Exclusive Interview | Chef Amit Arya, Executive Pastry Chef, InterContinental London - The O2
/“If you were a vegetable, which one would you be, and why?
I think my daughter would agree if I say I would be a potato for being bit round and very versatile if I may say so.”
How did it all start? Share your culinary journey with us.
As a child I loved sweets and the desire to know how my favourite treats were made led me to learn to be a pastry chef, while at university we had to learn all aspects of food catering and at my first job, my Executive pastry chef spotted I had a natural flair for baking and getting creative with pastries and I got placed in his kitchen permanently and the rest as they say is history.
What are your earliest memories of the kitchens you worked in.
When I started my hospitality career, the kitchens were a sacred place, big to small jobs were done with extreme precision and there was no room for mistake. It was demanding at that time but it honed our skills greatly that made me excel in the field of patisserie.
A dish your patrons/guest love
A dish that has been very popular amongst the guest is my signature dish of Banoffee parfait which has been my modern take on classic British dish Banoffee pie.
A dish that you love but do not have on your menu
Indian sweets like Jalebi, barfi , laddoo and halwa have always been my favourites but as a pastry chef they can’t be on the menu, so from time to time I take inspiration from them and create some fusion desserts.
What according to you does it take to become a successful chef?
It is a combination of dedication, hard work and a passion to learn and thrive that are the foundation of a successful career for a budding chef.
What advice would you give to a young culinary student?
The culinary world is ever evolving and in today’s time the social media food reels and vlogs have taken the world by storm, a culinary student will have to stay self-motivated and try to create their own niche while taking inspiration from various food trends and different cuisines.
If food could talk, which dish in your menu would have the most interesting story to tell?
I personally think food is actually a language that brings people together and generates emotions , not really a particular dish but many of my themed afternoon tea menus have been a plot of a successful story that were relished and enjoyed by the guests …’the spice route told the journey of tea and spice import from the Indian subcontinent to the Britain’ and ‘ the Queen’s jubilee dedicated to Britain’s late Monarch’s long and respected regime’ were few of many such successful experiences.
As an Executive Chef, have you ever had any funny or bizarre requests from guests that you managed to fulfil?
Interestingly, even though I am an executive pastry chef, many times I have been asked to come on board when there is an Indian wedding or banqueting function to create and execute a whole Indian menu comprising dishes from different regions of India like Awadhi, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Mughlai. It’s a bit of a challenge but I enjoy taking it on as it is something different from my usual routine and also gives me immense satisfaction to provide a wholesome experience of real Indian food to the patrons when they are looking for authentic food for which they generally have a doubt if it was to be done by a western origin banqueting chef.
If you were a vegetable, which one would you be, and why?
I think my daughter would agree if I say I would be a potato for being bit round and very versatile if I may say so.
Can you share a wacky kitchen mishap or memorable culinary disaster that you turned into a hilarious learning experience?
Well, it happened in the early days of my career when I was working in Dubai, the baker who made croissants had called in sick and there was an urgent requirement of 1000 croissants next day, as a young blood raring to impress I volunteered to make all the croissants, I prepared and shaped all of them ready to be baked next morning. When I came to work next day, the croissants were still lying unbaked and I asked the chef ‘ why was I told there was an urgent need for so many when you didn’t bake them? To which the executive pastry chef replied ‘ the croissants were fine but you forgot to add the yeast’ …till today I never forget to add yeast while preparing the dough for croissants.
As a Chef, have you ever encountered any culinary superstitions or quirky traditions in the kitchen?
When I have worked on a recipe and it has been a foolproof recipe , then I make sure each time it has to be done exactly the same way by using the same measuring tools to buying same brand of ingredients and following each step in a photocopy way so we get the same perfect result each time. I am very protective and superstitious for those recipes.
Can you describe a bizarre food trend or fad that you’ve observed or experienced throughout your culinary career?
Food trends have always been there but nothing of the scale like today, these days food trends are getting bit too adventurous and sometimes seems to be losing the plot thanks to social media influencer’s hunger for followers. Selling a mix of croissants and muffins which they call Cruffins or Croissants with Doughnuts which becomes Cronuts are results of such bizarre and crazy trends , what irks me is that many classic foods are losing the respect and honesty with which they were created originally and commanded the same rightfully for many decades.
