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P.K. Ahluwalia,
Dhaba,
Toronto, Ont.
By Gary Lipovetsky, President of MenuPalace.com
 When P.K. Ahluwalia arrived in Toronto in the mid-1990s, he left behind a successful career as a chef in England, in the hopes of providing a better life for his family. Unfortunately, his transition to finding a role equal to what he was previously doing was harder than expected. The Indian-born chef even took time away from the foodservice business to drive the big rigs in a trucking company, but after an accident kept him of his feet for six months, he knew his destiny was back in the kitchen.
In the late ’90s, Ahluwalia opened his first restaurant, Dhaba, just north of Toronto, serving upscale Indian fare. After a successful two-year run, he decided to move it downtown to take a shot at conquering the big city’s competitive restaurant market. He’s been there ever since.
MP: What makes your style of cuisine at Dhaba more sophisticated than what’s served at a typical Indian restaurant?
PKA: I’m the kind of guy who will always do my best as a chef. I want to use my techniques and culinary arts the best way that I can, but I listen to my customers as well. And I always have an intention to learn from them. When a customer comes in, my first question is, “Do you have any allergies or special requirements?” I like to know what their tastes are, too.
MP: You gauge their palates and see what kind of food they’re into?
PKA: Whenever I have time to cook, and I am free, I will come out and see my customers and create something just for them. One of my customers was recently hospitalized — he is over 70 — and when he was released from the hospital, the first place he wanted to go was Dhaba. He still had all his IVs in and tubes in his nose. Now, I was a little scared to have to cook for him in that state, but he told me not to worry about it. I think this makes me a little bit different from other chefs.
MP: A lot of Indian food is very spicy. Do you tone it down for North American tastes?
PKA: I’ve seen spices become more accepted by Torontonians over the past five or six years. Diners are getting more adventurous. But I will say this — Torontonians know their food very well, and they know Indian food very well. That said, at the end of the day, I’m not in the business of educating my customers. If someone says to me, “I just want potatoes and fish,” I’ll serve it to them. But it’s still my job to make them really good potatoes and fish.
My menu is also different from many other Indian restaurants in town. For example, I make Tandoori soft-shell crab. I make Tandoori rack of lamb. I make fish dishes with halibut and tilapia.
MP: So you’re using local ingredients, with Indian recipes, techniques and spices.
PKA: The technique and spices are purely Indian, but I like to use local ingredients. When I use something like a Spanish saffron, rapini or okra, I get it from Ontario, instead of ordering it from India and waiting 10 days. You can get great Roma tomatoes, avocados, garlic chives even, but the spices must come from India. I grind them myself. All the techniques I employ are used in the Indian fashion. My ovens are pure clay ovens fired on charcoal. Most other places with tandoors are fired on gas, and those do not create the same flavour.
MP: What’s one of your signature dishes?
PKA: Our rack of lamb is very popular. One way I prepare it is tandoori style. It’s marinated overnight, with papaya and ginger. I use no tenderizer because it’s baby lamb. The cut is double bone, and then I put it on a skewer and roast it lightly on wood charcoal. I serve it medium rare, and it comes with a simple, fresh, organic local salad. I use organic beets, carrots, and a little touch of watercress when it is in season, or mustard cress or spinach when it’s in season. All of these things are available in India, but it’s about how it tastes when you use fresh ingredients. I also prepare three different chutneys with it — one with Indian chilies and cilantro; one is a pepper sauce, made with Ontario-grown red-pepper; and I even use some pineapple with the lamb, because a little acidity goes nicely with it.
MP: Do you make all your sauces by hand?
PKA: Yes. We also don’t use any thickening agent in our sauces. None of them are pre-made. Our food speaks for itself. And if you know food, then you know that good sauces are key.
MP: OK, let’s talk about Restaurant Makeover. You’re in select company from doing the show, and your restaurant is still here. What was it like working with a chef as prominent as Susur Lee? He’s known to be very demanding at the best of times.
PKA: Chef Susur is very well-known around the world and he is very talented. I have a lot of respect for him. He shared his art with me, and whatever I could share with him of my stuff, I did. He was very welcoming. He had no attitude with me. I cooked in his kitchen, and he cooked in mine. And I was told this was the first Restaurant Makeover where the guest chef approved 100 per cent of my menu.
MP: Did you see a spike in business after the show?
PKA: A lot of people came in after the show aired, and our regular customers returned as well. People are still coming and saying they saw me on the show. Some are even tourists who saw it playing on an Air Canada flight. In a marketing sense, it was quite rewarding. |