Atul Kochhar is an Indian-born, British-based chef and television personality. Kochhar was one of the first two Indian chefs to receive a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

, awarded in London in 2001 whilst at Tamarind. He opened his own restaurant Benares, which won him a second Michelin star in 2007. Since then he has opened several other restaurants: Kanishka in London, Masalchi in Wembley Park, Sindhu Vaasu, Riwaz and Hawkyns in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

and Indian Essence in Petts Wood, Kent. Kochhar makes regular appearances on television shows, and has written a number of cookbooks: ''Curry Everyday,'' ''Simple Indian'', ''Fish, Indian Style'', ''Curries of the World'', and ''30 Minute Curries''.

Early life

Kochhar was born in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

, India, and began his cooking career at The Oberoi Group of hotels in India (1989–1994). He gained his diploma in Hotel Management from The Institute of Hotel Management

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. In June 1993 Kochhar graduated to the five star deluxe Oberoi Hotel in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Here he worked as a

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

in one of the five restaurants in the hotel supervising a staff of 18 and immediately raising the standards in the kitchen. In January 1994 Kochhar moved to the restaurant of chef Bernard Kunig. Kochhar continued his cooking career and in January 2001 at the age of 31, Kochhar was the first Indian chef to be awarded a

Restaurants

Kochhar was fired from London's Benares restaurant in 2018 after sending a series of anti-Islamic tweets to actress

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is India's highest-paid actress and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and fiv ...

. Kochhar's contract with JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai was also terminated following these tweets. Kochhar opened the restaurant Kanishka in March 2019 on London's Maddox Street.

Media

Kochhar has been featured on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

's television series Million Pound Menu. He previously presented a series called Curry on with Atul Kochhar on the B4U network and a series on

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

called Kochhar's Spice Kitchen. Kochhar appeared in Masterchef Goes Large, season two and BBC2's

Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...

in a bid to create a menu in honour of the Queen's 80th Birthday. He also appeared in Market Kitchen and Saturday Kitchen series 1–3.

Publications

* ''Fish, Indian Style'' (2008), Absolute, * ''Atul's Curries of the World'' (2013), Absolute, * ''Benares: Michelin Starred Cooking'' (2015), Absolute, * ''Simple Indian'' (2016), Quadrille, * ''30 Minute Curries'' (2017), Absolute Press, * ''Curry Everyday'' (2022), Absolute Press,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kochhar, Atul British people of Indian descent Academics of the University of West London Living people People from Jamshedpur Chefs of Indian cuisine British restaurateurs British chefs British television chefs 1969 births Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom