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The ace Kim Caula

Caula now brings his vast experience and magic touch to The Taj Mahal hotel in New Delhi. He also brings imported Felchlin Swiss chocolate, the secret of his truffles. Having worked in Egypt, Kuwait, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey, he says he came to India intrigued by its culture and history. He grew up in his parents’ hotel just outside Zurich. His first memory is of peeling potatoes, and becoming a chef was a natural progression.

“I love chocolate,” he says, indulgently, patting his expansive tummy, “Wherever I go, I try the chocolate first.” But Caula’s work is not merely about taste. He lifts his sweet skills to an art form. His marzipan fruits look like they’ve fallen from trees. His wedding cakes would leave Shakespeare speechless. To eat his creations is to make them disappear and so seems a near travesty.

Caula says that aesthetics are of prime importance. But it’s not that simple. And it varies from culture to culture. He explains, “In the Arab world, they go for looks first. They like that gold box and gold ribbons. If it doesn’t taste so good, it’s not that important.” But he says that in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, taste overrides exteriors. Being Swiss he himself doesn’t like to wrap his chocolates. As he has found that often beneath different wrappers lies the same chocolate!

Having been in India for a few months, has he figured out Indian preferences? “This might get me into trouble,” he says, with a laugh, “But I notice that people here like to eat a lot of dessert.” He is shocked at the size of pastry wedges and pudding moulds here!

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