The essence of enterprise

The setting is spacious, the spice Spanish. Top chef Farrokh Khambata celebrated The Spanish Gastronomic Week towards the end of last year at his new restaurant called Amadeus at the NCPA (National Centre for the Performing Arts) complex at Nariman Point in Bombay. Fiery Flamenco dancers swirled ruffled skirts in the space set up for live performances, as diners sampled the special Spanish degustation menus (special tasting of the chef’s signature dishes) crafted jointly by Khambata and master chef Guillermo Hidalgo from Barcelona. Spanish spice, Mediterranean and Levantine (eastern Mediterranean) cuisine is the essence of enterprise at Amadeus.

Photos of maestros Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta and Zakir Hussain bring in the melodic motif at Amadeus

"I have been planning a European restaurant for a long time,” says Khambata, the proprietor of Catering and Allied, a well-known catering company, and Joss, the fine dining eatery at Kala Ghoda which curries the flavors of Thai, Malaysian, Japanese, Indonesian, Balinese and other Far Eastern cuisine. "We have been the official caterers for the NCPA for around 10 years and have worked closely with them. The NCPA is a lovely space but it was lacking the kind of quality restaurants you find attached to theater complexes in New York, London or Sydney. We believe we have filled up this space by creating Amadeus,” he explains. The high-end restaurant will be appreciated not just by theater goers but by all who value a good culinary destination, he believes.
Amadeus’ design and décor is in tune with its location in a multi venue, multi-purpose cultural center which encompasses the Jamshed Bhabha Opera House, Tata Theatre, Experimental Theatre, Little Theatre, Dance Theatre Godrej and the Piramal Gallery and is also home to the SOI (Symphony Orchestra of India), the country’s first fully professional symphony orchestra. The interiors of Amadeus, covering 6,000 square feet, were designed by Phirosa Neterwala of the well-known firm of Neterwala and Aibara. "The execution took four-and-a-half months, which was the period granted by the NCPA. I had been working on the concept for the last two years. We worked great as a team. Zia Shroff (who worked on the project) is a good friend and our ideas really merged. You can call it a labor of love,” asserts Khambata.
Friends chipped in with individual expertise to enhance the ambience. Khambata points out to Parsiana the bar stools and tables designed and executed by renowned sculptor Arzan Khambatta. "The bar top is made by my friend Gaurav Seksaria by recycling alcohol bottles which have been pressed at high temperatures to flatten them. It’s quite an art as they have to be treated at a particular temperature or they break,” he describes. Khurshed Poonawalla of Commercial Art Lithographers did the "beautiful prints” that adorn the walls, he tells us just as Poonawalla walks in and greets his friend with a hug! Magnified images of maestros who have graced the stage at the NCPA — violinist Yehudi Menuhin, conductor Zubin Mehta and tabla player Zakir Hussain —introduce the melodic motif. A magnificent print of a symphony orchestra and choir bring in the air of a concert hall! The 18th century Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, however, has nothing to do with the restaurant, nor has it been named after the 1984 Academy Award winning film Amadeus! (The word Amadeus, pronounced ah-ma-day-us, is of Latin origin and means "God’s love,” as per Wikipedia.)

Fine dining at Amadeus and an array of the restaurant’s specialities

"Look at the black acoustic ceiling,” Khambata tells us. "We have really taken pains over it and spent a lot of money. It is rare to find good acoustics in a restaurant. But we had a bad experience with our banquet rooms at Rampart Row and have learnt from our mistakes.” What have been the other difficulties? we query. "Nothing really,” he gives a small smile. "I have been running Joss for the last eight years and have been in the industry for 15 years! Amadeus opened on July 7 and everything was smoothened out in two months. At Joss and the Rampart Row rooms, it took a year and two months for everything to come under control!” When Joss opened, many people thought the concept of Far Eastern food was a fad that wouldn’t work, he remarks. "They’re probably saying the same thing for Spanish and Mediterranean cuisine now, but it will work. We have totally avoided Italian food though,” he adds.
Premium brands like Dom Perignon like to be associated with the restaurant, Khambata declares. "Companies see the potential in this space. They look at the interiors and the fact that it is run by professional people. Dom Perignon especially labeled a bottle called Amadeus for us and presented it to me on opening night. This is rarely done in India. They did it because they feel associating the brand with us is a good investment.” Though restaurants are plentiful across Bombay, Khambata does not fear competitors. "Competition is always welcome. But there are not too many spaces available in south Bombay. It is difficult to get licenses. You have to be in a non-residential zone, etc,” he explains. For those with Saturday night fever, advance booking is recommended! "It is difficult to get a table on weekends without a reservation and the fact that it is located in the south of the island hardly matters as diners come from Juhu and beyond,” he observes.
Khambata has also opened a café just outside Amadeus. "This will be an all day, low priced café where artistes, theater goers can hang out.” With various activities connected with art and culture (teaching programs in music, dance, rehearsals, exhibitions, etc) on all day, the café will capture the essence of the NCPA amidst the greenery of its big complex, he believes. "It will be called quite simply the NCPA Cafe,” he says.

Dilshad and Farrokh Khambata with son Hushaan

Having broadened his brand equity, we ask Khambata how difficult he finds it to manage all the offerings on his platter. "Not really difficult,” he replies. "Most mornings I am at Joss, evenings here. At Joss, I mainly reinvent menus. I have a good team. You have to put faith in your staff.” At Amadeus, the hot and cold Spanish tapas (appetizers), pinchos (skewers) and cocas (flat bread with stuffing like Serrano ham and rocket lettuce, magic mushrooms with brie and pine nuts, etc), are very popular, he comments. "We make excellent lamb (12-hour braised knuckle of lamb with black-eyed peas and prune chutney) and pork (sous vide pork belly with pedro jimenez honey lacquer served on garlic crusted steamed greens), as also the black cod in sherry sauce, Himalayan trout, the seafood paellas… We make very good dishes for vegetarians. The current consul general for Spain says he does not get such fine Spanish vegetarian food even in his own country!” Dessert specialities include creme catalan tequila-steeped spiced mango confit, tarte tatin of golden apples with cinnamon hazelnut ice cream, etc. In the West, all ingredients are freely available, here we get just 50 percent, he remarks. "To be honest, I think for the type of ingredients we can lay our hands on in India, we have mastered the art and we are far more talented than chef teams from other countries.”
At home on the cooking range since his early years, Khambata is an alumnus of the prestigious Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition at Dadar in Bombay, completing the three year course with rankings and winning the All India Student Chef Competition and other awards. He trained at the famous French restaurant Au Normandy and then at the Panorama Rue Boucicot in Paris, states his profile. Back in India, he began executing catering orders from a small unit at his residence, as well as took on outdoor assignments. The path from cook to master chef has seen many coups in the kitchen and successful experiments with exotic ingredients! "I’ll happily guide youth in my industry. Right now I have two Parsi boys training with us — Farhad Taraporewala (assistant manager at Amadeus) and Shiraz Kotwal (senior banquet manager at Joss and Rampart Row).”
Parsi patrons have not lost their fervor for food! Where there’s a swill there’s a sway! "You should have seen the bawas at Joss on Parsi New Year,” laughingly interjects Poonawalla as he waits for Khambata to complete the interview. "There was live music at Amadeus; the kids and their parents virtually took over the bar and dance floor! It was a gher no ghambhar (Parsi gathering)!” The Navroz Parsi menus are very popular even with other communities and celebrities like business tycoon Anand Mahindra and his publisher wife Anuradha and food critic and author Rashmi Uday Singh have been huge fans of Parsi food, chuckles Khambata.
Family support has long been a given! "My wife Dilshad plays a big part in all this, particularly in the accounting. We have one son, Hushaan, who is 10 years old. My father Aspi, who is a chartered accountant, also used to help, but is now not so involved. My mother Roshan is still working in a leading firm,” the restaurateur narrates. As a community, I don’t think we are regressing though we are dwindling in numbers, he adds. "I don’t like to pass views on religion. It is not for me to say who should or should not be a Parsi. I am neutral. I feel we must keep traditions though. I am open to suggestions. I would like to see more entrepreneurship coming out.” The spice of business should be soup for the soul!