The boss of Joss

You are the first person putting food on this table. It had better be exceptional,” liquor baron Dr Vijay Mallya conveyed his expectations to chef Farrokh Khambata who was conferred the catering assignment for the New Year’s eve bash at his Goan getaway where he had just acquired a new glass dining table over 50 feet long. At around 4 p.m. on the day of the party Mallya told Khambata that the guest list had risen from 350 to 700 but thankfully the chef who says "I like to be two steps ahead” was prepared for the challenge!

Catering for exclusive clients, whether at the parties hosted by them or titillating their taste buds at the special chef’s table at his newly opened Joss restaurant at Kala Ghoda in south Bombay, Kham­bata’s popularity has been rising among those known to have fine dining tastes. Offering an array of Oriental, Continental and Indian cuisine, Khambata’s enterprise Catering and Allied has, in its 10 years of operations, grown from a two-member team to its present strength of nearly 100 employees with specialized chef teams working on different menus. This does not include the casual workers who may be hired depending on the number of parties they are catering to on a given day which may be as many as six as happened recently. Until last year they would refuse assignments if they were previously booked but of late they have tried to accommodate everyone. "We have a very good team,” conveys Khambata’s wife Dilshad who is in charge of the administrative responsibilities.

"I’m a very ‘hands-on’ person,” declares Farrokh, adding, "It’s not that others work for me and I don’t. I can manage people and maintain good relations with my staff. All my staff have been trained by me.” Every year he feels the necessity of travelling "to take a look at what’s happening around the world. I’ve just come back after attending a refresher course in Singapore.”

The more exposure he gets, the better for his patrons who get to sample newer culinary creations. "Within six months of starting our restaurant we have launched our second menu,” with 50 percent of new dishes being introduced, announces Farrokh. Some of the earlier traditional Oriental items they have removed and a few more European items have been added with a slight Oriental twist. Their 120-seater two level restaurant "has a huge amount of repeat clients for whom something new would always be welcome,” Farrokh explains their rationale. Serving the same stuff "the staff would be bored, the kitchen would be bored and even I would be bored,” acknowledges the restaurateur. "While some more expensive items may have now come in on the menu, the rates of their other dishes have not been revised,” he maintains. Their assorted breads and rolls at Rs 60 is the lowest priced item (with the exception of beverages and soft drinks) on their menu while the three most expensive dishes at Rs 800 are the New Zealand lamb chops grilled with herbs and Balsamic butter served with apricot glazed asparagus, Singapore black pepper crab (large), and Shelled baked white crab flavored with Japanese mustard and melting mozzarella (large). The soups are in the Rs 110 to Rs 170 range, the vegetarian dishes in the Rs 140 to Rs 300 range, noodles costing between Rs 160 to 380, rice dishes between Rs 160 to Rs 510, seafood costing upwards of Rs 220. Many a gourmet has vouched for their sushi (both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian variety) and their rare desserts like chocolate sushi and kiwi wasabi with blueberry dipping sauce, chocolate cigar on prune and armagnac ice cream with cookie marque, chocolate and cappuccino mousse cake layered with hazelnut cream, poached Japanese pears spiced and flamed with Midori roasted almond ice cream...

Farrokh and Dilshad Khambata

On weekdays Joss sees 30-40 coming for lunch and around 100 for dinner. On weekends, the numbers are larger with more than 200 coming for dinner. The chef’s table which can be booked for Wednesday nights is reportedly reserved weeks in advance by those who look forward to eating meals coo­ked by Far­rokh. Their well stoc­ked bar also has the latest to offer the connoisseur.

Altogether they occupy 18,000 square feet of space on the ground plus two floors of the building which they have taken on an eight-year lease. In addition to the restaurant and its independent kitchen which they have on the ground floor, the first floor accommodates their administrative office and central kitchen and the top floor the banquet rooms and conference facilities which will soon be operational. "I always wanted to start my own restaurant and introduce banquet rooms but not at the expense of sacrificing the catering business,” mentions the chef. Having declined earlier offers to open restaurants in the suburbs he considers himself fortunate to have "found space in the heart of Bombay in a very central area with ample parking facilities at night.” In fact, the word Joss, very loosely translated means luck or fortune. It is derived from the Portuguese word ‘deos’ which means God, mentions a press release.

Among their patrons "Parsis are easiest to deal with,” comments Farrokh because they know about food, drinks, desserts...” Commenting on the spirit of entrepreneurship within the community the 35-year-old gourmet notes, "The Parsi youth today don’t seem to have the desire to excel in what they do. They are a contented lot. They don’t want to make a personal sacrifice... Traditionally the Parsi community has been very enterprising” having made a substantial impact on India in the last century, he remarks. Speaking for the Parsi caterers he points out, "If they had formal training they would have done even better.”

Farrokh’s formal training commenced at the Institute of Hotel Management, Applied Nutrition and Catering Technology in Bombay after his schooling at St Mary’s, and a year each of science at the K. C. College and at St Xavier’s. Initially he had planned on becoming an architect because he was good at drawing but when he realized he needed to be equally good in math, he abandoned the idea. Presently in the catering business he is very happy that Dil­shad looks after all the accounting work. After her early education at the Bengallee Girls High School, Dilshad completed her commerce graduation from K. C. College.

Having won numerous awards at the Catering College, including the All India Student Chef Competition, Far­rokh got an opportunity to train at restaurants like Au Normandy and Panorama Rue Boucicot in France. After a short training stint in Italy he returned to India to join the Taj Hotel but stayed there for only seven days "because he did not see any future for himself as an entrepreneur.” His conversational skills in French and ability to understand Italian have made him popular among expatriates from the consulates and executives from the corporate world who constitute his clients. In fact his first assignment for a group of 35 was for Alliance Francaise, he recalls. Whether serving a select group of 20 or a guest list of 3,000, Catering and Allied has built up its reputation. Farrokh’s foray into modern Far Eastern cuisine commenced during his stay in Laos when he was accompanying his chartered accountant father Aspi who was on a posting there. Forced to cook and experiment with the ingredients available he was able to turn out interesting dishes. Not surprisingly, at Joss, "the menu is a clever combination of the known and the unknown so people are pleasantly surprised as even familiar dishes can have a nice twist with the addition of a clever sauce or ingredient.”

Considering that the failure rates in restaurants abroad is high, 80 percent close down within six months of operations, Farrokh is happy that he is in India and Bombay "where it is so much easier in terms of human resources and labor laws, flexibility in working.” Next on his cards is an aquarium restaurant to be set up as a joint venture with a company in Singapore.

Although the ladies in the Khambata household have never known to cook, neither his mother Roshan who after years of working for the Tatas is now general administration manager of Ferguson and Company, nor Dilshad, Farrokh is happy that their three-year-old son Hushaan has already shown a predilection towards Norwegian salmon, French cheese and Parma ham!

"Don’t get limited to any one market,” has been Farrokh’s credo which has stood him in good stead. While other Parsi caterers may complain of lean business Farrokh maintains, "I had foreseen this. The Parsi community is very price conscious. It is spending less on functions. As the numbers dwindle, there are fewer getting married and fewer functions.” He began catering for Parsi clients after a year of starting Catering and Allied, he relates.

"I am not fanatical about religion,” says Farrokh who is of the opinion that it is man-made and should be left to each individual to practice how he or she wishes to. Although he wears the sudreh-kusti and goes to an agiary he feels intercommunity marriages "will dilute the community but you can’t force your views on others.” Regarding disposal of the dead he believes that dakhmenashini served a purpose when we lived in a natural environment surrounded by open areas and forests. Disposal by fire though definitely does not appeal to him.

As a chef, he sees fire as "one of the most powerful elements. The power of a wooden fire to feed 1,000 people...” he trails off with awe and reverence. "The power that a fire has is unbelievable...It’s uncontrollable...”

Sushi offered by Joss

When requested by Parsiana, Farrokh Khambata shared the following recipes:

GRILLED LEMON CHICKEN WITH CINNAMON STICKS

Recipe for 10 people

Preparation time: 20 min

Cooking time: 15 min

Chicken supremes (inner part of the chicken breast — 1 kg)

Cracked black pepper (a pinch)

Garlic (2 cloves — crushed)

Extra Virgin olive oil (a drizzle)

Limes (4 — juiced)

Zest (rind of lemon — a pinch)

Cinnamon sticks (10)

Season the supremes of chicken. Cut the bark of the cinnamons into sate (bamboo) type sticks. Skewer each of the supremes onto the cinnamon sticks. Heat a pan. Drizzle in some olive oil. Add two crushed cloves of garlic and then add the supremes. Cook lightly as the supremes will cook really quickly. When cooked, add freshly squeezed lime juice and some grated zest. Serve hot with some root vegetables or on a bed of sautéed lettuce.

Tips: Grill the chicken in a non-stick pan using very little olive oil. Always add the lime juice at the end as the dish may turn bitter. The cinnamon stick gives a wonderful taste to the lemon chicken though a normal wooden skewer can be used if the flavor of cinna­mon is to be omitted.

STIR FRIED CELERY CHICKEN

Recipe for 10 people

Preparation time: 20 min

Cooking time: 15 min

Whole chicken (2 kg)

Garlic (50 g chillies)

Fresh red chillies (4)

Celery (1 bunch)

Spring onions (few)

Soya sauce (50 ml)

Corn flour (2 tbsp)

Oil (1 tbsp)

Boil the chicken in salted water and shred in long and big piec­es. Chop the garlic and slice the fresh red chillies. Cut the spring onions and celery stalks into 1” long pieces. Heat oil in a wok. Add the chopped garlic, sliced spring onions, and chillies. Add the shredded chicken and soya sauce with a little chicken stock. Add seasonings, and lastly the celery stalks. Thicken the dish with a thin paste of corn flour added to water.

PAHADI TANGDI KEBAB

Recipe for 10 people

Preparation time: 20 min

Cooking time: 15 min

Chicken drumsticks (20 pieces)

Yogurt (1 kg)

Green chillies (50 g)

Garlic (30 g)

Ginger (10 g)

Mint leaves (½ bunch)

Coriander (1 bunch)

Mustard oil (100 ml)

Cream (50 ml)

Coriander powder (2 tsp)

Cumin powder (1 tsp)

Black salt (½ tsp)

Kasoori methi powder (½ tsp)

Mango pickle (1 tsp)

Score the drumsticks. Make a paste with ginger, garlic, chillies, mint and coriander leaves. Whisk the yogurt and add all the ingredients to make the marinade. Marinate the chicken drumsticks and keep aside for at least four hours. Skewer the chicken. Heat an oven or a Tandoor and barbecue the chicken over a slow flame until cooked. Serve hot with slices of lemon, onion rings and mint leaves.

For enquiries regarding Joss please call 56314430/56334233/56356908.