The Weekly Grill: Santosh Shah, executive chef at The LaLiT London, explains how the tandoor oven changed his life
What’s new?
For the return of game season, we’ve launched a new six-course tasting menu at Baluchi, the pan-Indian restaurant at The LaLiT London. It’s all about bringing out the amazing smoky notes of game through the use of carefully balanced spice blends and traditional tandoor cooking.
What’s your earliest food memory?
Eating Bagiya, a traditional regional dish my mother often made for us when we were growing up in Nepal. Bagiya are simple rice dumplings filled with boiled potato, vegetables, lentils and spices, and shaped into flat, oval dumplings with pointed ends.
What’s the best meal you ever had?
I was travelling in Thailand a few years ago when I came across a market full of the most beautiful aromas and flavours. One of the food stall owners was preparing this amazing Thai green papaya salad using homemade fish sauce. The balance of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour flavours was just perfect.
What’s your favourite dish?
It has to be a simple lamb curry and rice. I could eat it every day.
What’s the best thing about eating in London?
We have an amazing variety of cuisines here – you can eat as if you’ve travelled the world without leaving the city. It’s fantastic to see different cuisines being cooked at every level, from street food markets through to Michelin-starred restaurants. This city is made for food lovers.
And the worst thing?
The cost of operations and overheads is high, which puts a lot of pressure on small, privately owned restaurants.
What’s your favourite food-related anecdote?
I’m passionate about tandoori cookery, so it would have to be my first experience of cooking with a tandoor oven when I was 15 and just starting out in the kitchen. A tandoor is something not many families had at home, so to get a chance to use one was really exciting. I quickly fell in love with developing new flavours and dishes in it. One of my first creations was chicken marinated in mace and cardamom powder and stuffed with mozzarella cheese, cooked in the tandoor and then wrapped in naan. It’s still one of my ultimate comfort dishes.
• Baluchi at the The LaLiT London is at 181 Tooley Street, SE1 2JR; 020 3765 0000; thebaluchi.com