An Edible Journey!

Chef Shahaf Shabtay executive chef of Zenzi Mills, Mumbai gives Raul Dias a taste of his eclectic creations that are as unusual as they are delectable



“Make sure you don’t eat breakfast!” is Chef Shahaf Shabtay, executive chef of Zenzi Mills’ early morning way of warning me about the culinary odyssey that I am about to gleefully embark upon later that day. With that tip off kept well in mind, I pay a deaf ear to the incessant, and, dare I say, boisterous rumblings of my tummy and trudge my way to Zenzi Mills, Lower Parel on a hot Sunday afternoon. The erstwhile mill area of Lower Parel is now home to some of Mumbai’s most eclectic and exciting eateries, the newest of which is Zenzi Mills, a recent off-shoot of the ultra-popular Zenzi, Bandra.

With an all black façade, the interiors of the one-storied building bear an uncanny resemblance to a structure that is still under construction with its exposed brickwork and no-fuss polished concrete flooring. Waiting for me in his gleaming stainless steel kitted kitchen, Chef Shabtay is living up to another promise that he had earlier made to me—that of taking me on a gastronomic journey right from the kitchen to the table! But that’s just how Chef Shabtay is—a man who is so passionate about food that he wants to share its every nuance with his diner.

Born in Israel and raised in a kibbutz (an Israeli communal living settlement) in the North of Israel near the Sea of Galilei, Chef Shabtay grew up picking up the intricacies of cooking from his fellow community members who would take turns in the kitchen. “The skills that I picked up are something that I could not have ever learnt in any culinary school. Right from working in the banana fields to learning how to chop an onion perfectly—the kibbutz was my learning ground,” says Chef Shabtay as he deftly folds up a delicate rice paper roll that has ensconced among its myriad lawyers tasty treats such as succulent fried pomfret strips, crunchy iceberg lettuce, peanut powder and spring onions—a dish he calls the Hong Kong Roll. Dunking a piece of the roll in a dipping sauce made from a very unusual and quirky combination of apple sauce, soy sauce, mustard seeds and get this… kiwi pulp, I can’t resist a bite there and then in the kitchen itself even before Chef Shabtay can plate out his signature creation. Ah bliss!

“Ironically, the Hong Kong Roll is very similar to my story of becoming a chef—full of surprises at every turn,” winks Chef Shabtay, who then goes on to verbally chronicle his journey from “boy in a kibbutz” to executive chef of several restaurants the world over. After spending five years as a diver with the Israeli navy, Chef Shabtay knew he simply had to do something else. So, he enrolled himself in one of the best cookery schools in the world, the famed Ecole Ferrandi in Paris and imbibed all that he could from the best in the business. But it was a few years later under the tutelage of the celebrated Chef Nobusan of the hallowed Nobu restaurant in New York City, did Chef Shabtay perfect the delicate art of fusing eastern and western cooking skills. “Since then my goal has always been to provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture. Nothing is what it seems. The idea is to provoke, surprise and delight the diner,” says the 34-year-old chef.

And Chef Shabtay sure does a great job of delighting my taste buds that are still dancing to the tune of the symphony of flavours that explode in my mouth with every morsel of his deep fried duck breast in an Indonesian macadamia nut-infused sauce that is served below a bouquet of crispy sprouts. The marriage of textures in the dish is only rivaled by the simplicity in the flavours that are tart, sweet and piquant, often all at the same time! “My favourite word in the English dictionary is ‘innovation,’” Chef Shabtay lets on as he gets ready to wow me with another one of his edible masterpieces—this time a tantalizing duo of shrimps called black and white shrimps with fresh seaweed. “Using techniques that have now come to be known as molecular gastronomy, I have come up with a novel Caesar’s Salad where the lettuce leaves are frozen using liquid nitrogen that imparts to them a brittle, crumbly texture that fascinates the palate.”

Chef Shabtay is also famous for his ‘tube’ dishes wherein he puts pureed foods like mashed potato, pate and salmon mousse into aluminum tubes that diners can use themselves along with the main dishes as accompaniments. “I love to shock my diners and create a sense of drama—be it in the food or via its presentation,” reveals Chef Shabtay as he places before me the black and white shrimps that are a perfect amalgamation of succulence and crispiness—a rare combination when eating something deep-fried. But my senses of touch, sight, smell and taste above all are given a treat with the superlative chicken lemon. The chicken is served upon a wooden butcher’s block complete with a meat cleaver that Chef Shabtay then goes on to wield as he carves up a delicate morsel of the peanut powder and palm sugar crusted chicken breast that has just the right amount of sweetness to it which only gets enhanced with the squirting of fresh lime juice on it.

Speaking of sweetness, the next dish that the chef plies me with—the chicken in a red Thai curry served with toasted coconut rice is a tad too sweet for my taste, but its silken texture more than makes up for the minor hiccup. “From my past visits to India and especially after having eaten Gujarati food, I realized that Indians do like a little meetha in their food,” laughs Chef Shabtay who shocks me silent with his usage of Hindi. But my surprise soon finds an answer when he tells me that he spent two years living in India when he helped set up Zenzi, Bandra five years ago. In fact, he even met his English wife here in Mumbai where she was working as an executive in a BPO. The couple now lives in England with their 4-year-old daughter. But ever the nomad, Chef Shabtay oscillates between England, India and now more recently The Czech Republic where he has opened up a new restaurant called Sasazu in the capital city of Prague.

“Every county that I visit is a learning experience and I pick up more than just recipes and cooking techniques,” smiles Chef Shabtay as he introduces me to his Serbain sous chef 27-year-old Miloš Ristić whom he met in Belgrade. Having trained Chef Ristić in his style of cooking, Chef Shabtay is confident that his protégé will be able to manage the show at Zenzi Mills in his absence as he jets off to oversee his other restaurants that are in places like Israel, Serbia and of course his newest ‘baby’ in The Czech Republic. So how does he find it multitasking? I ask him as I attack the subtle, yet powerfully flavoured papasan pomfret with manic gusto. “I simply love it as it constantly keeps me going and removes any hints of monotony that might slowly creep in. Plus, I learn so much everyday from my restaurants,” he answers as he signals Chef Ristić to bring out the piece de resistance—the coconut tiramisu—the final stop in my foodie trail today.

Replete with a coffee-soaked biscotti in the centre and cocoa dusting on the top, this tiramisu is a wondrous amalgamation of the east and the west where the aroma of Italian espresso does a sensuous waltz with the subtlety of the coconut custard. I am thoroughly satiated both by the food and its delightfully convivial creator.

With my gastronomic journey at Zenzi Mills having met its destination, Chef Shabtay notices my forlorn countenance and promises me an encore trip very soon. Mow that’s one offer I simply can’t refuse, can I?

(First published in the second quarter issue of Uppercrust)

The Lord of Luxe

Walking a unique path strewn with luxury, creativity and sheer genius, Roberto Cavalli truly is the fashion world’s ultimate provocateur, discovers Raul Dias in a exclusive tête-à-tête with the living legend at Singapore’s recently concluded Audi Fashion Festival

He celebrates excess, shuns minimalism in all its myriad avatars and loves women with an unbridled passion. He is known for the clothes that he designs, creations that ooze raw sexuality, transforming its wearer into a stylista instantaneously. His signature animal prints are his forte, making a Cavalli creation stand out from plain-n-boring. But these are just few of the accouterments that go into making Roberto Cavalli a master designer that he is. Be it his ultra luxe nightclubs, his cafés, his boutiques and even his 41-meter yacht—all bear that unmistakable Cavalli stamp.

The man himself is every inch a style icon one would expect him to be. Togged out in his distressed jeans, black jacket and shades, cigar firmly in place in the crook of his mouth, Cavalli exudes an aura reserved for Hollywood superstars. But a superstar he is none the less, wearing the crown of ‘The Lord of Luxe’ with great aplomb. His dual grand finale Spring/Summer 2010 and Fall/Winter 2010-11 show of the Audi Fashion Festival that is part of the Asia Fashion Exchange (AFX) in Singapore is set to begin in the next few hours, but Cavalli is anything but nervous. Success will be his. He knows it. He is used to it. After 40 years as an illustrious denizen of the fashion world Cavalli has a firm grip on the pulse of luxury. So, in his own inimitable way, the 70-year old Florentine designer begins to unravel the enigma that is Cavalli as he expounds on luxury, India and why he thinks every single woman in the world is his muse:


This year you celebrate 40 years in the fashion industry. How has the journey been from 1970 to 2010?

I have loved every minute, every second of the last 40 years. The fashion industry has given me everything and all my dreams have been fulfilled. Growing up, I wasn’t surrounded by fashion. But at home I found art, colours, and a sense of creativity thanks to my painter grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, a prominent exponent of the Macchiaioli pictorial trend. And so I started out painting in the mid 1960s. It was thanks to my painting that I came up with my printing on fabric which has now come to be known as Stampa Cavalli. You could say that my signature print has been my single most loyal companion all these fabulous 40 years.


Do you have any specific plan to commemorate these 40 years?

Yes, most certainly. I will let you in on a little secret. I am in the process of preparing a book for my 40th anniversary with the help of my wife and business partner Eva. It will be a pictorial retrospective of my best work over the decades. I am also in talks with MGM Las Vegas to design a casino for them this year. But that is still in its nascent stages.


What is luxury according to you?

Everything is luxury for me. The clothes we wear, the houses we live in, the yachts and planes we travel in, the vacations we take and the clubs we party in. Life is a celebration and it must be filled with all the luxuries money can buy. I love luxury so much that besides designing my own yacht and a few for my friends I am seriously considering designing a line of Cavalli yachts like my clubs.


Speaking of clubbing, you have been associated with quite a few such hedonistic heavens. When did it all begin and how come the shift from fashion to clubbing and cafés?

I started off in 2001 with the traditional Caffè Giocosa in Florence by making it part of my boutique—a sort of extension for those who wanted more than clothes. Today the café is well known for being a gathering place for the Florentine high society and is also famous for having invented the famous Negroni cocktail. This was followed in 2002 by the opening of the Just Cavalli Cafè in Milan and then the Cavalli Club Florence, in the very central Piazza del Carmine. The Cavalli Club in Dubai was the last one in chronological terms. It is located inside one of the most famous hotels in the Emirates and encapsulates the entire Cavalli world. The architect Italo Rota designed a space for three restaurants, a bar and a boutique decorated with 463 thousand Swarovski crystals, upholstered with ecological white mink fur and divided by a 100 metre long curtain portraying the Old Bridge of Florence—a way of recalling my origins.


Your passion for women is well known and every single one of your collections (even your menswear lines) celebrates the woman in some way or the other. Please elaborate on this influence of the feminine being on your creative psyche…

During these first forty years, I followed a dream of beauty. I designed dresses for women that were the highest expression of beauty, and garments for men, who need the beauty of women to be complete. I love women in all their different incarnations. My friends are practically all women. I truly believe that women are much more intelligent than men. I don’t have one muse. All the women in the world are my muse.


Your clothes are known for their overt sexiness that celebrate the female form, so what do you think of the new trend in fashion of minimalism? And what irritates you about fashion today?

Anyone is capable of doing minimalism. I won’t because it’s horrible. Another trend that irritated me, especially in the 1980s, was that of unisex dressing. I think it is the most disastrous thing in the world to make a man and women dress the same. For me, a woman should be a woman. The power of a woman is not to be a man. And I also think that women shouldn’t dress in black.


What is your Spring/Summer 2010 collection all about?

This collection is like a journey into my own past. My inspiration comes from the sensations, the colours and the fascination that my memories have on my creativity.

This is a sensual woman who highlights her femininity with transparencies, and who hides her fragility with mannish clothes. The faded colour of Florence’s walls, the muted tones of the leaves of the olive tree and the pale blue of a spring’s sky have contaminated my new prints. This season I wanted to offer a new dream… the dream of my memories. So, tonight you will see that everything is layered, in continuous play of masculine versus feminine. There will be plenty of apron dresses, often with trompe-l’oeil motifs and made in patchworks of micro-printed chiffon worn with mannish tailored suits.


And what is the story behind you Fall/Winter 2010-11 collection?

The Fall/Winter collection evokes a haute bohemian image, extremely feminine, sophisticated, and luxurious but outside the rules of the bourgeoisie. The silhouette is created through a delicate play of layers that create a loose and unstructured shape. Tailcoats inspired by high military uniforms. Coats in tapestry brocade. Furs, made super light by the movement of delicate linings, created by assembling pieces of mink, astrakan, pekan, sable, raccoon fin and fox worked together to create a new animalier mantle.


Finally, what does the word India mean to you?

I have always been in total and utter love with India. I have been there numerous times ever since I first went there in the 1960s as a long-haired hippy. The colours, fabrics and embroideries of your country have stolen my heart. I also think Indian women are the most beautiful women in the world and I am honoured to call several of them my close friends. I would love to bring the Cavalli brand to India and am looking for the right opportunity and people to realize this dream with.

(First published in the June-July issue of Time'n Style Luxury)