Suresh Pillai is an Indian-born British chef and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

. He worked as

chef de partie A chef de partie, station chef, or line cook is a chef in charge of a particular area of production in a restaurant. In large kitchens, each chef de partie might have several cooks or assistants, sometimes referred to as demi-chefs, who operate i ...

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 of th ...

, and

chef de cuisine A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef that manages multiple kitche ...

at various restaurants in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for 14 years, including

Veeraswamy Veeraswamy is an Indian restaurant in London, located at 99-101 Regent Street. It was opened in 1926 by Edward Palmer, an Anglo-Indian retired British Indian Army officer, the grandson of an English general and an Indian princess. It is the o ...

and Gymkhana. He holds British citizenship. In 2017, he contested in the British reality TV show '' MasterChef: The Professionals'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, 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 matte ...

. He returned to India to become the corporate chef and culinary director of The Raviz. He also started his own

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

branded Restaurant Chef Pillai.

Early life

Suresh Pillai was born in Thekkumbhagom,

Kollam, Kerala Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake and is 71 kilometers (44 mi) north ...

to Sasidharan Pillai and Radhamma who were coir labourers. He completed his schooling from GPHSS, Chavara South. He was a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, and participated at the state and national level. He was the under-18 champion of Kollam district.

Career

Suresh started his career in 1993 at the age of 17 as waiter at a restaurant Chef King in

Kollam Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the List of cities and towns in Kerala, fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake ...

, Kerala after his high school education. He assisted the chef part-time, and later joined the kitchen where he learnt basic cooking skills. Three years later he moved to Casino Hotel in

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

(now Kozhikode), where he learnt Malabar cuisine. Four years later, in 1998 he moved to Coconut Grove,

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. He worked for six years and was promoted to head chef. He learnt cooking in

South Indian cuisine South Indian cuisine includes the cuisines of the five South India, southern states of India—Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana—and the union territories of Lakshadweep, and Puducherry (union territory), Pondicherr ...

s such as Coorgi,

Chettinad Chettinad (also known as Chettinadu) is a name that collectively refers to a locality that comprises 56 villages in the Sivaganga district and 20 villages in Pudukkottai district, Pudukottai district, which was historically ruled by the Ramnad ...

and

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

. He then joined his first

five star hotel Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experie ...

The Leela Palace at Bangalore, at the starting position of management trainee, as without a culinary degree the position didn't consider his previous experience. In 2005, he joined the

restaurant at

. He then joined as

at Purple Poppadom in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and later as

head chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef that manages multiple kitche ...

at Cinnamon Culture in London and again as sous-chef at Gymkhana and later as head chef at Darbaar Restaurant and later at Hoppers. He became the corporate chef and Culinary Director at The Raviz Hotel, Kollam. He has been a guest lecturer and guest chef at

University of the Bahamas The University of The Bahamas (UB) is the national Public university, public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas with campuses throughout the archipelago. The main campus is located in the capital city of Nassau, Bah ...

in its Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute. In 2021, he started his own restaurant branded Restaurant Chef Pillai in

and another one in 2022 at hotel Le Meridien,

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

In the media

In 2017, he contested in the British reality TV show '' MasterChef: The Professionals'' (series 10) on

. He prepared a

soufflé A soufflé () is a baked egg dish originating in France in the early 18th century. Combined with various other ingredients, it can be served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word ''soufflé'' is the past participle of the Fr ...

in the first round and a traditional

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

fish curry and a twist of

mashed potato Mashed potato or mashed potatoes ( American, Canadian, and Australian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt, and pepper. It is general ...

and

pachadi A chutney () is a spread typically associated with cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt, or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion, ...

in the second round. In 2021, he made a

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

in the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

TV serial '' Mounaragam'' in the role of a cookery show judge. In 2022, he contested in the

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

''Flowers Oru Kodi'' hosted by

Sreekandan Nair Sreekandan Nair aka SKN is a media personality, television anchor, veteran journalist and Managing Director of Flowers TV and 24 News. He has hosted several Malayalam TV shows, including ''Oru Nimisham'', ''Nammal Thammil'', and ''Samadooram' ...

Flowers Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

. That year, he also joined the cooking game show ''Kutti Kalavara Seniors'' on Flowers as a judge. He also made his film debut in 2022 with a guest appearance as himself in the Malayalam film ''

Cheena Trophy ''Cheena Trophy'' is a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Anil Lal in his directorial debut. The film stars Dhyan Sreenivasan, alongside Kendy Zirdo, Jaffar Idukki, Devika Ramesh (in her debut film), Johny ...

''. He had a role in the movie ''Neru'' directed by Jithu Joseph in 2023.

Personal life

In mid-2005, he was living in London and received British citizenship. He is married to Remya Suresh and they have two children. He moved to India with his family in 2020.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Suresh Living people Indian chefs People from Kollam district Year of birth missing (living people)