Inherited Cooking

HospiBuz:- Chef, please tell us, what inspired you to enter the culinary world?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- It’s stared with my gene pool, I belong to the First Catering family of Delhi, and it’s almost as if I was hardwired to do this. Then it was from my mum’s kitchen and her terrace garden, where we have the best seasonal produce coming from. I remember making jams, pickles, ketchup and squash with my mum while I was fairly young.

HospiBuz:- Collaborative Cuisine is a term associated with you. Would you please share with us the story behind it?

Chef Tarun Sibal:-I firmly believe that food has broken the cuisine barrier and its not congenial to segment food any longer.

Back in the day I spent time across various kitchens but specialized in Indian cuisine. Over the years I evolved to work with distinctive products and look at food without any preconceived notions. My idea of food is to make the familiar more exciting and the new more approachable.

Collaborative cuisine is the combinations of produce, cooking techniques, flavours and skills, and it’s more art than science.

HospiBuz:- One Fine Meal, as you say is a boutique catering company. Chef, please tell us what unique are you doing with this catering company?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- One Fine Meal offers a tailor-made solution for weddings, social gatherings, House parties and corporate parties. We are boutique in nature not in numbers, as we cater up to 5 to 5000 people. We are exclusive and we are customised. Each menu is planned meticulously and every nuance is detailed.

We operate from A statue of the art kitchen that is open for our guest too.

We are not aggregators and from salmon carpaccio to pan kulfi, everything is prepared in-house with the top Chefs and the best khansamahs working for us.

HospiBuz:- Please give us some insights on the food logistics of the catering services?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- Operations are the most critical part of any business. Freshness, hygiene and food safety other than taste and presentation are the pillars of the One Fine Meal operations. It starts with sourcing top quality produce, preparing it, storing it, transporting, finishing it and serving it. At each point on this path, we ensure the food safety is not compromised. I am a certified FSSAI trainer myself and have trained my team on all these aspects.

HospiBuz:- How do you avoid the food wastage in the functions?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- That’s where experience comes in play. Not everything is cooked at one go, batch cooking happens.

HospiBuz:- As you are a third-generation caterer, you very well know that catering today is not just about food. Please tell us how do you manage to provide a luxurious event to your clients while maintaining health, hygiene and taste?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- Content and packaging are both important, but for us, it starts with content. We look at an event in totality, we profile ten guests, there tastes, preferences, what they like, what’s the function. So the treatment of a wedding function will be different from a sangeet or a brand launch.

You are as good as your team. Hence we end up working with the top team of the industry who are like-minded in approach and delivery. And it all comes together.

And finally, it’s the hand of God. Outdoors Catering as an industry deals with so many uncontrollable factors that need to work for success, hence the hand of the almighty
Is always there.

HospiBuz:- As we know that change is the only constant. Please tell us what new trends will soon be seen in the catering industry?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- Trends - the rise of regional and local cuisine. Sit down dinners wine and cocktail pairings with starters. Use of organic produce and global street food.

More importantly, it will be Quality over quantity.

HospiBuz:- What role does a Chef play in the catering industry?

Chef Tarun Sibal:- A chef needs to be master of all. Good at HR, Finance, Team Management, Operations, Sourcing, Recruitment and cooking. The list goes on. In the catering industry, you need all the quality of management along with cooking the delicious food.

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