Leading from the front: Indian-Norwegian politician Himanshu Gulati is climbing Europe’s political ladder

ed and joined the Institute of Hotel Management in Goa. It was at my internship at the Taj Holiday Village when I realised I enjoyed cooking. Till Class 12, I had never wanted to enter the kitchen or been curious about cooking.”

[caption id="attachment_56414" align="aligncenter" width="444"] Chef Siddharth during an invitation to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City[/caption]

Chef Siddharth Krishna joined the ITC Maurya in Delhi after graduation. He recalls, “I worked at Dum Pukht, Bukhara and Peshawri, the three globally known restaurants of the brand. Bukhara was also featured in Patricia Schultz's book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. At Peshawri, known for its robust tandoor-cooked dishes, I refined my ability to prepare bold, flavourful meals that celebrated the culinary traditions of the Indian Northwest Frontier. Meanwhile, at Dum Pukht, famous for its luxurious Awadhi cuisine, I mastered slow-cooking techniques and the delicate use of spices, further broadening my culinary repertoire. These experiences laid the foundation for my later success, as I blended traditional techniques with modern innovation—a philosophy that would define my global culinary journey.”

Namastey London

While he was the Sous Chef at ITC Chola Sheraton in Chennai, in 2004, he got an opportunity to work with Camellia and Namita Punjabi, the sisters who have established Chutney Mary, one of the UK’s best-known restaurants serving Indian food. “I had participated in a cooking competition, and my dish was ranked the best. I met Camellia Punjabi because Jiggs Kalra, the legendary chef, had suggested she meet me and she asked me to join them. It was a no-brainer and I said yes given that it was one of the top ten restaurants in the world at that time.”

Chef Siddharth worked with Chutney Mary as Head Chef till 2012. His time there was a learning curve at several levels, he reveals. “We shared a great rapport, and through them, I learnt the know-how and tricks of the trade. Vision, strategy, flavour profiles, cooking techniques for all kinds of meat and more. Some of the processes we used there were unheard of at the Indian restaurants then. If we served three curries, none of them were anything like each other. I am still in touch with them!”

[caption id="attachment_56415" align="aligncenter" width="454"] Chef Siddharth Krishna at a fish farm and market[/caption]

During his tenure there, Chutney Mary became known for its ability to blend traditional Indian flavours with contemporary presentations. The restaurant received multiple awards and recognitions during this period, including being ranked No. 5 in Time Out’s Guide to London’s Top 50 Restaurants. Additionally, it frequently featured in top food guides, such as the Square Meal Guide, which awarded it the Best Modern Indian Restaurant title for two consecutive years.

More milestones 

Chef Siddharth Krishna left Chutney Mary to join Rosewood Abu Dhabi as the Chef de Cuisine and was part of the launch and subsequent success of Sambusek, (a lifestyle Lebanese cuisine restaurant), and instrumental in the launch of Dai Pai Dong (the Chinese restaurant at the Rosewood); and Aqua. Chef Siddharth says about his stint in the UAE, “One of my most significant achievements was my tenure at Spice Mela in Abu Dhabi, where I served as Chef de Cuisine. Under my leadership, Spice Mela became one of the premier destinations for contemporary Indian cuisine in the region, earning numerous prestigious awards.” 

Due to his impactful journey in Abu Dhabi, the Rosewood group offered him a plum position to lead the culinary operations in the Bahamas at their property the Rosewood Baha Mar. He was responsible for the launch of their F&B operations here as well. Says Chef Siddharth about working on the island that is the haunt of the rich and the famous, “Since May 2018, I have led the culinary operations here. As the Executive Chef and a member of the Baha Mar F&B advisory committee, I was instrumental in the successful opening of the resort’s food and beverage operations. This included the critically acclaimed Café Boulud by Daniel Boulud and Costa, a coastal Mexican cuisine concept. Under my direction, the resort served over 35000 a la carte covers per month.”   

[caption id="attachment_56418" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Chef Siddharth at work at Rosewood Baha Mar[/caption]

To further his knowledge, he went on a road trip to coastal Mexico to learn about their food as he didn’t want the cuisine to be limited to the ubiquitous Tex Mex variety. Some of his innovative approaches curating unique dining experiences included a ‘Dinner Under the Stars,’ featuring a menu inspired by Zodiac flavours, and collaborating with celebrity chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Daniel Boulud, and Margarita Carillo during the Baha Mar Culinary Festival. 

Another achievement in this long list includes the invitation he received to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City. “Being invited to this esteemed institution is one of the highest honours for a chef, and the opportunity to highlight my culinary artistry was a testament to my standing in the culinary community. My menu at the James Beard House featured a collage of Indian spices with modern cooking techniques, reflecting my vision of contemporary gastronomy.”  

 Life in the UK

Chef Siddharth Krishna decided to move back to the UK again because he wanted his 13-year-old son to have more exposure than was available on the island. In January this year, he joined the Fairmont Windsor Park, a luxury property in Egham, an hour away from London. About his role here as Executive Head Chef he says, “We change the menu every season and it is a lovely property where we grow our own vegetables in the garden.”

[caption id="attachment_56417" align="aligncenter" width="425"] Chef Siddhartha Krishna at the Fairmont Windsor Park[/caption]

Chef Siddharth Krishna has a strong belief system which has perhaps played a key role in his success. He says, “I believe that whatever you do, you have to be true to yourself. There have been challenges where acquiring the knowledge and skill was important. Now it is about cooking with passion and authenticity.”

On the personal front, Chef Siddharth has a cookbook ready in the wings, complete with a foreword written too. He says it is one with an out-of-the-box concept but has not gotten around to sending it to publishers yet. If it is as colourful as his career trajectory, we are sure the book will be as successful when it hits the shelves. 

While travelling, Chef Siddharth likes to eat at:

• Black Pepper Crab at Long Beach UDMC, Singapore  
• Crispy pork belly at Mott 32, Hong Kong
• Lasagna at Don Angie, New York
• Tacos, gorditas, churros, al pastor on the streets of Mexico City 
• Prawn Al Ajillo at Casa Lucio, Madrid

Follow Chef Siddharth Krishna on Instagram 

met ice cream range, Gappe Vappe Chaatwala, Amande by Almond House, that makes 100 per cent eggless, premium bakery products, and Greater Gud, an FMCG brand focussing on the goodness of jaggery.

Chocolates Are Us

How did the shift towards chocolate happen, we ask? Seated in the spacious environs of the café at Manam Chocolate Karkhana, which houses the store above, and surrounded by the aromas of freshly made chocolate, Chaitanya tells Global Indian, “When it comes to quality Indian chocolate, I observed that everyone was using the same raw materials and the same homogenous product was being made. It was more an industrial grade that was available. In keeping with the global movement of making craft chocolate, I did my research.” That meant exploring the cacao growing regions in West Godavari for three years, during which time he talked to farmers and learned of their positive and meaningful impact on the value chain. “I also got to know about the technical problems they faced in the drying and fermenting of the cacao beans. Though India has been growing cacao since the 1960s, we are an industrial player and not in the business of craft chocolate,” he says.

His thorough research led to the setting up of his company Distinct Origins P/L to establish the West Godavari region as a place of origin from where potential global craft chocolate makers could import fine-flavour cacao beans; and local players could create Indian craft chocolate, like Manam Chocolate. He streamlined the entire process of the bean to its finished product with proprietary technology and software to the extent that he knows which bean comes from which tree, belongs to which farm and the farmer cultivating it. The packaging includes a picture of the farmer growing the bean in the single farmer series of chocolate.

The Science of Chocolate

Chaitanya is one of those entrepreneurs who will go the last mile to ensure perfection. Besides making the cultivating and sourcing process tech-driven, he set up India’s largest fermentery – the Distinct Origins Cacao Fermentery in Tadikalapudi, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. It is the largest of its kind in India, and estimated to be second largest in the world, a state-of-the-art cacao processing facility situated amidst their 150 partner farms.

The protocols followed at the cacao fermentery include stringent cacao screening, where only the finest pods are selected, and wooden clubs are used to crack them open, instead of machetes and sickles. This is done to protect the beans within from damage. After the selection, the beans go through a five-step fermentation process, and the proprietary technology monitors parameters such as pH levels, temperature, humidity etc. This is followed by a slow drying method on movable racks that are kept alternatively in the sun and the shade, and the beans are turned every hour by hand to ensure even drying.

[caption id="attachment_55181" align="aligncenter" width="603"] The 'Indulge' collection by Manam Chocolates. Photo courtesy: Daniel D'Souza[/caption]

After the sorting, weighing, labelling etc., the beans come to the Manam Chocolate Karkhana, the company’s first retail-cum-experiential concept store, where the chocolate is made. They offer a guided tour experience and workshops for anyone interested and you can see first-hand the chocolate being made. The display houses the varieties available which include, tablets, further divided into categories like single farm, single origin India and international, dark, milk and vegan as well as signature blends and infusions etc. Lovers of chocolate can choose from bonbons, thins, and more. Unusual flavours created in-house include curry leaf and coconut, mango ginger, banana and mangoes etc. There is even one in a chai biscuit flavour.

Says Chaitanya about his enterprise, “My mission is to establish a reputation for Indian cacao and craft chocolate. We are not the bean-to-bar variety. I want to deconstruct and create an evolved product where we start before the bean and go beyond the bar.”

To ensure that his products meet the highest standards on all fronts, Chaitanya has been certified for Level 1, 2 and 3 in Chocolate Tasting by the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (IICCT, USA). He is India's first Level 3 Certified Chocolate Taster. But he adds that his chefs too have got the certification so he is no longer the only one.

 The Winning Taste

In keeping with his vision, Manam Chocolate has 300 products in 50 categories. While the Hyderabad outlet sees footfalls aplenty, and the website delivers all over India, Chaitanya wants to expand to multiple Indian cities over the next three years. Currently, Distinct Origins works with 150 farmers and a cacao cultivation area of 3000 acres.

His efforts have paid off stupendously. Manam Chocolate won 17 awards at the prestigious World Chocolate Awards held by the Academy of Chocolate, UK. In less than 100 days since their launch in August 2023, Manam was declared the overall winner in the brand experience category, among more than 1400 international entries. They also won one gold, ten silver and five bronze awards for their 66% Dark Chocolate (Single Origin, Idukki, Kerala), 65% Dark Chocolate (Single Origin Cacao San Carlos Plain, Northern Region of Costa Rica), 67% Dark Chocolate (Single Origin – House Fermented Cacao – West Godavari) among others. It is an accomplishment given that the best cacao for craft chocolate has till now been associated with Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, and Vietnam. Says Chaitanya about the sizeable victories, “The awards are more a sensorial evaluation of the product. The unique thing about cacao is that you can trace it back to the tree from a flavour standpoint.”

[caption id="attachment_55182" align="aligncenter" width="337"] Chaitanya Muppala is putting Indian craft chocolate on the world map. Photo courtesy: Daksh Chindalia.[/caption]

Another feather in the company’s cap is that Manan Chocolate featured as an exciting new place to visit in Time magazine’s annual list of the World’s Greatest Places 2024.

A believer in pushing the limits, his next project involves getting into the genetics of Indian cacao. “I want to take Indian chocolate to the world,” Chaitanya concludes. He seems to be on track in achieving this goal already.

• Follow Chaitanya Muppala on LinkedIn.