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)