You said that You’ve said that working in the army helped you started up your kitchen skills. Can you elaborate?
There were two real times in my career that the situations influenced my cooking and right, the first one was actually the army. On joining, looking for self security, I was sent to be a cook but just happened to be placed into the Officers mess (kitchen and dining) where one particular Chef was a culinary prize winner transferred from the British army. He took plastic models of ships and so on, made the plaster cats and then molded icing to set. Once hardened he then put the models together but made totally in icing! Something so different for me to see! And then the Officers mess ran like a restaurant, so great first learning, plus we had our own Army City and Guilds residential cooking schools, so great basics in skills. The Army kitchens were a place where a young cook learnt how to cut down whole beef, veal, pork and sheep, to making iced tiered wedding cakes and then everything in between. You learnt field cooking on spirit stoves, cooked on diesel stoves, gas and electrics so learning on all manners. I still remember in winter having to hose down the diesel pipes to thaw them before we could start the breakfast cooking. But there were others who spent all their time in the 1,000-man messes, bulk cooking and not heading anywhere in years. My days were pretty well the same as any other cook, shift work, walking the back roads so I met fewer officers who I had to salute, and having quite a lot of freedom as I was a volunteer fireman and a cook, so I was a little in the middle of all the rules and regulations – just do not get caught, that was all! After the Army it was a matter of working one job to another, building experience and going up, until I went to work in Frankfurt, the other great culinary influence of my life!

Germany was a training year, a tough, tough year, especially the first six months! With the attitude differences, the language and the skills I was in a fine dine restaurant heading towards it first Michelin staff in a 1,000-room hotel! But the skills learnt! We used live crayfish from Turkey, fresh black and white truffles, white asparagus, Bresse ducks, fresh goose liver and many things that I had only seen in the cookbooks before that. Reductions, froth sauces, expert grilling and the seafood! So, steep learning and a big change from being a keen cook to being a skilled cook! I dropped a position to go there, down to CDP and then I jumped two steps on leaving to head into China as Executive Sous Chef for another 1,000-room hotel! From there I became an International Executive Chef

Before you entered the army kitchens, were you ever drawn towards cooking?
Never, a crunchy peanut butter sandwich from a fresh loaf of bread was my sole creation in the afternoons, but I did enjoy the meals my mother made for us, and had a good appetite, the two thing she served that took years to overcome my aversion was baked beans and dried packet risotto rice. Now that I make the white beans simmered in tomato and the risottos in many flavours freshly cooked, there is nothing like the real thing and thoroughly enjoy now!

You’ve worked in multiple countries, cities and kitchens, how were kitchen ethics different in each country? How did working in each country shape you as a chef and as a person?
I must admit that care needed to be taken, not always my strong point through the years. From using feet in Thailand, the unions in Calcutta, the politics in China through to the culture of Bali, there has been, and is always a learning curve. My house here in Chennai has the Muslim call, with the church bells ring and the Diwali crackers all happening at the same time and I love it! But I have had my staff strike in Calcutta because I wanted change, and when I first landed there they said to me “why should they change, when I would be leaving in three years!!??” I did leave after three years, they did change, a number are still my friends and I am remembered fondly still. I used to arrive in a new Hotel, walk into the introduction meeting, told everyone not to stand in respect, but stand if they want in three months after I had earned their respect. I had a temper, I used the worst of Aussie swear words, I dented equipment in anger, but not people, but I respected anybody and everybody as a person, and an arm around the shoulder was for the garbage man or the Sous chef, it did not matter, but just do what I ask you to do, otherwise the volcano erupted. I am a little bit tamer these days I must admit, but as for respect of people, it is a given – we all live on this planet together and it is really such a small place for which we all strive to live, love, earn for our growing families and enjoy our friends! Every one is the same in this. I suppose working with the different cultures, even with the different groups here, has softened my outlook on people and the interaction. Maybe I am more understanding after over 40 years in Asia, or just realize that I am a guest here and as such, should be one with the society, apart and yet together.

When you came to India to work in the Oberoi Grand in Kolkata, was it a culture shock? Did you explore the city and its culinary culture, what was your favourite part of being in Kolkata? Please elaborate.
I must admit it was not too much of a shock as I had already been in China and Asia a while before that. I had been in the back of Szechuan province in the far countryside, even in Beijing before the first freeway went up, then traveling in Bali, Indonesia and South America as well. Also, when we were in Singapore, we made friends with an undercover pharmaceutical guy who used to come into India and Calcutta undercover, so when we arrived in Calcutta him and his local hunchback friend used to take my wife Marg and I out and about in Calcutta to some of the lesser know places! The poverty and beggars in Calcutta took some getting used to though, even though I made acquaintances and help support the ones that seemed to be always stationed outside The Oberoi Grand. I loved the street food at Moore’s market and you could pick and choose the cleaner looking places! Bengal cuisine is one of my favourites from India, loved the boneless smoked hilsa that the Oberoi did, the Bengal mustard prawns and the Calcutta eggrolls!

What compelled you to stay in India, was it the kitchens, people, culture?
In 2002 my wife Marg and I came to Chennai for six months, to open The Park hotel and then leave, after already being in different parts of India! Now look, 18 years later! As a person I love the feeling of living outside my comfort zone and in an exciting and vibrant place, although now I have managed to get a little stuck in India rather than Asia as a whole! But, things happen, one with my wife dying and in deciding not to run away from the issues, secondly the spark and fire that was The Park and then later with Tuscana and Kryptos. Part is the standing I have in the community and all the people who know me, plus also the fact that I actually like Chennai and love the feeling of the place! Some is admittedly the feeling of being a bigger fish in a small pond, of being part of the culinary history of Chennai, rather than being a small fish in a big pond back in my citizen countries and unknown. Now I am at the stage where I am too old to really up and move again, too young to retire and with my friends, life, city, work and colleagues in catering all here, it seems I shall spend a little more time here yet before life takes a different turn.

You have been and worked in different parts of India, how has that affected your process, what are the lessons you have learnt?
With the different groupings here and right from China where we had the deputy system, I have always worked through my senior Chefs, who do have a greater understanding of their colleagues, although I can be the voice who supports the underdog or the lower caste that may be left behind. I came from an apprenticeship program, have no degree, have no different languages, just speak the language of cooking! So, I follow and learn from my number twos, but guide and suggest from my experience and foreign ways and get things done the way I want. As Chef you must impose your processes, cleanliness, hygiene, cooking standards, skills and processes, consistency but also attitude and treatment of people. This is what you have learnt through the years, so now you must pass it on! Cooking is a skill, a profession, an art, and trade and all things in between, one of the oldest professions as nobody ever did anything on an empty stomach, it is so much more than just mixing some flour and butter with some milk to make a sauce. One thing I stress with my senior Chefs is that you learn from me, you learn from your past Chefs, you learn from the next one and then you take the best parts from all and make your own way, make your own standards and processes the way you would like to run your own kitchen. Every generation should improve! I take my expatriate role seriously, and a large part of this is in imparting your own skills, methods and processes onto the staff your work with, teach them, but also instruct in the philosophy of the kitchen, of looking after guests, of treatment of your food, of looking at your dishes and of being a total professional in your cooking life. Otherwise, you are just a cook, never to rise. My proudest achievement in Asia is having a large number of Chefs working both here in India and now around the world, in great positions and doing extremely well after having come through one of my kitchens having taken in a little part of my cooking and professionalism away with them.

In 2006, you decided to move from the Five Star Hotels to the niche F&B industry, what had prompted this decision? Were you surprised that these two were starkly different and did you have to cross skill chefs there, what changes did you bring?
This was exactly one year after my wife died here and a small fall out with Management at the time, so just at that time I was offered a position that seemed to suit a move. Setting up first a similar restaurant experience as for a hotel, plus the option of half a dozen more properties to come later, it seemed ideal. However, the 2008 market crash slowed everything down and so Tuscana Pizzeria and Kryptos by Willi was born while we waited for the other property to start up again. As I had quite a number of my staff who had worked with me before, and we set the standards the same as if in 5-star hotels, the cooking side was not too different. With less rigid structure though and more intimate grouping of people, it was enjoyable work and one quite satisfying being much closer to our guests in smaller venues. So, with a full and proper kitchen setup and staff used to hotel style work, there are not too many differences, although that said, there are some very basic stand-alone kitchens set up and with basic food served which is a shame for these cooks. The biggest difference between the two is the hierarchy structure and in hotels you have layers of Chefs, good numbers of them to control and keep standards, while in standalone kitchens you can have just a young cook as the person in charge who really does not know anything. In Tuscana and Kryptos and as a company, we had the layers; we had the supervision with the teaching of skills, the eyes everywhere, plus cross training, to enable our food product to more than compete with the five stars!

As a consultant you have operated several restaurants, both old and new, what changes do you bring in the kitchens and outside, and how difficult or easy has consulting been?
The uncertainty of consulting and being a foreigner consulting has been challenging to say the least! I am known for European cuisine and yet have vast experience in Indian, Asian, Mediterranean and a lot in between, and if I do not know, I have a network of colleagues I can call on for further expertise! I have been fortunate to have had establishments that listened to advice, placed in international standard kitchens and then expected the product to match, but I have also had the opposite with limited basic equipped kitchen, limited staffing and yet still wanting an international product. The sorry state of the matter is that it is the Hotels that are running the catering scene in Chennai, whereas in Bangalore it is more the stand-alone restaurants that have done well and the Hotels have to keep up! We do not have the structure here yet for this without additional income available from wine or beer, and the flow of quality chefs from hotels to restaurants just does not happen, more to do with finances and the quality of many work environments. That is not to say there are not good stand alone places, there are a number in Chennai which are excellent, but I am not going to single out, nevertheless it is difficult and not easy to start up a quality establishment in Chennai and keep it running. So, my consultancy is finding a balance, working with what I see the owner wants and their expectations, working with actual realities on the ground, always adding value and creating improvements. This is particularly so in current operations, and new places to design and open are always easier I must admit.

What are your observations regarding the changing culinary landscape in India, as people no longer hold back from experimenting with food now?
It has been great to see but you realize that the Indian market is still very staid and traditional!!!! It is slowly changing and I am happy to have been part of this change firstly at The Park and then Tuscanas and others and now at Fika in Adyar. Do not forget the Indian traveler is still very much known for only eating from their own cuisine when traveling, the 49-rupee BIryani is still popular here and the European food is always bland and expect it spiced up to the hilt!!! But nevertheless, there is as you say a growing market for well cooked cuisines from different parts of the world, and even some who prefer it authentic and not Indianised! To be Indianised is not putting down India, even in New Zealand I have had very bad New Zealandised Thai food and every country changes the authentic to the mass acceptance. The good thing is to have a growing market that appreciates, and has usually has tried in the food first on their travels, food that is in keeping with how the people of a country actually eat it, which is happening, but slowly being the word!