Spicing up Chef Singh’s way

In his effort to use nothing but fresh spices in cooking food, Pacific Islands Club Chef De Cuisine Kotwal M. Singh has decided to set up his own herb garden within the hotel.

A lover of spices, Chef Singh says he grew up with all the different types of homegrown spices in his native hometown in Deheradun, Northern India where the family’s garden of spices include bayleaf, cinnamon, and saffron.

“We don’t buy most of our spices because people are expected to grow a lot of them in their garden since these are basic ingredients in cooking,” he says.

Since most of the hotels and restaurants here get mainly their food supply from the U.S. mainland, Chef Singh says this has resulted in difficulty in providing consistent fresh supply of his favorite spices.

“It is very important that I get a regular fresh supply of the spices that I need because these are important ingredients in my cooking,” says Chef Singh. He says his love for spices is rooted in his culture which partly explains why Asians are generally warm and friendly.

In PIC’s herb garden, Chef Singh grows basil, rosemary, thyme, lemon grass, green onions. One must know how to use the spices to be able to get the perfect flavor in different types of food — lamb goes with rosemary, beef is marinated using thyme and rosemary, chicken is cooked with lemon grass.

Working in different hotels for the past 20 years, Chef Singh has learned to adjust the use of spices depending on the nationality of his guests. His travels to Hong Kong and China introduced him to a different world of spices.

Utmost importance for Chef Singh is that his guests enjoy the food he prepares. It is no wonder therefore that he inspects every plate for the leftovers to find out why a certain food in the menu was not eaten by guests.

“Maybe it has something to do with the seasoning that we use so we have to make the necessary adjustments right away. If the plate is empty, I am the happiest chef on that day,” he says. He even goes out of his way to ask the guests for their recommendations on the menu just to make sure that they will enjoy every meal at PIC.

Using his fresh herbs from the hotel’s garden, Chef Singh has created a new menu for Magellan Restaurant following different themes: Monday is Seafood; Tuesday is Asian food; Wednesday is American/Indian; Thursday is Italian; Friday is Lobster and Steak; Saturday is Chinese and Sunday is Mexican.

Chef Singh says his main reason for introducing theme buffet menu is to provide guests a variety of food to choose from if they are booked for several days. “Imagine if the guests will stay for three days and do not see any change in the menu. The guests will definitely go out and dine outside. I believe in giving the best and complete service during their stay because after all, we owe it to them that they chose to stay with us,” he says. (Lindablue F. Romero)