Peter Joseph, head chef, Tamarind, London

Starting as a sous chef in 2006 Peter Joseph has been head chef for Tamarind of Mayfair since 2012. Heading up a team of 14 he is responsible for the menu of somewhere that was the first Indian restaurant to receive a Michelin star and which now belongs to a small group of six other Indian restaurants who share that same honour. Peter also heads up the event catering division of the Tamarind Collection that caters for Lords Cricket Ground, serving up to 2000 people for major matches.

Originally completing a diploma in hotel management in India Peter discusses the first tasting menu that the restaurant has ever created in its 20 year history, ingredients and how his dishes are created.

Going back over your career how did you get into the industry?

I did a three year diploma in hotel management in India from the Institute of Hotel Management but have always loved cooking. My passion came from watching TV chefs in India at the time but whilst I was training I concentrated on the kitchen side and cooking.

What was your first role in the kitchen?

It was in India for a 5 star hotel within the ITC Welcom group as a management trainee, I was then promoted to a chef de partie after two years and then I was a sous chef all in the same place. I was there from 1999 and then left in 2003 to go to work in another hotel in India as a senior sous chef.

It was there for six months but got the opportunity to come to the UK. I worked in a Malaysian/Indian cuisine restaurant but then left to join Tamarind as sous chef in 2006, working with Alfred Prasad who led the team at that time.

When did you become head chef for Tamarind?

I was made head chef in 2012.

For the first time in the history of Tamarind of Mayfair being open the restaurant introduced a tasting menu – what was the reasoning behind this?

We serve our food mainly as curries in bowls, kebabs and few starters we do are plated, but we don’t have the whole menu plated. But my aim was to do a whole tasting Indian menu plated to change the perception of Indian cuisine as it’s traditionally known for bowl food and curries.

Has it been successful so far?

Absolutely, it’s doing really well and we’ve had lots of journalists in initially, later well received by our clients. Tamarind is traditional and is known for the authenticity of its Indian dishes so the new menu is picking up with great comments.

What would you say your favourite ingredients are?

Fresh coriander, ginger for its aromatic flavour, mustard which is very good with seafood and shallots small onions and also cardamom.

Does Tamarind have a signature dish?

The grilled scallop with spiced tomato chutney is very popular in the restaurant. Pudhina chops which is lamb cutlets with peppercorn and mint, and MurghMakhni - a traditional Northern Indian chicken dish which is also known as butter chicken.

Do you prefer cooking all types of dishes or do you prefer fish for example over meat dishes?

My personal favourite is seafood, I can use this in both lunch menus and set menus. The monkfish dish which I do ’Ajwaini Macchi’ is best seller and it’s very popular with clients at Tamarind.

Is a new dish ultimately down to you or is it a team effort?

Absolutely it’s a team effort; ultimately it comes to me when making decisions, but I always interact with the team as they have different ideas and perceptions as well. When I do a dish I give a product to two or three chefs in my team to try, then every chef makes a dish and we’ll come to a conclusion on what is best and what can we include.

How many are there in the team?

We have 14 in the kitchen, there are three sections: pantry and pastry together, who make the starters and desserts, then there’s the curry section, making the traditional curries, lentils, lamb, chicken and vegetables and lastly there is tandoor - using the live charcoal oven.

Being only one of six Indian restaurants with a Michelin star did you feel that pressure when you took over from Alfred?

Absolutely. This was my first experience in a Michelin star restaurant, as previously we were cooking in bulk numbers, diverse concepts but when I came here at Tamarind it’s known for its consistency and quality, so I felt the pressure when I joined.

How often to you change the menus?

We have different menus at Tamarind, lunch, weekend, a la carte, tasting, pre theatre and set menus. We change every three to four weeks but our a la carte menu we re-examine once in every six months. The signature dishes still remain the same, we maybe improvise but the names and ingredients remain the same.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Talented TV chefs, my family, my colleagues and my wife, who support’s me a lot. When we work with dishes that sell well in lunch menus, and that are well received by our clients, I then use those in the main menu.

Is there a chef that inspires you?

Angela Hartnett is next door with Murano, I am encouraged by her as I saw her three or four years ago when she was with Gordon Ramsay but she’s doing immensely well at Murano, on her own now.

Is that something you like to do – see what type of restaurants are around you and try the food?

Other than Indian, Chinese is my favourite. But it’s good to look around at what is happening around us.

Is it right that you have a role within the events catering side?

When I joined this was challenging as well, as not only was I running the restaurant I was in charge of the events catering too. We do the hospitality boxes at Lord’s cricket ground whenever there’s a match on, the last major one we did was when India played England last year and we did 2000 covers in four days.

Is this something you enjoy - catering for that amount of people?

It’s a different kind of pleasure working in the catering industry, we also go every year to Geneva for the food festival at the Hotel d’Angleterre to represent Tamarind. I headed the teams for six years until last year; absolutely diverse experience there, and people get to see what we cook and gain knowledge and the energy is awesome.

With the tasting menu only launching this year have you got any other plans for Tamarind?

We are planning to run a regional menus from each regions from India, going to be varying each month, and keep innovating and inventing the dishes; which satisfy our clients to keep them smiling.

>>>If you like the sound of working as a head chef in London then head over to our jobs board where we have lots of positions available.