Following his Passion and Taking it to the Next Level

Bikramjit Ray Aug 29, 2016

THE LEELA Palace New Delhi’s new Executive Chef Adrian Mellor is English in appearance and the fact that he is a born supporter of the Oldham Athletic football team, otherwise, his heart is in Asia.

“I visited England recently after 20 years,” Mellor tells us, adding that home for him is the Philippines, where he is building a house.

“I have 28 years of experience. The first I need to get to know my guests a lot better. I have just spent ten months back in England for the first time in 20 years looking at the food trend there. There is a lot of new things. Whether it can transfer here, is another matter,” he told us.

Mellor, who began working in the food business at the age of 14 is a classically trained chef who has worked across Europe and Asia. He officially began his career at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, London, as a Chef de partie and went on to work at the likes of the Waldorf Astoria Malaysia; The Oberoi Rajvilas, India; and The Peninsula Manila, Philippines. Mellor has also worked as a private Chef to the Royal family of Jordan.

Mellor told us that the hotel was already well established in F&B, so his first job was to start to refine things. “I want to look at all the recipes, especially in banquets, which need a lot of work. We will try and take it to the next level. We have a demanding clientele,” he said.

The hotels bread and butter, their buffets, also needs a closer look and fine tuning, he added.

“To be perfectly honest, I need to relook at everything. From the recipes to the suppliers,” he stressed, but said he was happy because progress was being made. Mellor gave the example of finding a supplier who smokes his own salmon. “We are in talks, soon I hope there will be no more packs. We will get the fish delivered whole and slice it ourselves,” he says.

“There are lots of things happening out there. There are lot of passionate people in India (involved in food) and they need support. It’s all about bringing something different, something original, something exclusive,” said the Executive Chef, who believes in the hands on approach to his kitchen.