by Vijaylakshmi
Chef Jacob Jan Boerma is on his first visit to the subcontinent and the culinary scene here has simply taken his breath away. “It is just fantastic to take the incredible ingredients and spices of India and incorporate them into the food that I make,” Boerma said in an exclusive interview with hoteldealers.in.
The chef and his team of one more is here for an edition of Rendezvous by The Chambers– The Culinary Chronicles at The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai and Taj Mahal, New Delhi. The fact that he has had to spend most of his time in the kitchen working on the dishes hasn’t stopped Boerma from making time to go out and get a taste of authentic Indian khana.
“I have had the food in some of the Indian restaurants in Amsterdam, but all I can say is, forget them and take a flight to India itself to taste what is made here,” he said.
A frequent traveller, the chef has been at the helm of several Michelin-starred establishments – from his first restaurant De Leest, Vaassen in Holland which won one Michelin star, the one Michelin-starred The White Room in the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam to Restaurant Fine Fleur in Antwerpen in Belgium.
Asia for Boerman has always been further east than India. He has made visits to Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Japan. In fact, he has collaborated to build a restaurant in Yokohama Japan called Restaurant Smaak.
Boerman’s philosophy of cuisine in his own words is a cosmopolitan use of ingredients from the various places he has visited to make his brand of European food. “I use a lot of acidity in my food, so various kinds of vinegar. I also use a lot of spices in my food, including Indian spices—though not in the way they are used traditionally here,” he said.
“It’s fantastic to take the amazing ingredients that India has to offer and incorporate them into the food that I am serving,” he said, adding that for an authentic taste of his food one has to travel to Europe.
He confessed that the breadth and variation of food available in India had taken his breath away and he would have to really make several trips to the subcontinent to satiate his curiosity for new flavours.
