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Food in 3-D
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The best of food loses its appeal if it isn't presented properly
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Joe Manavalan: `It is useful to have a good pastry chef around since last impressions also count.'
"WHENEVER THERE is a new menu or a special styling needed, the pastry chef is always called in. Nobody knows as well as him how to style food." Joe Manvalan, founder of Painted Platters, sure knows what he is talking about. Not only because Painted Platters is known for its uniquely styled desserts, that come spray-painted with chocolate, also because Joe has been pastry chef at Oberoi, one of India's best-known hotel chains. "There, we were taught to abhor the standard methods — the tomato rose, parsley leaf or the cherry topping. Think beyond the conventional and usual, we were told. I also have a natural inclination to do things differently:"
First impression
Style, the visual appeal of food, is important because it is the first impression. To be a good stylist, you've to know your food well. It is like architecture, where the architect has to know the materials well. "The right side of a plate (like the right hand page of a book/newspaper) is the high visibility one. So, put the main or most colourful item there. I also use odd numbers regarding food articles on a plate or chairs for a table, number of colours in the food, interior dιcor of restaurants and whereever there is mix and match."
At Le Jardin in Bangalore's Oberoi, Mr. Manavalan serves desserts on boxes with mirrors piled up as children's blocks. In buffets, he says, especially desserts, most people look for variety. "I decided to serve smaller portions and discard the bigger champagne glasses in favour of smaller cocktail glasses. And I served tiramisu in small coffee cups so it looked like espresso or cappuccino. I learnt from an Austrian chef how to present a mousse differently. Take a Chinese ceramic spoon whose base is flat and make it stand up like a shoe and then pipe a mousse into the spoon all the way up the handle. And if you place these spoons on a mirror, you can magnify the effect in 3-D."
Joe believes in evolving all the time. He paints the plate with basil oil (for a green colour), red pepper or pine nut oil. This lends colour to the plate. He uses balsamico to give the oils a contrast so that they standout better. He also likes to have food articles piled up at the centre of the plate high. But as high as not to topple over. He does this with desserts and continental fare and kebabs among Indian snacks. He even has a chicken 65 in this style. "What I avoid, like the plague, is the flat plate with the potato at 11 o'clock position, vegetables at 2 o'clock or rice at 6 o'clock... Unfortunately, that is the way many Indian chefs present plates. It's a flat way to serve food, literally and figuratively. No 3-D effect. I also let sauces dribble over the plate."
Actually, even if the starters and main course have been messed up, if the desserts can produce a grand finale, it can save the situation. "It is useful to have a good pastry chef around since last impressions also count," he laughs. "Every chef has a signature style. You should be able to tell from looking at a plate whose creation it is."
Indian vs. Continental
Joe opines that Continental food is just right for styling. Not so for Indian food except maybe in snacks — the main course generally goes in a bowl. "Maybe you could add excitement to a bowl of dal by taking a spoon of ghee or oil with tadka in it so that it acquires an interesting colour (green for example, by frying tulsi in it) and gently drop it over the dal.
"In Continental fare, normally the entire plate is kept before you; but in Indian dishes, the meal is brought in bowls or platters and then served. Therefore, the guest gets a few seconds to peep at the bowls before they are served, unlike the Continental fare where the plate is in front of you for a long time. So, Indian dishes can do without much decoration. Subtle colours with oils could be used at a single point so that the eye moves to that particular point for that second.
"In buffets, however, one needs to look at the entirety before deciding on garnishes. Place the empty dishes on your table with their ladles preferably, then decide on the silver you would keep, then a flower arrangement, candles. Visualise the colours of the dishes and garnish appropriately."
No styling for himself surprisingly. "I am happy with a thali where I have everything in front of me at one time and where I can sample and enjoy one thing after the other."
This column features those who opt to do things differently in their life and career.
ARUNA CHANDARAJU
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