Creamed tapioca is not exactly top of my list. But there I was having dinner and my wife ordered it. Intriguing certainly, delicious? Absolutely. The dish was actually Creamed tapioca with fresh peas, black garlic and aged Cratlow Hills and came in a delightful wooden bowl lined with a glass bowl holding this yummy concoction.
Two days later I sat with a client whose Indian restaurant is one of my favourite places to eat. The owner was lamenting the ability to get people to try new things. His sales mix told him this and dishes either stayed or were taken off on this measure alone. So the old reliables took star biling – prawns, chicken, squid. Inevitably he ended up with large amounts of protein correctly seasoned and spiced, but protein nonetheless. This had an adverse effect on his overall sales though as customers ploughed through large quantities of protein. Which rather runs in the face of Indian food generally where vegetables are very much to the fore.
Dish construction is perhaps the most creative aspect of being a chef. Yes there is the skill and craft of bringing the dish into being, but how to fashion it, what to combine and when seems to me to be the really exciting part. Take an ingredient – tapioca perhaps – and make it into something that is ordered by customers who in turn are impressed by the experience.
My Indian client has a dish he is keen on which involves crisp spinach leaves, honey and yoghurt. So we’ve partnered his tandoor chicken with this and added a pomegranate raita. Suddenly we have a dish that might be somewhat western in approach – Indian cuisine is good on snacks but not particularly focused on starters – but is exposing customers to new tastes and flavours. The spinach leaves have gone down well and sales are looking good.
So what does this mean for me?: Push barriers is crucial in maintaining momentum, the trick is in the execution
Tell me what I should do: Take an ingredient that sells well and partner it with something challenging.
