange and high stress environments, which a chef should possess.”
Horse and seal meat
“There is only one life for a chef. Burn it by cooking for others,” he says, recollecting a few of his personal experiences with food. “During a dinner party, I once consumed horse meat. unsure what it was. I felt queasy upon realising what it was. At a food festival, I was asked to cook seal meat. I prepared it the traditional Kerala way—seal meat varattiyathu and all found it delicious.” he narrates.
After a short stint at Oman as consultant of Foodland chain restaurants, Pramod at present is a consultant chef for Horecahow, UK ‘Horeca’ is an acronym for hotel restaurant catering and ‘how’ literally stands for how to start and succeed in hotel and catering business. Horecahow helps and guides entrepreneurs through all aspects in restaurant and catering.
Pramod hasn’t stopped dreaming. “ I want to create a quirky, casual Indian dining restaurant by 2020 with an unusual and mouthwatering concept,” he signs off.