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Master's choice
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The Oberoi's Master Chef Yogen Datta keeps aside Tuesday mornings for a trip to Azadpur mandi.
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At work... Master Chef Yogen Datta at The Oberoi in New Delhi. Photo: S.Subramanium.
TUESDAYS ARE usually special days for Master Chef Yogen Datta of The Oberoi in New Delhi. Getting up with the crows, he has to catch up with the early morning hubbub at one of the city's oldest and biggest vegetable vends, the Azadpur mandi. Shouting, pushing and shoving, puddles of mud and mire. But with rows made colourful by the wares on display, with specific spots in the huge area for different vegetables, the air gets thick no doubt with high expectations.
And, since he is a regular there, the regulars know him by now. Some eager to show him what's new in the market. Some wary that he is really on the ball.
"I don't go there to buy vegetables as such. This is to primarily keep the suppliers on their toes. They can't fool me. Neither on availability of things nor on rates," says the chef. The market, he says, changes every week and so one has to be in the know of things. And, that he is "on the lookout to be on top of what's in," sometimes leads him to certain vegetables all of a sudden which are quite local but not readily available in the market. "But you need them nevertheless. So, at times I do buy them. My weekly visits really have added advantages that way," adds a smiling Chef Datta.
Being a chef at a five star hotel, he knows, it has its own glamour but to sustain it, one has to keep dissatisfaction of guests at bay. And since the restaurants at The Oberoi are always in demand, his homework, he feels, is doubly vital.
Quality counts
"We have a steady set of customers at The Oberoi. And now that our new restaurant Threeysixty is doing quite well, we have to brace up to keep the quality intact," he says. English vegetables like broccoli and celery are almost local now as farmers are growing them here too.
Azadpur mandi though, never gets to see them.
"Once, I remember seeing zucchini there. I was quite surprised. But for all the English vegetables, one has to depend primarily on the suppliers at INA market here," he explains.
Getting trained at The Oberoi's institute for chefs, he joined the league in 1985, specialising in top-of-the-line French cuisine. "Because French cuisine was the best then." But then gradually, globalisation got him and he got on to doing what is today called world cuisine.
And barring three years in between, he has always remained with the Oberoi group.
So, is that the best too? With a smile on his face, he challenges you to "check it out."
SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Madurai
Mangalore
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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