D’MOUTH AT WORK Dartmouth at work With the Dartmouth Food Festival almost upon us, it is only appropriate we
interview some of the many busy Chefs that make Dartmouth an important food destination. Interviews by Steph Woolvin
Ankur Biswas Head Chef at The Royal Castle Hotel
How long have you worked at the Castle? Two and a half years.
What is your team like? It’s certainly an international group! We have people in here from Romania, Spain, South Africa,
Poland..all over the place. We all work together really well as cooking has no language; it doesn’t matter where you’re from or how much English you know.
Who cooks at home? My wife does some. I tend to stick to lazy cooking, maybe a curry or stew, something I can leave in the oven whilst I have a beer. We often joke that we do B&B at home, not the traditional sort, we have friends round for ‘beer and biryani’!
How do you cope when things heat up in the kitchen? I’m quite calm really. The thing is I love working here, so I don’t think you need to get worked up. I like to manage and nurture the team rather than shout at them and they all seem to respond to that.
You have two bars, a restaurant and weddings to manage, you must be an organised guy? Yes, you have to be. We split the kitchen up; one half does bar and the other deals with the main restaurant. When we have weddings we all muck in. It isn’t half as bad as previous jobs though. I used to work in California where I would do banquets for 1600 people and in London for 800 plus.
What do you do in your spare time? I have two children, a five year old and a nine month old and we love going out and exploring Devon. There is still so much we haven’t done yet. I do like the outdoors - walking and cycling.
Do you go away much? I’m from North India and love taking my children back home. I think it’s important for them to see a bit of their culture and heritage…their roots. As we say: “Give them roots to grow and wings to fly, then they will find their own destination”. I think that’s very true.
Do you live in town? Up the top. Sometimes I walk to work, sometimes I drive. It depends on the weather and my chances of getting a parking space! Are you looking forward to the Food Festival? Oh yes! This will be my third demonstration, I love doing them. I think the event is such an asset for the town, there is a real buzz out and about for the weekend. It’s getting bigger each year. It’s a real chance for us chefs to try new things and meet other people who love food as much as we do.
Meat or fish? Meat.
Take away or restaurant? Take away.
Full English or continental? Full English.
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