CHENNAI: The city’s culinary landscape is always expanding, with residents willing to try out new flavours and cuisines. This is the delight of international chefs, when they can cook up authentic dishes, which are enjoyed by the customers. There is a very small expatriate community of chefs in Chennai, and many of them are recognised by the discerning customer. City Express spoke to a few of them to get an idea of how Chennai satisfies their culinary dream, what sustainable cooking means to them, and why International Chefs Day is important to them.Ethem Aydemir, Executive Chef, Specialty Cuisines, GRT Grand. I have been a chef for more than 28 years now. I knew about Indian culture before coming here, so I feel quite at home. Many of the customers here seem to know about Mediterranean cuisine, and if they want to try something new, they ask me to suggest what would suit best their tastes. I run a high-quality restaurant. Most of my ingredients are sourced from Europe, Turkey and New Zealand.Whatever I source from the local market has to meet the standards. This is particularly important since what we serve is authentic Mediterranean cuisine and not fusion. I tried growing the herbs needed over here, but it did not work well. Being the third generation of chefs in my family, and having worked my way up from steward to chef, the day means a lot to me.Lydie Vranken, Director, Lydies Restaurant, Kovalam.I enjoy living in Chennai, as I get to meet a lot of people from different walks of life. It is not just expatriates and tourists who come here, but a lot of people from the city as well. Many of them have great joy in tasting continental food for the very first time. All my ingredients are locally sourced from as close as possible. The idea of sustainable cooking is very important to me. There is a wide variety of fish from the Bay of Bengal. Sustainable food is all about using ingredients that are easily, readily and always available around you. This is how our menu is designed. The only thing I import is the chocolate, which is from Belgium. Meeting new people and serving them food is the best part of being a chef.
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