Chef Navin’s story

Navin gave in to his childhood passion for food and launched himself into the culinary world when he gave up a career in medicine to enrol into The Institute of Hotel Management in Mumbai.  After 3 years of intensive training in Indian and Continental cuisine, he was selected by the renowned Oberoi Hotel as Kitchen Trainee.  During his time here he was awarded the Gold Medal for the class of 1987 and 1989.  It was no surprise that he returned to the Oberoi School as a trainer, during which time he trained many of London’s current high profile Michelin starred chefs.

In 1993 Navin became Chef at New Delhi’s premier Indian restaurant ‘Kandahar’ in The Oberoi Hotel, thereafter moving on to become Head Chef of the Indian Section.  During this time, Navin conducted Indian Food Festivals in Mauritius, Kuala Lumpur and Zurich, as well as training programmes and organisational restructuring studies for The Oberoi Group of Hotels.  A major career boost in 1998 saw Navin become Executive Chef to The Oberoi Maidens Hotel in Delhi, and later in the same year he made his way to London after being head hunted by a well known restaurant group, Cafe Lazeez.

Over the years, Navin has set new foundations for Indian cuisine and is regarded as one of the leading new wave Indian chefs in the UK with a natural flair for exciting, innovative cuisine that caters to the more health conscious diner. In 2008 Navin set about creating his own restaurant at the Grade 2 listed Dockmasters House in Canary Wharf in London.

Navin’s menu featured ancient and traditional Indian recipes modernising them using British ingredients to create a lighter, more contemporary menu.  His vision was to bring back the Indian cuisine that had been lost over the years… distinctive flavours, aromas and style!

Navin continues to develop a range of exiting and innovative Kohinoor cooking sauces and meals in minutes. These regional traditional Indian sauces have been designed knowing that people are travelling to the subcontinent and experiencing authentic Indian food. The provenance is regional, ethnic ingredients cooked to perfection.