Dominic Chapman gets a taste of India. Picture: Rashbehari Das

He hates “complicated chef jargon”, likes his food simple and classical and has learnt his trade from Michelin-starred chefs like Rowley Leigh and Heston Blumenthal, not to mention four preceding generations of hotelier-restaurateurs in the family. An avid scuba-diver and watersports enthusiast, a chance meeting with Karan Bilimoria of Cobra Beer on a dive boat of all places, got him to be part of the Taste of Britain Curry Festival and come to Calcutta. Making Scotch eggs with all the concentration of a sous chef on his first job, Dominic Chapman, the Michelin-star chef at The Royal Oak and The Belgian Arms in Berkshire, UK, looks every bit a man on a mission. He wields the tandoor hook, tastes a curry, crumbs a mince patty and makes himself as useful as anybody can be at the kitchen in Hyatt Regency. All set to absorb the India experience on his first visit to the city (and to India), Chapman talks about food, fun and what he’s seeking from the city.

TO THE MANNER BORN

Dominic Chapman can’t remember a time when food hasn’t been part of his conscious thoughts. “It’s all been in my family. I’m the fifth generation. My great-great-grandfather ran The Savoy Hotel in London, my great uncle ran The Imperial Hotel in Torquay, my father (Kit Chapman) runs The Castle in Taunton in Somerset. I’d always been interested in food,” he says. Well, you can’t have a half-hearted passing interest and win a Michelin star, but still!

However, the weight of this illustrious family history sat very lightly on him till he was forced to face both his heritage and his passion for food. “After finishing school I went travelling all over the world, working in kitchens to earn my way. It was in Australia that the chef had in his office a book — Great British Chefs — written by my father. The chef was all like ‘hang on, what are you doing here?’ He made me come back to London and get straight to learning. And I’m glad I did,” reminisces Chapman.

London was the place where he subsequently found himself, and the kind of work he wanted to do. “I developed a certain flair. I got to know the kind of food I liked to cook, I got a chance to work with Heston Blumenthal and then got to The Royal Oak for which I won a Michelin star (in 2010), which is a really, really good thing.”

And that’s about all he has to say about the Michelin. “It’s a load of hard work that a chef has to do and a Michelin is a great honour, so it feels really good.”

INFLUENCES ON HIS FOOD

Dominic Chapman’s food is all about classic British food and he is known equally for his desserts. His emphasis is on seasonal and local ingredients, but that doesn’t make him a chef who shuns the rest of the world. The menu at The Royal Oak in Berkshire would reflect as much. If there’s Wild Berkshire Rabbit and Bacon Pie with Mash Potato, there’s also Risotto of Red Peppers with Buffalo Mozzarella and Parmesan. “My food is very British but it is also influenced by food from the world over — food I’ve eaten and enjoyed.”

Now that would cover quite some culinary territory. “I spent five years travelling instead of going to university. I lived in Greece for three years, then Australia, New Zealand, America, Mexico — it’s a part of who I am, getting around world. People are different the world over and yet there is an underlying similarity — they want the same kind of happiness. You show respect to a country and its way of life and you learn so much.”

And for him, the lessons inevitably translate to the food he cooks.

ON HESTON BLUMENTHAL

His association with Heston Blumenthal has, of course, left a telling mark on his way of cooking. “Heston Blumenthal is amazing — a great chef, great man, I really like him, he’s a friend. I spent more than four years with him, two years at The Fat Duck (where Chapman was chef de partie) and another couple of years opening his pub The Hinds Head (where Chapman was the head chef). He’s a lovely man, incredibly intelligent and very, very passionate about cooking. His food is very clever food. Working with him showed me how important it is to love what you do. How much you need to care about final product, and how food is presented.

“He taught me respect for ingredients, cooking carefully with carefully selected ingredients, questioning at every step. The idea is to do things differently, to ask is there no other way to do it, to make a recipe your own and make it better.”

SIGNATURE CHAPMAN

So what is it that defines Chapman’s brand of cooking. “I have a real interest in classics. It pleases me to be cooking roast grouse, a British game bird. I’m really happy cooking a piece of beautiful fresh sea bass, serving with cockles and mussels. I love doing proper puddings — a sticky toffee pudding, I love a trifle, I love a Knickerbocker Glory. It is an indulgent dessert with layers of cream, ice cream, fresh berries, nuts, chocolate as well…”

FOOD PHILOSOPHY

This engagement with local food is part of Chapman’s food philosophy. “For me, the best-tasting food is when you’ve grown it, when you’ve gone fishing for it. I believe in 100 per cent local food. For me, that’s what food’s all about. That’s the global trend. Also, food is affordable if you don’t fly it from another country across the globe. People want good food but not ridiculously expensive food. Another thing is fresh produce. If it’s growing in the fields right now, that’s what I want to put on my menu,” he says with considerable passion.

And he walks the talk. His Berkshire plot supplies part of the fresh produce needed for his two restaurants. “We have three vegetable patches with different kinds of vegetable, we grow herbs, leeks, fennels, we keep chicken for fresh eggs. It’s hard to support an entire restaurant using our own produce right now though. The plot’d have to be a lot bigger and would require a lot more work,” he speculates.

For Chapman, making a restaurant work involves more than seasonal, fresh ingredients and great cooking though. “For me, the menu is the first thing that sells your restaurant. I don’t want a menu with horribly complicated chef terminology that guests don’t understand. You should write a menu in such a way that it’s simple and appetising. One should want to eat every single thing off the menu. That’s the first stage. Then the food has to be visually appetising, sexy…”

CHEF AT HOME…

Being a chef is just one part of who Chapman is. He’s a gardener, a scuba-diver, father and traveller. “Cooking and food is my main role. But I do love going out to restaurants, spending time with family, going on holidays, going to eat out, going fishing, going on a boat, messing around to keep my mind active and keep busy. Hopefully, that’s the right approach. It can’t be all food, food, food. That would be boring. There has to be a balance between family and work and fun.”

“I have two sons — Daniel is six and Benjamin is two. Daniel has eaten in great many Michelin star restaurants and already wants to be a chef. He loves his food and is developing a palate. Ben is still small. Their mother is Kiwi, so he’d probably grow to be a rugby player,” he chuckles.

He’s on kitchen duty every Sunday night at home and his sons love his stuffed green pepper, made with minced meat stuffing. And what does he like cooking at home? “My favourite food changes daily. I’d get bored eating the same kind of food every day. So some day it’s Italian food, some day Indian food, Spanish food and so on. At home I like cooking chicken curry, lamb moussaka, stuffed peppers and a lot of pasta. I like eating and cooking comfort food. That’s what I like about curry. It’s comforting. You feel like you’ve had a decent bit of food,” he laughs.

TASTE OF INDIA…

“Indian food is everywhere in UK. It is the most popular cuisine, every village has an Indian restaurant. There is broadly similar kind of food, poppadoms, rice and delicious curries that go so well with the beer culture in England I really enjoy it,” Chapman declares. “But I don’t know much about the regional cuisine, I have no exposure to Bengali food or Anglo-Indian food and I’m looking forward to trying them,” he adds. “I want to understand what authentic Indian food is, I want a taste of regional food, I want to get an understanding of spices. I hope I get to know enough to introduce India to my own food.”

DOMINIC CHAPMAN’S LEMON TART

Ingredients

Pastry
720g butter
300g icing sugar
2g salt
8 egg yolks
100ml water
1kg plain flour

Filling
36 eggs
1,500g sugar
800ml lemon juice
4 lemon zest
1l cream

Method
Mix the ingredients for the pastry well and fill into pastry mould. Bake the pastry base at 150°C for 30 minutes. Make sure the pastry is cooked. Mix the filling ingredients, starting with sugar and eggs first and then adding the rest. Fill into the pastry base and cook at 100°C for 45 minutes. Cool down, chill in refrigerator, cut into wedges and serve.