I was lucky enough to be invited to stay at Oakwood Premier Melbourne in Southbank for two nights. We stayed on the 37thfloor in a glorious one bedroom apartment with a view out across the river and the city to the Richmond, Kew and even a glimpse of the Dandenongs. Everything looks different from so high up and I loved taking in the lights of the city by night and then watching the sun rise up between the buildings in the morning. The apartment was super comfortable and had we wanted to stay there and never leave, it had a fully equipped kitchen with a Nespresso machine, glasses for every occasion and even a set of measuring cups! But of course, we didn't need to cook because we were also invited to dine at Strato on the 40thfloor. Culinary director Gagan Sharma and his team looked after us beautifully, taking us through the menu with Huon salmon tartare and Thomastown mini burrata to start followed by honey glazed Macedon Ranges duck breast and Spatchcock with Makhani gravy and an onion bhaji the gravy and bhaji a nod to Gagans roots. We finished with all three of the desserts which were stunning in their colour, texture and flavour:Yuzu Honey Ginger Semifreddo; Yuzu ganache encased in a delicate white chocolate hive, Dark Chocolate Cube with a velvety caramel centre, and green apple and sorbet. I could already tell from the menu that Gagan loves what he does and enjoys creating menus that allow local produce to shine. It was such a pleasure to talk to him the next day about why he became a chef and the pleasure he gets from cooking and feeding people.
Conversation with a chef: Hello, Gagan. It's nice to see you again.
Gagan Sharma: We have an outside area. Maybe you haven't seen that. It is great, especially in summer. It can be pretty cold in winter.
Gosh. It's a big city, when you look across it from here.
You can see the entire city from here. That's the beauty of it.
Where do you live?
I live in Thomastown. It takes me an hour to come to work.
You must like working here!
I have kids and they need school. They need uni. My wife needs the market. We come from an Indian perspective and we need everything happening in our suburb, where everything is reachable. But living in the city is, you're living by yourself. But in my community, where I live in Thomastown, so we have a community temple. Every Monday we go and cook for the people. It's a Hindu temple. So every Monday we do dinner for everyone, anyone can come.
How many people come?
Around 250.
That's so great.
We get together, a couple of my friends and volunteers and we cook food. So now there is a holy period going on. So, in that holy period, that week, every day there is dinner for everyone. My wife is a volunteer. I'm a volunteer there. We just love it. My days off are Mondays and Tuesdays. So Monday and Tuesday we spend in temple.
It would be quite different to the food you are cooking here, it's a high end restaurant.
Yes. And there I cook only vegetarian food for religious purposes. It is hard cooking over there because you can't taste the food before the prayers. So when you cook for the 250 people you can't even taste it. When the prayers are done, you give it to you God first, and then you can taste, but it's too late. You have to be specific with the ingredients.
Especially cooking in such a large volume as well.
It is.
Are you vegetarian?
No, I'm not.
It'd be hard to cook in a restaurant like this if you were vegetarian.
I try to avoid pork and beef, but I still taste it because if I don't know what I'm cooking and I don't know the taste, how can I serve it? I have to taste it, feel it, and then serve it. At least I should know my dish, know what I'm doing.
I'm a certified trainer as well. I have done the certificate, and I go to institutes. A couple of institutes reached out to me. Sometimes I go and teach cookery students. When they have a practical class, I go with them, talk to them, show them how to cook, how to behave in the kitchen, what you can learn. Because sometimes what happens is that book knowledge is not enough. I bring them here, there is a program called WBT: Work Based Training. They come here for 190 hours and get trained with me.
That's another aspect as well, isn't it? And it's all well and good to know how to cook yourself, but to convey that knowledge to someone else in a patient way, and as you say, to share not just how to cook, but how to behave in the kitchen. It's very important.
True. Because what happens is when I go and teach them, they are at one particular venue, which is fine, but you need to know how to manage different people, how you manage your team. That's what I teach them. If you have four people in the team and you have four recipes, you need to know which one you should start first, which one takes a longer time. And then you have to check what is in, what the mise en place is. You have to do it for the four recipes. You don't have to do it again and again. These organisation skills and these techniques, I try to teach them when they come over here.
I simply love working in hotels. For me it’s just a different feeling. You feel like you are doing something which is you are responsible for. And every day there is a new challenge. Your mind is occupied, and you are very creative. Because once your mind is occupied, it is great. In this job, it’s either do it or quit. But for the last 23 years, I’m doing it and I’m loving it. I just simply love it. Even on my days off, I go home, I cook. I grab a beer. I cook. That’s how I have the best time on my days off. ~ Gagan Sharma, Strato Melbourne
When you're a chef, I feel like you need a lot of common sense. I don't have a lot of common sense sometimes. I love cooking, but then when I see how chefs do things, they use a really practical way. Do you think that's innate? Do you think some people are better at that than others?
Some people, yes. The best part for me is my profession, it is my passion. I grew up in my granddad's sweet shop. My father's father, my granddad and my maternal granddad, they both had sweet shops. My parents got married because they met each other at the sweet shops. This is kind of a sequence because they have the same profession. I grew up with my grandad and my grandad used to say to feed people, to cook food with your hands is the greatest blessing. So this is what I do in here. This is what I do in the temple. This is what I do with the kids at the school.
What is a sweet shop in India like?
An Indian sweet shop is the Indian traditional sweet sweets and the street food. You can say couple of things. Like there is the very famous Gulab Jamun, he used to do these kids of things. My father was not a chef, but he had a small musical group who used to perform in Indian restaurants. Previously there was a culture in the big hotels, to have a theme restaurant with a musical group. So he was a part of that musical group and he used to travel around the world, southeast Asia, the US, everywhere. He was not into cooking, but when he used to perform, he would get on with the hotel staff. A couple of chefs, used to come to my home and we would sit together. I heard the stories about the kitchen. So I was already inspired by my granddad and then I heard the stories about the chefs, how creative they are, what they do. Thats why I got into hotel management. But after I'd done my hotel management, I didn't get a job. I worked six to seven months n a restaurant for free. I wanted to learn more. After that my first opportunity to work in UAE was in junior hospitality. I went there fand worked for Jumeirah Hotel for one and a half years over there. Then I came back to India. I worked at the Taj Palace Hotel. Delhi is the food capital of India. I loved working there. I worked there for six, seven years almost. Then I applied for my permanent residency in Australia and I came here. I started my career at Crown, Crown to Park Hyatt, Park Hyatt to Westin, Westin to again, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Place to here.
So always hotels?
Always hotels.
What is it you like about hotels?
I simply love working in hotels. For me it's just a different feeling. You feel like you are doing something which is you are responsible for. And every day there is a new challenge. Your mind is occupied, and you are very creative. Because once your mind is occupied, it is great. In this job, it's either do it or quit. But for the last 23 years, I'm doing it and I'm loving it. I just simply love it. Even on my days off, I go home, I cook. I grab a beer. I cook. That's how I have the best time on my days off.
And at home when you're cooking, would it tend to be Indian food?
It depends. My kids eat everything. My wife is lacto vegetarian, Indian traditional Hindi. So I cook one vegetarian meal and one, anything for my kids. It could be a pasta, it could be lasagna, it could be anything, roast chicken, anything. For me, I enjoy cooking dishes that take a longer period of time. The reason is then I have a more time to drink and relax.
I know there is something about that. It's very therapeutic, isn't it? To have a nice drink and take your time over food. There is something very relaxing about cooking and feeding people. That whole idea of pleasing people and making them happy through food.
People come with the belief in God. When they come, they bow down in front of God and they take it as a prasada, we call it. Prasada is God giving you the food. They honour that, so we have to respect. And we have to honour that, that's our moral responsibility that everything has to be perfect.
Yes, and you have a real appreciation now of the all the local produce. Your menu really reflects a lot of local produce and I guess it's a modern classic menu, but as you said, it's got some touches of your heritage and brings in those local products as well.
My inspiration is traditional cuisine with the modern twist. I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I want to keep it simple. If it is simple, you make it flavourful. If I go too extravagant, then there is no point. If I'm serving a spatchcock with the Makhani gravy, it has to be a perfect Makhani gravy.
That's so delicious. That was my favourite.
If I'm serving burrata, so burrata has to be from somewhere they are known for it. Like That's Amore, they have an Italian background. They make everything in house. I respect local produce. If I'm serving salmon, it has to be a sustainable product from Huon, from Tasmania. I'm not overpowering the ingredients. I'm not putting too much mustard or too much paprika, so you lose the texture. It has to be fresh.
My advice to young people starting out as chefs is to be honest, have goals and progress towards your goals. If you have a mentor, follow the mentor and then be creative. Have patience. Patience is the key because the kitchen is a hectic atmosphere all the time. Because if your guest asks for a medium rare steak, it has to be medium rare. If you make it well done or if you make it medium, that means you have to redo it. So, patience and listen and follow the instructions. ~ Gagan Sharma, Strato Melbourne
I was reading on the website about all the five elements and incorporating different techniques of cooking to really enhance the ingredients.
Yes. We have a grill, and our meat is sous vide. Even the spatchcock, we sous vide everything.
Oh, that's why it was so tender.
Yes. Everything is juicy, tender. We have the griller, we have the sous vide, e have a deep fat fryer, we have a dehydrator, we have everything
In that little kitchen!
In that little kitchen. So it's very productive and that's why the menu is pretty short. That's why I didn't put too much on the menu. We do everything in house.
The bread as well?
The bread as well. It is focaccia. Our pastry chef takes care of the bread and of all the desserts. That's his job. He only has five, six jobs in his books. And that's it. So then I say, okay, this is your baby. You have to take care of it. If I give him so many things, or I make a bigger menu, there is no point. That's why I try to change menu every three to four months. People get bored because I have so many repeat guests. If they're coming every three to four months, I change it and then I tweak it.
Sometimes a guest comes and they say, okay, we have a Indian event, 30 to 40 people, or a Mediterranean one or something, we ask what they want. We do that as well. We try to cater as long as there is advance notice.
Would you tend to keep, the duck for example, would the duck stay on but you'd change what you serve it with? Is that how you do it? Or do you change the whole menu?
I try to change it completely. Because in my previous menu, I didn't have the duck. In the previous menu I had chicken breast, not spatchcock. A new menu has to be new. But a couple of things will never change. Caviar, oysters, olives, bread. Bread can be a different variety. The cheese platter is still there, but you can change the cheese. But the rest of it, I try to change it. There are a couple of things which, touch wood remain highly in demand and that is the ribeye steak and the strip loin. They're most favourite ones.So I still keep them on the menu.
I was reading a review from a couple of years ago and she talked about the duck with the lavender, which I thought was a good idea. I lived for a year in the south of France and the way they use lavender with poultry is really important. Do you read reviews? How do you react to reviews?
I take it as constructive feedback. I never react to it. I don't feel like if somebody is praising in the review, then I will be jumping with joy. Or if somebody's criticising me, I will just take a pillow and I'll start crying. I am not. Everyone have their own tastes. Everybody has their own viewsand how they look at the picture. I'm feeding 200 people or 150 people a day. Everyone is different. Even I cook at home sometimes and my kids sometimes say, I don't like this pasta today.
I feel like it must be hard because you are clearly passionate and clearly a high level chef. It must be hard when people don't understand or they have a palate that's different on that day, whatever happened. I do find food criticism difficult to read. There does need to be a standard, but I just sometimes feel this top down criticism of someone who clearly knows what they're doing is hard.
No, that's fine. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet. I don't know how you have been greeted in the front, how hard it was for you to get to the 40th level, if somebody spilled a drink on you. The food comes in the end. First the greeting, first this, first that and then how did your booking go? Maybe you had a bad day and you come here and all of a sudden the frustration just comes out. For me, it's fine. I used to go to the table and as if there was anything I can do? We deal with it. It has been 23, 24 years of cooking for me. Everyone is different.
What brought you to Melbourne? Why did you decide on Melbourne?
Melbourne? Honestly, when I left Dubai and I went back to India, I was pretty much happy I was doing what I was doing. I was in a five-star deluxe hotel, 550 room Taj hotels. But honestly speaking in that period, people used to get into cruise ships. They would go for six months, seven months. There was a Carnival cruise and people used to go. But I felt like going for six months, seven months at sea would be challenging when I had a family. So I thought I would try somewhere else where I could see a future. Even though I was in Dubai and Dubai is a very good place to learn. It's a very good place to live. And the money is right as well.
It feels quite artificial though, from what I've seen.
Yes, exactly. I was coming to this point as well. But it is very artificial. The reason being is everything is money. And plus you work there 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. In the end, when you leave your job, you have to go back to your country, youre not going to get anything there. I needed my future to be secure and where I could happily work, then I don't have to worry about my future. That was the thinking behind coming here. A couple of my friends here, they inspired me to come over, even though I was getting a couple of work sponsorships, but I denied those ones. I said no, if I'll go, I'll go on my skill basis. In 2007, I applied for permanent residency in 2009 I got my permanent residency with family. So I arrived here. When I arrived here, I didn't know whether to go left or right? But with God's grace in one month I got a job at Crown. And then I started my career over there as a casual chef. I moved to Park Hyatt as a commis, then I got a promotion and I went to the Westin as a sous chef. Then I worked as an executive sous chef in Hyatt Place. Now I am Culinary Director at Strato. Oakwood Hotel is 39 floors. And on 40th floor is Strato, but same owner. I'm with the owners. They asked me to take care of the Oakwood Premier Melbourne. So firstly I was director of Oakwood and Strato. But now Oakwood is stable. There is a head chef. Now I'm here and there are a couple of other properties coming and I will look after them, so a couple of bits and pieces.
That's exciting. You talked before about working with young people, what is your advice to young people starting out as chefs?
My advice to young people starting out as chefs is to be honest, have goals and progress towards your goals. If you have a mentor, follow the mentor and then be creative. Have patience. Patience is the key because the kitchen is a hectic atmosphere all the time. Because if your guest asks for a medium rare steak, it has to be medium rare. If you make it well done or if you make it medium, that means you have to redo it. So, patience and listen and follow the instructions. I think that's the best thing for the young kids.
Strato Melbourne, 40/202 Normanby Road, Southbank
Oakwood Premier Melbourne