Mumbai chef Kayzad Sadri brings bold flavours and unique cuisines to Amadeo by Oberoi at NMACC in BKC

Kayzad Sadri, an executive chef with rich experience in the hospitality industry, embraces a new challenge as he takes on the role of executive chef at Amadeo by Oberoi, a fine-dining restaurant in the bustling business district of BKC. The restaurant features a unique concept, offering a limited set of dishes from Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisines, carefully curated to cater to every palate.

Sadri is returning to Mumbai after 11 years, following his stint in Gurgaon. "I am from Mumbai. So, I am back home. The Oberoi Hotels is home. I have worked with the organisation for about 11 years," Sadri tells mid-day.com on the preview day of the Amadeo by Oberoi, the Oberoi Group's newest stand-alone restaurant in the city.

IN PHOTOS: Amadeo By Oberoi launches in BKC at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre

1 year agoPHOTO GALLERY

Taking on a new role
Sadri in his new role as executive chef is joined by chef Gregorio Oblena, the Japanese speciality chef. Interestingly, the role of the executive chef is familiar territory for him because it is one that he has spent evolving in since 2009. So, the new opportunity is even more exciting as he moves from a familiar hotel setting to a fine-dining restaurant situated in the heart of Mumbai's buzzing business district, which is seeing a boom in culinary options for diners, who don't have to go all the way to South Mumbai.

Sadri shares the philosophy behind the restaurant's culinary approach, emphasising that Amadeo is not a multi-cuisine eatery but rather a focused cuisine restaurant. The team has handpicked signature dishes from each cuisine, ensuring an exciting and enticing experience for diners.

He shares, "I have seen and overseen multiple styles of operation as an executive chef, but I believe that Amadeo is one of the freshest concepts and Mumbai is absolutely ready for it." Sadri highlights how even though the restaurant caters to more than one cuisine including Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Indian, they do not intend to serve the regular fare but rather explore the lesser-known specials in their own unique way. "We are not a multi-cuisine restaurant. We are a very focused cuisine restaurant and within those very diverse cuisines, we only do a very limited set of dishes," he adds. While being choosy about the dishes that he has put on the cuisine, he says, they also have a variety that intends to cater to every kind of palate. "So, this is a super exciting opportunity that I could not pass up. So, when the opportunity came to me, I left everything, packed my bags and came to Mumbai."

The menu, though, he has been working on for little over a year and a half, and one that explores four much-loved yet familiar cuisines that definitely appeal to the palate of well-travelled Mumbaikars. With wanting to do justice to three or four styles of cuisine, it is always going to be challenge, so Sadri and the team picked out what later became the guiding philosophy of the cuisines being served at the restaurant. "We call it the Counter Collection because we picked out these four counters in the cuisines," he says. "In Japanese, we only do Robata and Sushi Robata, the Japanese style grill. In Chinese, we do baos and woks. In Italian, we do fresh pasta and fresh pizzas, which are in the Neapolitan style in a wood fired oven. In Indian, we do food from the western part of the country." This, he says, is appeal to a larger audience, but at the same time, not fall for the pitfalls of being a multi-cuisine or trying to be everything for everybody.

Now, it is not like there aren't enough restaurants doing the kind of food that Amadeo by Oberoi is doing, but Sadri takes pride in initial feedback: the food is fresh and the presentation is beautiful.

To create a distinctive menu, the restaurant sources ingredients from around the world, such as Hass avocados from Peru, purple potatoes from France, and Calabrian salami from Italy. The diverse menu is designed to provide a heightened, personalised level of comfort and familiarity that Oberoi Hotels are renowned for, while adding bold flavours and presentations to meet the elevated expectations of restaurant diners.

The salami also works perfectly well for the Pepperoni pizza, which a lot of restaurants do, he says, but at Amadeo, they use the one from Calabria since it is spicy and people in India like it.

Bringing signature dishes to the fore
While these are only some of the dishes for which they source international ingredients, Amadeo boasts of signature dishes that Sadri says every diner coming to the restaurant must definitely try. He explains, "In the Japanese section, Amadeo serves fresh crab meat, caviar, gold leaf and tempura prawns, with a smoke pepper sauce, and a slightly sweeter teriyaki sauce. The weather in the monsoon is just perfect for a nice bit of robata. For the vegetarians, about 50 per cent of our menu is vegetarian, and the asparagus and avocado robata is a must try. We have a phenomenal Chilean sea bass and black cod on the menu and the New Zealand lamb chops with the sauce is just lovely. We also have an Otoro, which is the fatty part of the tuna belly, which we do as a sashimi, and nigiri as well. We also have Hirame, the Japanese whitefish, which we do in a carpaccio with baby oranges."

Sadri says besides Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Indian dishes are also a must try. "We do a knock-your-socks-off Aubergine Fitters and people who are diehard fans of aubergine will absolutely love that dish. We also have a Vegetable Fried Rice we do with a homemade chilli crunch. We have a chopped King Prawn dish in which we use thinly sliced lotus root as a wrapper, and we just quickly steam in a house-flavoured soya sauce. The Goat Cheese and Beetroot Ravioli with crunchy walnuts and a kale sauce. The restaurant also serves a Truffle dish, in a very light cream sauce with truffles on top and last but not the least, a Seafood Risotto with some scallops, prawns and clams.

The food at Amadeo is incomplete without some Indian fare, which focuses on western India like some specials from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa. The Kale and Avocado Chaat is good for a small bite, the Thecha Kombdi, Duck Kebab, Mumbai Chowpatty pulao, are some of the other dishes on the menu that Sadri says people should try. As far as the desserts, there is a visually-appealing Chocolate Shell with a Coconut Panna Cotta and the Saffron Kulfi, which he says is enrobed in a layer of white chocolate, saffron and pistachios. "We do a Parsi Laganu Custard, which we've enriched in a French style and pays homage to my Parsi roots in Mumbai," he shares.

While these are their new creations, Sadri says they have also got some of the favourites from The Oberoi Hotel restaurants for patrons to enjoy at Amadeo but have tweaked them to suit the palate of a standalone restaurant patron. "They are looking for food that is more exciting, food that is more enticing. That is not to say that a hotel patron is not looking for exciting food. We are all trained chefs from hotels. So, we had to take off our hotel chef's hat and put on our restaurant chef's hat to build that additional layer of excitement in terms of flavours, textures, and adding that extra touch of zing to a dish."

Sadri opines that while those who are at the hotels opt for a little bit more comforting and simpler food, the diners going to restaurants are a little more discretionary. "The diners visiting restaurants are going in their down time and so they are looking at a bit more excitement in terms of spice levels and presentations with bold flavours." The endeavour for him, he says, is to provide a very heightened, personalised level of the comforting and familiar Oberoi services that people have known for generations.

Mumbai, NMACC and the evolving BKC culinary landscape
Sadri believes it is important to present the new offering differently to diners in Mumbai because the city's culinary landscape is evolving rapidly. "I think the culinary offering in the city and the country has grown and the guests are nuanced. A lot of people actually travel multiple times in a year to multiple countries, so we have to be very thoughtful, especially when we serve the food of Italy and Japan. Chefs need to keep sharpening their skills and try and be at the cutting edge of what is happening in the world."

It is not only the evolving palate of the diner but also the fact that Amadeo by Oberoi is situated right in the middle of BKC, where everything seems to be happening right now. There are not only new restaurants opening up but also an arts and culture space like the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, which will see a regular influx of people willing to spend their time and money throughout the week within it. However, there is a lot of competition with different restaurants in the neighbourhood, and Sadri doesn't deny that. "There is definitely very respectful competition in BKC but Amadeo is a concept that is made to endure in the market, where the experience is enjoyable and repeatable. A differentiator from the competition also is that the restaurant is able to offer such diverse cuisine pillars under a single umbrella. The focus cuisine approach and the Counter Culture approach is something that will score points," he says confidently.

Having evolved as a chef over the years, Sadri is now more willing to take risks with bolder flavors and innovative combinations, pushing the boundaries of culinary creativity. He stresses on pushing his team to be better than the previous day. "So, what we have done is we have picked out the basics from a lot of our hotels and added a layer of sophistication when it comes to presentation. When it comes to using different set of ingredients, if the flavours are matching and complementing, the textures are pleasing. So, we have taken a little bit more risk with the cuisine and have tried to be bolder in our approach. We have tried to combine ingredients which probably we have not combined earlier. We have been less conservative in the food and tried to tease the patron's palate a little bit more. That has also been the growth for me as a chef because I have taken more risks in our food," he concludes.