Sainyam has packed a lot of experience into the ten years he has been working as a chef and he is keen for the Melbourne public to go beyond butter chicken and tikka masala and explore some other flavours. That’s what he is offering at newly opened Ish, a modern-ish and Indian-ish restaurant in Fitzroy.
Hi Sainyam, I feel as though you might be quite famous in India. Are you?
I’ve worked in good places and there are links to me on the internet but I wouldn’t say I’m too famous.
How long have you been cooking?
It has been about ten years. I started off in about 2008, in July, it will already be 11 years.
Has it gone quickly?
Quite quickly. You don’t realise when you are with the people you work with and they are like family, so time passes quickly.
Where did you begin?
I started with a hotel called The Park Hotels in Delhi. I did management training with them in 2008. That was a campus training place from my college and the journey began from there. It was a good experience working with them because any experience that is a first one is actually a good one. That paves the way for your future and provides a foundation. I think I was fortunate to start with them and not be with a bigger group. I was happy to start with them.
Was that cooking Indian food or European?
It was a hotel so we had to cater to every kind of clientele, but in Indian you have to have Indian food and then you have specialities in restaurants and a lot of hotels. The clientele is quite expectant and they want to have nuances of every food. Even the owner was well travelled and she wanted a lot of things. We would cook for her parties and the menu would be really elaborate and exclusive. That was in addition to our normal stuff. I learned a lot.
When did you come to Melbourne?
Three months ago.
Did you come specifically for Ish?
Yes. The three months have gone fast.
It’s a big move to come here.
I had been thinking of making the move for a long time then this happened by chance. I was planning a few things back home, but making the move myself would be quite expensive and I wanted to safeguard myself and then make a move. But this happened, the owners approached me and it worked out. I thought, there’s an opportunity so I grabbed it.
What was the connection between you and the owners?
It’s very weird, but I was traveling with one of my colleagues and he got a call from his friend. The owner’s friend called my friend to say Ganeev (the owner) is looking for somebody to run the restaurant in Australia. My friend had already committed to somebody else in Abu Dhabi and he suggested me. We talked and he came down to Delhi to have a trial interview with me and things worked out so after that I am here, that’s it.
Is it about authenticity that he has brought someone out from India rather than using someone who was already here?
It is and I think he has done the right thing because in the region you grow up, you always have the influence of that region. If I had been a Melburnian, I would not have had the chance or fortune to have had the exact Indian taste and product. This market is different. They are happy eating butter chicken and curries and naans, but the vastness of the cuisine is too much that you can’t sum it up in three dishes. So that’s what the idea of coming here was.
From the start I had the idea to put Indian food on the plate in a different fashion. It may not seem fancy, but the food we are doing is also not seen in India.
So it’s your twist?
The things that can be twisted are twisted, and the things that are new, are new.
There are some regional recipes that required some refinement in terms of some presentation. There are a lot of curries and a lot of kebabs, and they are either bowl presentation or platter presentation. So you have to move beyond that and look at how we can modernise the food because everyone wants food that is Instagrammable.
Is the appeal of Instagram the same in India?
It is.
In India, it is catching on, big time. Honestly, I don’t understand that whole idea. I am not much inclined towards Instagram, myself. Ganeev the owner pushed me to join, at least, and do some posts. I’m not really into that kind of socialising. I do have a lot of friends on Facebook but I know them, it’s not like I don’t know someone and I have added them.
You don’t realise when you are with the people you work with and they are like family, time passes quickly.
It is an unusual phenomenon, this whole idea and how it has taken off. So when you came over here, that must have been huge. It is already a big thing to open a restaurant but doing that in a new country and get to know suppliers and find the produce you need and build your menu. Did you start thinking about a menu before you came or did you wait until you got here and saw the space and the markets and the neighbourhood?
You have to have an idea of what you are doing. If I had waited until I came here before thinking about the menu, maybe a lot of time would have been wasted. I started having ideas and conceptualising because after 10 years you have an idea of what will work and what won’t work. The ideas were definitely in place. But yes, looking at the infrastructure and what produce we get here, the menu definitely gets tweaked a little bit.
And the audience?
I was pretty certain about that, apart from reducing the level of chilli. But I thought, let them explore flavours, because I am not looking at the hundred per cent audience, I am looking at a set audience who can vouch for me and bring others. Word of mouth is a big thing in Australia. They follow Zomato and read the reviews or follow Instagram.
And once you’ve had Broadsheet in, the word is out there. There was such a big Instagram build up to Ish opening, so the owner clearly loves social media. It’s ‘modern-ish’ Indian food; is it from all over Indian, you’re not confined to a region?
No, we are not confined to a region. The menu has a mixture of north-eastern, some northern, some southern and some western dishes. We have actually built up a huge bank of dishes we can use in the future. If we had been in India I would have wanted to put them all on the menu because Indians prefer big menus. The last restaurant I was working at had approximately 80 dishes on the menu.
80?!
Yes, 80. Here we just have 25, including the sides and the staples and everything. That’s the difference, it is about three times bigger in India. Some restaurants that also have international cuisine have 100 or 150 dishes on the menu in India. But yes, we try and incorporate all the regions.
I am from the north part of the country, but the experience of the people I’ve worked with and the places I have travelled to, I can incorporate all the flavours I understand and put them on the plate.
Is your sous chef from India as well?
We had him but he’s not with us anymore. Our sous chef is from Melbourne now, so we have some local hands also. It’s important to get local people on board also. A business is helped by local influences as well. The restaurant manager is local as well.
Have you been a head chef before?
Yes. I have been at a few places. In my last company I was heading a region, actually. I was looking the northern part of the country.
Ok, so that’s more of an executive chef role?
Yes. It was quite a huge role. I had a team of about 250 to 300 people and six to seven outlets, so in India the teams are big and our company was expanding overseas so I was also looking at hiring in those restaurants overseas.
Goodness, you have done really well in ten years.
I have been lucky to have been in a lot of places and still be here at the place I am. Otherwise, if you miss the bandwagon, you miss out. The journey has been very jumpy and bumpy all along because after my hotels, I joined Domino’s for three months because I was waiting to join a cruise liner and I didn’t want to be sitting around at home. You know how parents are, ‘what are you doing at home, go to work, you need to earn some money?’ Then when you start to earn money, you need to keep your pockets full and float yourself, at least. So I was on the cruise liners and I’ve done some R and D work then I had my own place then I opened a restaurant for someone for a year then I was part of that huge company and now finally I’m here.
199 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy