The All in One Ultimate Restaurant List Interview: Alfred Prasad

Alfred Prasad began working at Tamarind as a sous chef in 2001. When Atul Kochar left to open Benares, Prasad moved up the ranks and is now Executive Chef of the Tamarind Collection, which includes Soho’s Indian tapas restaurant Imli, fine dining Zaika, and a second Tamarind in Newport Beach, California.
“I became a chef because as I was finishing school, the hotel industry was opening up in India in a big way and it seemed a very exciting, creative and unusual career" he says. “I was a very hands-on kid at home and being in the kitchen felt very natural."

Tamarind’s menu features food inspired by traditional Moghal cuisine, which Prasad reversions into modern dishes. The American restaurant is similar. “The food philosophy of our Californian restaurant is to largely showcase the Indian classics that the London restaurant is famed for. Alongside that we offer a lighter treatment of many dishes, and there’s more seafood on our menu there. We’re constantly looking at combining local produce and ingredients with the appropriate micro-Indian cuisine."

At home him and his family favour simple comfort food, but he also enjoys experimenting. “Sometimes we’ll pick a cuisine of the month, and cook dishes from that cuisine at least twice a week. Regular staples are roast chicken, Indian-Chinese, steaks, lots of grills and salads, Indian lentils and chicken curry."

His parents have been the biggest influence on his style of cooking. “Thanks to my Anglo-Indian mum and Tamil Brahmin dad, we had a lot of early exposure to different cuisines and cultures, which opened my mind to the immense possibilities of food."