Move Over Chefs

The Schefs Are Here

May we present to you three of Bombay’s most influential chefs who dont just own their restaurants but are there 24/7, right at the helm. Take a bow, Chef Sarita Pereira, Chef Niyati Rao and Chef Nooresha Kably. You do us proud. May your tribe grow

Heyy! So happy to be cooking for UpperCrust

Text & Photographs: Farzana Contractor

Can you imagine what kind of a riot three of Bombay’s top chefs or ‘schefs’, if you please, can rustle up when they decide to cook for you in your own kitchen at home? Six hands, three laughing faces, plenty of action and non-stop chatter, my God, it was too much fun. Joy unadulterated. Of course, the iced Moet helped. Bubbly always works.

So, there they were, talented, successful, owner chefs, each strong and powerful in their own individual space of culinary expertise, cooking for me! Never felt better, though I have been at the helm of UpperCrust affairs for 27 years and have had some wonderful experiences, this was different. Thank you, girls, I am flattered. And humbled, that you should leave your comfort zones and come chez moi and cook up such a storm in a kitchen that does not even have a microwave oven.

Want to taste, anyone?

So dear reader, meet – if you haven’t already met them at their fabulous restaurants – Chef Sarita Pereira of The Lovefools, Chef Niyati Rao of Ekaa and Chef Nooresha Kably of Izumi. Three women, three chefs, three different personalities with three amazingly different stories. But with one common factor, or two. Cooking is their passion and they really love to live it up.

I saw it myself.

The cover shoot was a breeze. All I said to them was to breathe easy, be yourselves, feel at home. And, they did. They were most normal and in chill zone. As it is, they were a relieved lot when they learned I did not want them to come all dolled up. After all, how many chefs do you see cooking with full make-up on. Or wearing high heels.

So, like when we enter most Indian homes, each of them knocked off their shoes and went about their task, barefeet, and carefree. They were coming to my home the first time and thankfully they loved it. Their appreciation for my kitchen had me swooning. The energy in my house, by God’s grace, is one of peace and openness, and that is exactly what took over. There was music and so much laughter.

The girls cooked and plated their food with ease and charm and such polished movements, I was rather overwhelmed. In between, as I sat on the dining table, watching them work, shooting pictures now and then, asking questions, we all got to know each other better and more personally, and by the time the last one left after being interviewed, I felt I had made three new friends.

And that is what I will tell you about. Their individual stories, where they are coming from and why they took to cooking, opening restaurants… yes, all three have more than one.


Panji to Pataya	Izumi Sushi PLatter	Tomato Labneh Salad

Sarita Pereira

Not April fool, 'love fool'

Meet Sarita Pereira Pradhan, who was once a top advertising person, client servicing for established brands, working with the super respected creative director, Elsie Nanji of Ambience. That is until the thought struck her; Who am I? What am I really? What do I want from life? Where to from here? What is my real goal? What are my real skills? What is my true calling?

With this quest churning within her heart and soul, she knew she had to go onwards, forward, to seek… She shunned the offer that Proctor & Gamble made to her, to move to their Singapore office, as senior executive. She was loathe to not take up the offer Elsie made, of heading the design team at Ambience. She had to go somewhere, do something else.

And she did, much like she was on a spiritual journey, searching for herself.

Sarita seriously embarked on various assignments. She started with reading books. Books, books, books. She poured herself into pages of all kind, of the written word. Wondering just what was stirring her up, she discussed the issue with Anju Venkat, the nutritionist, and her friend. Anju told her embrace everything, she said, “Just do whatever comes your way.”

So Sarita went off to Switzerland. Spent two months there, learning about the art of massage. Returned home, where she set up a table at her mum’s place and became a masseuse.

Then she went away to Osho’s in Poona to do a course on Talking to your Body. A hypnotherapy course where she learnt how to deal with deeper medical problems related to people afflicted with cancer and so on. She also dove deep in Reiki and aura cleansing. She practised this for a while.

Then she came across a German somatic practitioner who held a course in Rishikesh on how to look after your muscles through mind control. Of course, Sarita headed to Rishikesh. Trained and worked with him for three months. She returned home a trained somatic practitioner, adding to her repertoire of being a masseuse, hypnotherapist and aura cleanser. She now also had clients with sports injuries and muscle disorders, also post-accident trauma patients, that she was addressing. Sarita put to use all that she learnt. She was happy helping people, but, and a big but, she wasn’t making much money. Remember here was a woman who had chucked away a big advertising job, which paid big money. She needed money to survive.

Sarita laughs and continues her story, “Yes, everything I learnt helped me grow and understand myself. I took Anju’s advice seriously and embraced every opportunity that came my way. I was aware of the two things that were a constant in my life; yoga which I practised from a very early age, to overcome a pituitary tumour that I had had, and cooking, where I was influenced due to both my parents being great cooks. A Gujarati and Catholic mix!”

By now I was rather curious, how then did cooking and cheffing and Lovefools evolve?

Well, as it happened, Sarita’s husband, who was a life coach, had people coming home for workshops, which, over the weekend also included offering them breakfast and lunch. Sarita found herself telling her husband, “Look, you order all this food from restaurants and catering outfits, why don’t I cook for you and your clients. The idea grabbed him and there I was cooking for 20 or 30 people every weekend.”

“This was around 2015, from then on, there was no turning back. People loved what I was cooking. For example, I never cooked the same vegetable the same way twice. So I went on cooking, creatively, enjoying myself. Then a friend asked me to cater for her party and soon I was getting orders randomly. Someone asked me to cater for a birthday, someone else something else, and through word of mouth, it spread that I was a good cook,” says Sarita in her cool-as-a-cucumber manner but with big smiles.

When people nudged her in the direction of starting her own restaurant, she knew it was getting serious. “But you know, at that stage there was a moment that I felt, yes, I want to be a chef.”

“Encouraged by my very supportive husband who had already let me wander in my ‘search’ quest, I applied to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. In the meanwhile, I converted my mum’s place in Bandra into a test studio. I ordered every book you can think of on cookery and kept them there, trying to figure out, what next? Believe me, when the first book arrived and I went through it, I was in tears. I couldn’t understand anything. The recipes were like Greek and Latin to me. And then my cousin who was fantastic at decoding the science part of it, started to help me, along with my super mum. Together, we started making those recipes.”

Sarita’s mum, Dr Kusum Bhatt was a General Practictioner. “There was much I learnt from her. She was so experimental in her cooking. Never wasted a grain of rice. Cooked non-veg for my very Goan dad, without ever tasting a morsel. My dad, a cinematographer, packed my dabba when I was in school and mum was at work. He cooked a lot, loved to do so.”

Sarita continues, “Experimenting with food, I remember I was obsessed with one particular dish, the toum. We tried making it every single day and failed! Then I started researching and I came across a Harvard series on the subject of emulsification. There was a chef explaining it all in such an erudite manner, I was enraptured by him. It was Chef Fernando Jabany. Although the whole lecture was in Catalan, I understood it all. I tried making toum once again and voila, I got it right!”

After that, what happened is truly the stuff of dreams. Sarita sat down and wrote a long letter to Chef Jabany and emailed it. No reply, not even an acknowledgement. And then four weeks later, came a call from someone speaking perfect English, who said, “Pack your bags and head for Spain.” You see Sarita had written to the chef asking if she could come to work at his restaurant. Since no one spoke or understood English at his very busy outfit, the letter just got buried until someone from his social media team stumbled upon it and drew the chef’s attention to the mail.

Sarita was ecstatic. In the nick of time, too. For she was about to confirm and send her fees to Le Cordon Bleu! She landed up in Vic, at Can Jabany, the Michelin-starred restaurant, two hours away from Barcelona and happily slogged away in the chef’s kitchen for the next eight months. Hours of work were 9 am to 4 am!

“Believe me, I have never seen people work as hard as they did at the restaurant. I myself was put through the wringer. I survived the physical test only because I was a strong woman, a marathoner, who had participated in runs, in New York, Sydney, California. At the end of eight months, when I asked myself the question, ‘Sarita, do you want to do this the rest of your life?’ The one-word answer that came to me in an instant, was, ‘yes!’ And then there I was winging it straight to Goa to my father’s ancestral land, hoping to start a restaurant there.”

For one reason or the other, that did not materialise, but soon Sarita started The Lovefools, at Pereira House, a sweet little bungalow in Bandra, which she shared with Richa Bahl, an interior designer. By day the space was a design studio and by night a restaurant with just one table that seated 10. It was a runaway success. Just over weekends. Had guests from all walks of life, including corporate honcho and gourmet man, Harsh Goenka, Sachin Tendulkar, and filmstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Alia Bhatt, among others.

“It was truly fantastic. I did a 12-course menu, changed it every weekend. Very curated and innovative food with major Spanish influence. By now I had started understanding all those cookery books so I was having a field day. Cooking for my guests Friday to Sunday and researching and experimenting on Tuesday to Thursday, with Monday off!” Sarita beams at me and I can understand why.

Five years of doing this and Sarita was ready to move on to a bigger space. Another bungalow in Bandra, in the bylanes off Hill Road. But as luck would have it, just as they moved in, COVID struck.

Undaunted, Sarita started a delivery platform, sending out a four-course meal for a table of 10, at your own home. Again, a success. As COVID eased up, LoveFools was in business in full earnest. “But believe me, it was a nightmare at first,” says the chef with utter honesty. “I knew everything there was about set menus but zilch about a la carte. But we learned on the job. ‘We’ includes the staff of 12 from the 10-seater who followed her, which grew to a staff of 40 and a 60-seater! Way to go.

But the going continues. Soon, Sarita will be opening Lovefools by the Sea in Goa. South Goa, Utorda, next to Majorda to be exact. Can’t wait for this one. The cuisine? Heritage Goan food. “A tribute to your dad?” I enquire, “Yes!” she replies with a large smile. Well, Agliardi Pereira must be smiling in heaven, too, his daughter is home again.

Are you content now, feel settled? I ask her my last question. Sarita, the seeker replies, “Oh yes, very much. I go home exhausted and I wake up happy.”

Chef Nooresha Kably

Oh! For some great Sushi

It’s never too late to listen to your heart.

Shaking all sorts of noises in her head, Nooresha Nathani Kably had made up her mind. She would become a chef, open her own restaurant. This decision she made at age 45. It was not just any cuisine that she wanted to pursue, but Japanese. Rather intimidating, because quite simply, Japanese restaurants are not easy to launch. Predominantly, until then, it was only the 5-star hotels with deep pockets and an international supply chain set in place, who could afford to do so.

But Nooresha who grew up eating all kinds of fresh seafood, loved Japanese cuisine. Her father Aziz Nathani was the first exporter of seafood from India, over 50 years ago. “So, you see, I was fortunate enough to know what fresh seafood tastes like, and I loved it,” says Nooresha.

Once she had made up her mind, passion firmly in place, her commitment took her to the Tokyo Sushi Academy for a three-month course. She returned, skills honed, confidence high, and opened the doors in Bandra, to Izumi. Small, just a 16-seater, but one that soon had the city buzzing and singing praise of the new ‘kid’ in town.

But there is a little something else that led to this endeavour. Anil Kably, Nooresha’s husband, now ex, was one of the promoters of Zenzi, which had pretty much changed how Bombay partied. Nooresha got a lot of insight due to this exposure. It is when Zenzi shut that Anil suggested to Nooresha that she should put her restaurant experience to use. “Why don’t you do sushi?” he asked her. That set the ball rolling, and she started catering Japanese meals for interested clients. The feedback was so encouraging that she started a proper catering outfit called Sushi Koi. Soon, buoyed by success, she decided to head for Japan to learn first-hand all she could about sushi nuances and whatever she could pick up.

Which was elements of Washoku, a culinary culture in Japan that speaks about the harmony achieved by combining fresh ingredients with simple seasonings. Nooresha was hooked. She was back in Japan the following year, doing yet another course in Yokohama, learning all about ramen-making. And not just that. She travelled for two months; Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, picking up whatever she could about kitchen secrets as well as Japanese culture and tradition. She went on to work at the busiest ramen restaurant, serving 500 bowls of ramen each day. Says Nooresha, “That experience was phenomenal. This ramen shop was a busy, crowded joint, near the station. It taught me much. Including how to run a restaurant.”

That’s when Chef Nooresha Kably was born. When Izumi was born. When, within days, long queues were snaked up and the quiet little lane in Bandra became a bustling one.

Of course, the 16-seater soon gave way to a new and much larger place, a 56-seater to which Nooresha gave a ramen shop vibe. Long wooden tables, elegant slats, partitions, levels, the sushi counter, the robata grill, a yakitori bar, staff in Japanese-style gowns. “I can’t tell you how rewarding this has been, a real dream run,” says the hard-working chef, who was once working in a garment firm, designing clothes. Proudly, she says she designs her own chef’s coat these days.

Izumi has built up a vast fan base, with the kind of food they serve; Pork Tonkatsu Ramen, Hamachi Truffle Ponzu with Wasabi Jelly, Yakitori Wings with Togarashi Butter, Crispy Edamame Avocado Roll, Grilled Napa Cabbage, and the Shoyu Chintan Ramen. It isn’t any surprise that a large section of their clientele is Japanese, which certainly speaks highly of the restaurant.

This also has much to do with Nooresha’s focus on sourcing authentic ingredients. To this end she has forged strong relationships with Japanese suppliers who bring to her the very best that will help her create food with the multiple culinary techniques that she has perfected over the years. Yes, right since 2017, Nooresha has been going to Japan to perfect her skills, over and over again.

Chef Nooresha’s passion doesn’t stop at just dishing out Japanese fare. She manages and trains her staff of over 100 young and not-so-young people. “You know most of my staff did not have any prior experience in Japanese cuisine,” says Nooresha. Her involvement is evident in the fact that she teaches her team all that she has learned and in the same way that she was taught.

It doesn’t stop at that. Chef Nooresha generously and sensibly offers her staff a trip to Japan. Recently she took a team of seven from Izumi to Japan. They’ve come back, changed forever. It’s a simple theory; anyone who shows promise and stays with her for a substantial period of time is rewarded with a life-changing experience of learning about Japanese food, first-hand, in the land of the rising sun itself!

Chef Nooresha is a busy person. She is always winging it between her two restaurants. There is also Izumi Assagao in Goa. Ask her to choose between the two, at least the vibe, if not the food, this is what she says, “The Goa crowd has a more All-India footprint than Bombay, with folks from Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and The Bay dining out. Izumi is now known all over the country, thanks to the Goa outpost. But of course I am sentimental about my Izumi in Bandra. The Bombay foodie will always be special. They are no longer afraid of sashimi – the uncooked fish. They are now more evolved, well-travelled, especially to Japan, where the lure of the Cherry Blossom season, has captured people’s imagination. They, as well as the big number of expats in the city, are regulars at Izumi. I certainly like that!”

The chef deserves the love and recognition she gets. Continue to support, and soon we may have the omakase table she has been planning in her head.

Chef Niyati Rao

Painting my platter

Chef Niyati Rao is God’s own child. This young lady of quiet grace and impeccable manners is totally, meaning totally, immersed in the culinary art she practises. She knew from when she was very little, that she wanted to cook. Be a chef.

She had a dad who was certainly offbeat. He yanked his family off Versova where Niyati was born and went to live in the salubrious village of Madh Island, in the far corner of north Bombay. A music composer who played the piano and created umpteen scores, for Buddha Bar and Bollywood films, he danced to a different beat. He was a contemporary of Mahesh Bhatt, Vikram Bhatt and David Dhavan. And a protégé of SD Burman for who his dad, also a musician, played the violin. Rajesh Rao passed away too early, at 41 years.

Niyati’s mum who was just 21 when Niyati was born, was an FDA scientist and a pharmacist. She gave up her job when her baby was one year old, just so that she could be a full-time mum. Just as well, for it was very early on in her school life that her teachers started complaining about Niyati. “She does not concentrate in class, only likes geography and history, does not understand math at all, hates it,” they said. “She is very different from other children, does not play with her classmates, but the school dogs and cats around, she is friends with, they even follow her to the classroom,” they despaired.

Niyati’s sensitive mother was quick to understand her girl had a different perception of things – that she was dyslexic. Three decades ago, this was not easy to detect. But her mother knew. She let her be. She put her in a phonetic class and let Niyati pursue what her heart desired. And what her heart wanted was to indulge in art and creativity.

“I did have a horrid time in school. I was bullied and tormented, but my super mum was a saviour. When she realised 2 and 2 for me meant 22, she just said, ‘Let’s hone her skills in what she is good at,’ and I started to paint, in books, on the walls, I collected flowers, dried them, stuck them in books. We went cycling on the beach, she even took me to the market, to the butcher and the fish monger and I learnt very early in life to determine just when a pumpkin ripened… You know, I can live without anyone and anything in life, but not my mum,” says Niyati softly. Niyati married three years ago, shifted base, but her mother still comes down from Madh Island to spend time with her, and Niyati continues to paint; watercolours, now.

Well, a good thing for us that the discerning mum recognised Niyati’s strength because a little chef with innate ability was born and nurtured, who went on in her adulthood to create Ekaa and all the other restaurants and bars; Nonna Mei, Ringo, Bombay Daak and KMC Bar and Bistro.

What kind of food influenced Niyati, what does she really like to eat? “Malvani food!” comes the quick, short answer. Not Gujarati? That’s where her mum hails from? “Yes, I was brought up on great Surti fare, especially the cooking of my ba, my grandmother, but there were so many culinary influences in my life. My dad was from Tamil Nadu, so from his parents’ side I was exposed to Telugu dishes, he grew up in Hyderabad where all his siblings were married to Muslims, so Nizami cuisine is what came into my life. Our neighbours were all Maharashtrians so that’s what my mum picked up and cooked plenty of. That’s what I like to eat best.”

All of these influences culminate in Niyati’s cooking now. But her ‘kitchen life’ did not start with her restaurants. At just 20, straight out of Dadar Catering College (IHM), she honed her skills at Zodiac Grill, Wasabi by Morimoto and A Reverie. Her desire to elevate her craft even further took her to Copenhagen to the one destination every chef aspires to work at; Noma, rated among the world’s best restaurants. “That was an eye-opener. Eight months at Noma taught me a whole lot. But COVID was the spoiler and all of us there had to return to our home countries. When I returned, I was so enthused, I applied everywhere I thought worthy; Masque, The Table, Bombay Canteen, but I ended up selling egg and mutton rolls, Frankie style, at my Madh Island home and taking orders for ‘chef’s special meal’ at weekends.”

“But I must say, it was when I was at Zodiac Grill, where I was given a beautiful opportunity by Chef Hemant Oberoi, that truly boosted my confidence and is the reason why I am where I am today. Even though I was a very junior team member handling the cold section, he asked me to make a trial dish for the upcoming Valentine’s Day. I made something called Salmon Makes Love to the Ocean, Chef Oberoi loved it and put it on the menu. I was floating on Cloud 9.”

All of Niyati’s efforts paid off and all her experiences resulted in the extremely technique-forward and ingredient-inspired food served at her restaurants, one where you can’t pinpoint to any one cuisine.

However, there is one influence that has been the biggest in Niyati’s life. Her father’s love for all things Japanese. Thanks to which the family travelled to Japan often. “Japan did play a big role in our lives. We were even raised based on Japanese philosophy. We ate Japanese food very early on. With chopsticks! My dad said you cannot eat sushi with a fork. He also said you can’t eat food you can’t pronounce. So, we learnt the right Japanese food pronunciations. Including when in Paris restaurants, where our French was put to test. We did travel a great deal with him. He would have loved the fact that I worked in Wasabi, unfortunately by then he had passed away.” Niyati rates the best gift in her life as that from her father; a beautiful Japanese knife with her name engraved on it. Today she continues to watch Ghibli movies; Spirited Away is her all-time favourite. But the best part, thanks to all her earlier exposure is that Niyati uses Japanese ingredients so creatively in her food, diners are left amazed.

Which really brings me to enquiring how Ekaa actually happened. “Ohhhh thaaat… well, one day I received a call from a friend I had known in my college days. He wanted to meet up. So, we fixed a date. For which he was late, so I left. Then he called again saying he had a little investment and a small plan, would I be interested? I was, we met and planned and soon started Ekaa. And we also got married. Sagar, my husband and I are co-founders, he is the CEO and Financial Administrator.

The two, today, along with their team have made a huge success of their ventures into which they have poured their heart in. Deservedly and for the best of all foodies.

While Niyati’s restaurants are Bombay-based, one of them, Nonna Mei nestles in Shillong. It brings together two worlds that are deeply meaningful to Niyati. Nonna is grandmother in Italian and mei the same in Khasi. The restaurant brings Italian techniques and ingredients into conversation with the produce, flavours and food traditions of Meghalaya. I certainly hope to make it there some day.

Chef Niyati does not rest on her laurels. Her collaborative practice takes her across India and overseas, to places like Tasmania, Hong Kong, Thailand, where she creates experiential menus shaped by the character of each destination and the people she collaborates with. She tells her stories at these pop-ups, hotel residencies, and cultural festivals while exploring new ingredients, techniques, all the while creating new memories.

Niyati Rao was the last one I interviewed that afternoon. When I left her alone in the living room to interview the second-last one, I told her, “Go to sleep.” When I returned to fetch her an hour later, she was fast asleep on the long sofa, with feet, though unshod, off the sofa. I told you in the beginning, Niyati has impeccable manners, even in her sleep.