La Cucina di Irfan

Enter the chef’s lair and watch him rustle up some homely Italian fare with couscous thrown in for good measure. Chef Irfan Pabaney has a flair for food from all over the world

La Cucina di Irfan

Text & Photographs: Farzana Contractor

Iam always curious about how top chefs cook at home, when they are cooking a meal for themselves and family. To this end I landed up at Chef Irfan Pabaney’s home in South Bombay, who coincidentally happens to live in the very same building as Amrita Raichand, our cover girl. Strangely there are others, too, who are big foodies residing in this building.

Well, it’s a charming old-world kind of an apartment, one which houses plenty of books, has rugs thrown around, plants in the verandah, in assorted pots, and unusual artifacts picked up from travels all over the world, exclusive, unique pieces that one can only find in the flea markets across Europe.

“That’s Yasho’s department,” says Irfan walking into the living room and finding me admiring this beautiful statue of a peaceful looking woman, as if in meditation. Yasho is Yashodha, his wife of 16 years. Yasho would rather we not talk about it but she has royal links with the late Rajmata of Gwalior, a connection through her own grandmother. That apart, she is an art historian and consultant, who is now sportingly assisting me in shooting all that Irfan is preparing for us to eat and shoot. Or rather, shoot and eat.

“Do you always assist him in all this?” “Always!” she replies promptly. “Story of my life! But I really don’t mind. It’s fun. And he is so passionate about his calling…” That we can vouch for. Irfan has been around in the Bombay culinary firmament, firmly, since at least 1992. And we have seen his progress. But before we come to that, let’s see what’s for lunch. Pearl Barley Broth, Chicken Cacciatore, Warm Lemony Couscous, Penne Siciliana, Mushroom & Roasted Almond Paté.

The penne is Irfan’s favourite. He says he can eat it at least three times a week, or more. “Its fresh, crunchy and so healthy. The Chicken Cacciatore is tomato-licious, the pâté is 100% vegetarian. Though it looks like liver pâté, it is not, has just mushrooms and almonds and works well with both groups, herbivores and carnivores. And the Warm (prawn) Lemony Couscous, you asked me to make!”

That’s true. I remember when I was at Sassy Spoon during its opening week, years ago, Irfan was trying to convince me to eat couscous and I was like, no, no, no! He got the dish to my table nonetheless and believe me, I have been a convert since then. So I just had to know how he creates that magic. Please read the recipe carefully to know the soft nuances, like rubbing olive oil on the couscous grains before you get started.

So let’s talk about Irfan’s career graph, from his first job, when he first worked with Chef Rahul Akerkar, at Under The Over. Which if you remember was a small restaurant, right besides the Kemps Corner flyover. “It really was a superb restaurant, I have fun memories of it. Outside of 5-star restaurants, that was the only establishment doing that kind of food. I was there for four years, until it shut down for some unfortunate issues!”

But that was not Irfan’s first job really. After college, Irfan went to work at Asian Flavours and Fragrances, a start-up company then, creating exotic food fragrances. Today it has established itself well and they are now leading flavours and perfumery compound manufacturers and exporters in India. “That was really something. When I went to meet friends in those days, I would always smell of vanilla or some other spices!” reminisces Irfan.

So did he always want to be a chef? Irfan very honestly and candidly states, “No, actually I don’t know how or why I got into it. When I joined Sophia Polytech, for the two-year diploma, I did not know if I was genuinely interested in food or was just attracted to the scene because of the glamour of working in a 5-star hotel. In my time, working at the Taj or the Oberoi was a big high, a big lure.”

Well, Sophia did Irfan a big favour apart from teaching him cooking. It introduced Yashodha Shitoley, who was also there at the same time, doing the same course. “I didn’t just pursue the diploma course, I also pursued this woman I had fallen for! She snubbed me for the longest time, but I was determined to win her favour. We started dating about a year and a half after we met in 1990 but we married only in 1998! I remember going to the US Club to meet with her parents and chatting with them. It was an examination of sorts!” smiles Irfan. Aalika, their kid came along five years later.

Irfan Pabaney has a rather rich history about his early years. Firstly, he was born in Columbia, then moved to Mexico and after that to Guatemala. If South America was not exotic enough, guess where he followed his father, an IAS officer, to, next? Straight across to the Philippines. And from there to Africa, Nigeria! Such a geographical concoction must have been enriching! “Yes, you could say so, but I was happy to return to India and go to senior school in Maneckji Cooper. Growing up in Juhu had its own charm. Later, going to college at Mithibai was good, too. I was into sports in a big way, representing my college in swimming and water polo.”

His working life as a chef has also been enriching. Working for the Radhakrishna Hospitality Services, he has launched innumerable cafés inside malls, hospitals and even schools. There was also Seijo& The Soul Dish at Bandra which offered him the opportunity to cut his teeth at Chinese cuisine, leading him to be picked up by my friend and huge UpperCrust fan, the late Kishor Bajaj, as Brand Chef at Hakkasan, a restaurant that had created such a stir. In between all this Irfan had also restarted Under The Over, serving western food, the forte being steaks and Tex Mex. With a symbiotic bond that he shares with Rahul, Irfan was back to working with him for a good three years at Indigo at Colaba, another of Bombay’s landmark restaurants. “Rahul and I have stayed in constant touch. We meet up every two months, at least. In fact he was home just two nights ago.”

But the crowning glory has to be when he launched Sassy Spoon in 2012. With Rachel Goenka at the helm, this cosy little restaurant at Nariman Point became such a hotspot on the culinary landscape of Bombay. Irfan, a likeable, low-key man and chef, attracted immense patronage thanks to his cooking prowess as well as human values. They set up another Sassy Spoon in Poona which also became all the rage.

After this stint ended, Irfan diversified, overseeing the running of some super places. AD Singh, another seasoned restaurant honcho, recognised Irfan’s potential and welcomed him into the Olive fold. Here, as Country Head, Irfan handled SodaBottleOpenerWala, Monkey Bar, FattyBao. He was there for five years. “I loved working with AD and Sabina. Marvellous people, with a great value system,” says Irfan fondly. He left the Olive group just this year.

Now Irfan has come to a stage where he is happy to consult and pick up threads with his personal life. “Food is my forte and I have gained immense experience in the trade. I have been in the business so long that I have now gone beyond the kitchen; be it menu planning, wine lists, beverage costing, managing front of office teams, how service guys must operate, etc, that I decided to put all of this to good use and help guide newcomers into the field, as well as be a consultant to those seeking it.”

I can safely let you know that Bombay Gym members are a happy lot. This is also Irfan’s club, a place where he goes to gym and swim everyday and joins the vigorous boot camp twice a week. In an honorary capacity, Irfan has helped streamline the fine-dining, Pavilion, situated on the first floor of the club.

Doing things that make him happy also includes reading and travelling. “A good book offers me great pleasure. And both Yasho and I love to go places, like Europe and South East Asia; Thailand and Vietnam and further east, Japan,” says the chef who has clearly made up his mind about where he is now heading. Goa, for example.

A house by the sea in Bombay and an apartment in Goa that overlooks a forest. Irfan couldn’t be happier or more content.