Tandoori Magazine | Home of Indian Food and Drinks

You wouldn't think that there would be two talented chefs heading up a restaurant kitchen, now would you? Massala, in Cobham, Surrey, seems to have found the answer and seems to be all the better for it. The two chefs, Sunil Sinha, who is senior and in charge of the cooking, and Pradeep Asawa, who takes care of the finished product when it comes to both tasting it and overseeing the presentation, work hand-in-hand. No surprise then that the pan-Indian menu produces some very fine and well-flavoured cooking.

Then again, the two also have a very fine pedigree. Both trained with the Taj hotel group in India, and not only did they serve in a gamut of kitchens within that group across the country, they have also steered the kitchens of several UK restaurants between them. So how do they conduct their duties together?

"Once I'm done with the cooking of a dish," says Sinha, "I pass it on to Pradeep." The latter states: "I take care of the quality control and dress the dish to make it look as good as possible. I'm the final link in the chain before the food is sent out to customers. I practically smell the dish to see if it's giving off all the right aromas and that it's eye-catching."

For both chefs what's important is that the cooking remains authentic and full of flavour.
"At the same time," notes Sinha, "we make the food as refined as possible. We are in a locality where people are very well-heeled and understanding of sophisticated cooking. This is also reflected in the dishes we have chosen to put on our menu. It may cover all regions of India and be the most popular ones from a particular region, but we have also had to ensure that they are suited to most palates.

"Pradeep and I have been very fortunate in that we have worked in most parts of India even though we both originate from north India. With the Taj group's hotels being nationwide, we have been able to learn and absorb a lot about regional cooking."

Both Sinha and Asawa work in harmony and state that they understand each other's cooking methods very well. At heart, they add, what is important is that their talent comes through and the customer always leaves the restaurant happy. Between them, their specialities on Massala's menu include tandoori paneer khaas, onion and potato bhajia, samudari ratan, ajwaini jhinga, murg tikka lababdar and roast lamb laziz.

"We grind all the spices here and make our own spice mixes," says Sinha. "This may be an intimate restaurant that isn't trying to win any Michelin stars, but Pradeep and I will do our best to ensure that everything is first rate."

So what do the two think of each other's cooking and do they ever disagree in the kitchen?
"We absolutely love each other's cooking," admits Asawa. "And yes, of course we disagree with each other, but it comes out of passion and a real admiration ignore each other and what we have to offer. If we can make our dishes better out of any heated discussions we may have then it's all the better for our customers."

Sample Dishes - Massala

Starters
-Tandoori Paneer Khaas £4.95
Indian cottage cheese filled with piquant chutney and pickles and marinated and grilled with vegetables in a clay charcoal oven

-Samudari Ratan £6.95
scallops, mussels and squid infused with mustard garlic and cumin- flavoured spicy Goan sauce

Mains
-Murg Tikka Lababdar £9.95
chicken tikka cooked with fenugreek- flavoured onion and tomato massala sauce and finished with coriander and cream

-Roast Lamb Laziz £10.95
leg of lamb steeped in whole spices, ginger and garlic, and slowly pot-roasted with a cardamom-flavoured spicy massala sauce

-Patrani Machchi £14.95
A whole sea bass is prepared in traditional Parsi fashion where it is steam-cooked with coconut, sesame seeds, coriander and mint enveloped in banana leaves

Part of an elite of high-end London Indian restaurants, Tamarind has long been heralded as one of those establishments that pioneered modern Indian cooking.

Launched under the helm of super-chef Atul Kocchar, it even garnered a Michelin star in 2001, only for Kocchar to leave the following year and his second in command, Alfred Prasad, currently the restaurant's executive chef, to take over. Ever since, the talented chef hasn't put a foot wrong, keeping Tamarind at the top of the cream of Indian restaurants.
Until, that is, in January last year, a body blow was dealt and the restaurant's Michelin star was taken away.

"The news could not have come at a worse time," admits Prasad, "because we were already in the middle of a recession and down on our business target by up to 20%. Somehow it didn't feel right that for so many years we'd had the Michelin star and then suddenly it had been removed. I took it very badly and bore the brunt of the pressure, not so much external pressure, but more self-inflicted."

After citing that the Michelin inspectors removing the star must have noticed the small details that the restaurant had overlooked, such as the bread not being up to scratch or the pulao rice being inconsistent Prasad and his team saw it was time to put on a brave face and say to themselves they will now do better, no question.

"We had what one might call a post-mortem meeting and reflected on what happened," says Prasad. "The overall conclusion was that while the damage was done, there was no use in being sorry and mournful. So the mantra from then on was that each and every customer who dines with us will go away happy. That way, we would return to our former glory. But we also had to be realistic and come to terms with the fact that we may not be able to regain our Michelin star for anything up to two years."

Clearly, Prasad and the rest of the staff stayed true to their pledge because as the year progressed, customer feedback was the most positive ever. The chef even goes so far as saying that it wasn't so much about the number of customers that walked through the door, but more importantly, "about how good an experience they had with us".

Then, Tamarind received the good news, they had been given their Michelin star back. Prasad and his colleagues - from the kitchen brigade to the front of house personnel - were over the moon and their hard work and effort had paid off.

While he would now like to set his eyes on winning a second or even a third star, Prasad says that the chances are that moving in that direction would require the opening of an off-shoot restaurant of Tamarind where the cooking would be more haute cuisine Indian.

"At Tamarind, we have deliberately stopped short of cutting edge cooking," he states, "because not only do we excel at offering high-quality traditional Indian food, the subcontinent still has a lot of regional variations which we have yet to explore fully."

Tamarind Sample Dishes

Appetisers
Tandoori Khumb £8.50
Tandoor grilled portabella, shiitake and oyster mushrooms with pickled onions in a curry leaf dressing
Grilled Scallops £12.00
Flavoured with mixed peppercorns, fennel and star-anise, topped with oven roasted peppers and crushed fenugreek in olive oil

Curries
Tali Macchi £19.95
Pan fried fillet of sea bass with asparagus and raw mango on a sauce of tomato with mustard, curry leaves and coconut
Lamb Chettinad £19.75
Diced leg of lamb with shallots, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and a special blend of Chettinad spices

Desserts
Chocolate Mousse £7.75
Velvety dark chocolate mousse with
a hint of cinnamon and orange zest
Stewed Pear £7.95
William pears stewed with star anise and cloves served with masala tea and ginger ice cream