BY ANAND MORWANI
Director, Brewbot
''Scrambled!” I must have been about five years old when I witnessed my first culinary master-class. It was extremely special as unlike Cordon Bleu, where I pursued my passion for cooking or Les Roches in Switzerland where I learnt the foundations of hospitality, this practical was not being conducted by a trained or professional chef but by my grandmother!
If you can’t already tell, food has been an integral part of my journey through life and coming from a family of foodies, some of my fondest memories growing up were from when I was either in my mother and grandmother’s kitchen, making a mess or over-eating and having fun at the dinner table with my family and friends.
Coming back to the eggs, what’s the big deal, right? … Wrong! To turn an ingredient as humble as eggs and a dish so simple into an extraordinary culinary experience was magical, cooking was definitely an art, an art that I wanted to learn, understand and try and master.
As a chef, we always talk highly of ‘produce’, but it was only through my early days working in witzerland and the UK where I had the opportunity to work with several Michelin star chefs. That is when I truly started to understand the importance of produce; standards of operation and delivering uncompromised quality consistently. A lot of the techniques and various styles of execution that I learnt abroad are exhibited in my cooking on the menu at Brewbot, the eatery and pub brewer that I run today.
On my return to India, I was confronted with a lot of cynicism. ‘They’ said, “…India? Why go back/come back to India?” People thought I was probably not all there, but for me, it was crystal clear: Mumbai is home and it had always been my dream, probably since the 7th grade, to open my very own restaurant in my city, the city I grew up in.
#brewbotmumbai! Saving the world, 1 pint at a time! That was the insight behind launching Brewbot in September 2014 in Mumbai, but thanks to the way the government functions, it was only in June 2015 that we started brewing and poured out our first pint of beer!
At Brewbot, our craft beers and food are amongst the best in the country and a lot of our regulars are expats from Germany, the US and the UK. Call me crazy, but we even grow our own vegetables for Brewbot on a farm outside Lonavala. Our sauces, breads and pastas are all made fresh in-house and our food has been inspired by beer capitals of the world. We use beer in our day to day cooking at the restaurant and try to explore new and innovative applications for craft beer in the kitchen.
“With great power comes great responsibility”… being one of the first craft breweries in the suburbs of Mumbai was a huge responsibility. There were, and still are, customers who taste craft beer for the first time and their experience leaves an impression on them forever. This is one of the primary reasons we import 100% of malts, hops and yeast from Germany, Belgium, the UK and USA so that the consumer can have a true taste of how the product would be if you consumed it at its region of origin. The senses must always be pleased!
@ FEEDBACK
natasha.d@communicateindia.com
