Food is more than just 'feeding your stomach'- Chef Saby

On food trend

As we all see that the India is moving ahead, many changes are happening in the country.  And this is making the food and the cuisine evolved because the mindset of people is changing, the ingredients and raw materials are changing.

Today, the thought process in people have changed, when they buy food they want to know where it is cooked, is it cooked in the right method. And as the knowledge of food has increased the cuisine has also progressed.

Creating an overall experience

Earlier the menus were primarily the names of dishes but now we restaurants have started doing a lot of efforts from the time the guest enters.  The surrounding, the atmosphere everything is worked upon so that the look and feel, the smell of a live kitchen whether the food you are smelling or kitchen aroma from the flowers or perfumes can be experienced.

Meanwhile, the mental mappings of the things have become more critical. The flower that is used in Asian restaurant is different from an open restaurant. The colour, decor, the crockery and cutlery everything is arranged to bring connection.  Food is become more than just ‘feeding your stomach’.

On his own restaurant

I try to make my restaurants a fun because a customer always enjoys good food but he do not always enjoy sitting at serious stiff surrounding and eat food. The customer also wants energy and laughter and good food is about experience, who you are eating with, are you enjoying, laughing, having conversation. And the same food eaten alone probably may not seems that exciting if it’s not with friends and family. So, I try to keep my restaurant great fun, interesting, casual, full of energy and laughter and try to incorporate things which can make the place more lively. I try to recreate the warmth in my restaurant.

On drop in sales in restaurants

I think there is overall depression in the Indian economy because of the political and the financial scenario that is making the sales drop in Indian restaurants.  We have a restaurant in Goa and it was noticed that there were no tourists and there were many questions thrown that why the tourist didn’t come up but in result there were no tourist and we did no business. We have suffered majorly and is still suffering and in fact many hotels and restaurants in Goa is shutting down this year and they won’t come up next year as they don’t have the money to survive and our condition is also very bad. So, there is some kind of feeling about spending money and that may be a reason that sales gave gone down or is slower during last two to three years.

Advice to young chefs

Work harder, cook with ingredient that is easier to find, cheaper to find, use local ingredients, local sourcing with farmers, buy things yourselves, try to create interesting dishes and you’ll rock the kitchen.