Koh, The Intercontinental (Mumbai)

What happens when you combine an international star chef and an immensely talented Indian chef and let them loose in a restaurant housed in a hotel chain at Mumbai’s prime residential area?

A recipe for success…

I had this opportunity to meet with Chef Pongtawat “Ian Kittichai” Chalermkittichai, the world’s first Thai national to become an executive chef at a five star property. Chef’s who make their mark in the culinary world with humble beginnings (he would help his mother in the wee hours of the morning to shop for fresh meat, seafood and vegetables which she would use to whip up a dozen curries and by evening would push his cart in the Bangkok neighborhood to sell these dishes and earn their living) are only there to stay because of the passion with which they love their cooking and food. From Georges V in Paris, French Laundry in NapaValley, El Bulli in Spain, and Four Seasons Chinzan-so in Tokyo, Chef Chalermkittichai has dabbled in each of these kitchens thus absorbing a fine trail of experience which comes to those who are blessed and talented.

With a chain of restaurants in his kitty and a role in Thailand’s Iron Chef as a permanent Iron chef, Chef Ian Kittichai’s on and off visit to Mumbai at his restaurant Koh, The Intercontinental (Marine Drive) was an opportunity I could not miss to interact with. When I keyed in an appointment one fine weekend morning, I expected to walk in on an extremely busy and cowering under the weight of visitor’s person with a thousand tasks to complete in the little time he makes for his restaurant in India, physically. ‘Iron’ically enough, I walk in on a perfectly quiet restaurant with Chef Ian seated on a sun washed sofa with a tall glass of chilled water, perfectly at ease and serenely lost in his thoughts.

A little apprehensive to approach and have a chat with him (honestly, what was I supposed to say to him? I am a fan of your cooking? Or I look up to you, so on and so forth?) I was pleasantly surprised by his calm demeanour and easy talking style. An instant connect between two food enthusiasts sealed my belief that food, truly, is a universal language. What is even more surprising were his ideas on using local ingredients, promoting slow food and the fact that fair trade for farmers tops his list. A staunch believer in making the best use of resources available locally (possibly arising out of his own humble background) I connected instantly with my latest project which works closely with Indian farmers and creating fairer prices for their produce for them to lead sustainable lives. It’s nice to know a lot of Chefs internationally embracing Fair Trade and making ensured use of local produce.

The Intercontinental Hotel itself is a beautiful piece of property located bang on Mumbai’s famed Queens Necklace –Marine Drive. A quite non-descript building budding with the towns hottest eating spaces. Apart from Koh, where Chef Ian’s inimitable signature dishes with an international touch are dished out, The Intercontinental houses Kebab Korner, Corleone and Dome – the hippest open to the sky bar in the city.

South East Asian cuisine being India’s current flavor and my personal favorite too, Koh being one of Mumbai’s newer establishments opening its doors in 2010 is a place which will leave you craving for more. Koh’s concept is best defined as International dining—the underlying thought being a high quality signature meal by arguably the world’s best Thai Chef, Ian Kittichai. As if one Iron Chef was not enough, meeting with The Intercontinental’s Executive Chef – Chef Paul Kinny who oversees the kitchens of all the restaurants at the hotel was a delight. Once again you feel meeting with the most important person in the kitchen would be a task by itself as you are keen to know everything but wonder if they really have time to answer all your paltry questions? Chef Paul is the absolute alter-ego of what one would imagine him to be.

Versatile, passionate and multi-talented, Chef Paul has worked on some of the most prestigious restaurants in the city starting off a decade long career with the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai where he dabbled in their premier fine dine restaurant, the Zodiac Grill. Soon after moving to Dubai to open the Modern Fine Dine Indian Restaurant at the Souk of Madinat Jumeirah as the Executive Chef where his worked for a year and back to Mumbai in 2005 where he opened a total of 7 Restaurants across 3 cities which included Salt Water Grill, Smoke House Grill, Stone Water Grill, Salt Water Café & Smoke House Deli.

Koh, being the cynosure of our eyes at the moment is recently revamped with a new menu and décor. Warm and modernistic and the same time, plus soft highlights of vivid colors makes you feel instantly at ease, once you are seated on the plush sofa’s surrounding the large dark wood tables, you know you are going to sit there for a while and the service knows how quick or how slow you would want your order to materialize on the table. They make sure food doesn’t leave your table with a host of amuse bouché and tiny soups shots making its way to the table.

I insisted on Chef Paul to watch him at work in the kitchen while he made some signature delights (which are now some of my favourites from his latest menu and which were worked on thoroughly with Chef Ian on his latest visit. At the end of this meal I did insist that most of the dishes you see in this post to be kept as a permanent fixture on their menu – I had chosen wisely and for a change had decided what I would like to eat instead of the other way round. The reason why I could be so demanding – Chef Paul had no apprehensions and came across as friendly as a person I have known for years.

Well, cutting to the chase, we started off with a simple starter, the much renowned amongst the streets of Bangkok– Chicken Satay. The reason for me selecting a simple dish over the many signature ones was a test; I wanted to see whether it was tweaked or as authentic in flavors as you would be served up in most street-side stalls in Thailand. Well apart from the burst of color from the sweet peppers which were skewered along with succulent marinated chicken pieces the flavors were right to the ‘T’.

Chef Paul marinates the tender pieces of chicken in a peanut Thai dressing doused with Hoisin and marinated just for about half hour.

Skewered and ready to be taken on the table. They usually pre-grill it till about 90% and the last 10% is cooked on your table

The coal is heated up nice and hot

Placed in special tabletop grills

The sizzling satays are finished off on your table to perfection right down to the smoky flavors. I had the inclination of insisting on the satays being brushed with honey right before devouring them, but true to the Thai style – the Hoisin added the right amount of caramelization to it.

I had a choice between a pork dish and seafood for my next signature, being more of a seafood person, I decided on “something made with Sea Bass”, yes another personal Asian favorite, as Sea Bass being quite versatile in terms of mellow flavors and the fact that it can absorb any flavoring quite easily.

Up came their Caramelized Asian Style Sea Bass (yes, I know, I do have a sweet tooth when it comes to Asian cuisine and not in the dessert sense)

A large meaty portion of the fish is placed on a wooden board and drizzled with a delicious signature marinade of salted yellow bean and red Thai curry mix.

A blow torch (my favourite tool in the kitchen) is flamed up and moved lovingly over the marinade, slowly but steadily.

The flame licks the marinade hungrily as the sugar and the juice of the fish gets sucked up to the surface, giving it a beautiful caramel glaze with the right amount of burn. It is then popped in the oven for a while to cook evenly and just the right amount to not dry off the fish.

Plated up and the Caramelized Asian Style Sea Bass is good to go

How can one not indulge in a common favourite – Green Thai Curry with Burnt Garlic Rice. You might think that looking at the menu I would do something a lot more fancy, but again, to get a flavoursome curry, teeming with lemon-grass and Kaffir and Galangal with the right amount of spice – is a blessing in disguise. I am personally not fond of over fermented and over meaty curries, this one takes the prize as far as flavors is concerned and is as good in vegetarian as it would be piled with shrimps and meat. This one was swimming with Thai brinjals and Thai basil leaves with the right amount of crunchy vegetables to dig in with your fork.

The rice is brought out on the table in a special hot bowl with hot stones underneath, sauced right before your eyes on the table, while the server deftly mixes it up till it crackles, spits and surrounds you with a distinctive garlicky aroma, waking up your taste buds just enough to have one more meal.

As I mentioned, I am not a dessert person, I do like my sweet with the food, but Koh’s version of the Banoffee Pie, called, Frunoffie Pie is a mix of banana, showered with warm buttery toffee sauce and whipped cream topped with fruits. My advise would be to once for all forget calorie counting and just indulge. This was one of the dishes I insisted to retain on the menu till the restaurant remains, if not, well, I think I have enough friendliness left in me to get it made anytime.

Funnily enough, I have never been inclined towards South East Asian desserts to drop my inhibitions and crave another one. Their gastronomic delight De-Constructed Blueberry Cheesecake takes the cake. Though another signature winner, this is brought to the table in a glass with the layers of a typical blueberry cheesecake intact, beginning with the sweet grainy biscuit layer, followed by tangy citrus fruits, a blueberry coulis like sauce with plump berries and topped off with cream cheese. And if that isn’t enough its swiped off the glass onto a flat plate allowing you to savor all the flavors in one bite OR in various stages ranging from tangy to biscuit-y to creamy to tart.

A true winner in culinary experiences, visit Koh at The Intercontinental (Marine Drive) and end your meal with the Frunoffie pie, if it isn’t on the menu – you know what post to show Chef Paul?

Nonchalant Gourmand was accompanied by team mate – ace photographer Nikita Modi. Nikita is a freelance photographer who has her interest in food photography grounded for such exciting opportunities but also dabbles in exclusive Advertising and Fine Art Photography. She has completed her Masters in photography from Speos,Paris,France. You can see her works at:

Website – www.nikitamodi.com

Blog – http://blog.nikitamodi.com

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