Chef
Grzegorz
Odalak
The Magician Chef
Michelin Missed
By Devanshi Mody
E
ach time I’m embarking on a
voyage, Chef Grzegor Odalak
of the Park Hyatt Chennai
calls. “We’re doing something
new. It is very nice. You must
come.” I cannot refuse the most
creative executive chef of all my
travels. Problem is, this “something”
he’s doing, it transpires, is a volley
of glamorous gourmet events, each
miss-me-not, which detain me
endlessly.
For instance, over a fortnight, Chef
Grzeg or Chef G, as he’s fondly
known, orchestrated a week-long
festival Masters of Food & Wine,
swiftly succeeded by a chi-chi
Brunello Wine Dinner, a wacky
Whisky Paired Dinner and, the
apotheosis of them all, a
Chocolate Dinner.
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The hotel’s new executive chef, who
ha r
n
ti
h hoo
has revamped Masters of Food &
Wine (MFW), a signature Park Hyatt
event, making of it epicurean
artistry. Moreover, Park Hyatt’s
n hant or yin o r
international guest chefs and
produce notwithstanding, Chef G
has taken to excavating world-class
produce locally, ever astonishing the
city’s snooty gourmets who disdain
the indigenous. If Indian and French
cheeses seem like chalk and cheese,
th n h
niff o t h
ma
locally (by Frenchmen, bien sûr) to
tickle the snootiest French noses
that wrinkle at anything but the
smelliest French cheeses.
Chef G is Polish but can pooh-pooh
Italian predominance in pasta realms
with his silken parcels of ravioli that
seemingly levitate on the plate,
hion o t no hi that
even Michelin-starred chefs and
perfect pesto made with basil from
his own gardens, mind you!