Suresh Pillai
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Suresh Pillai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Suresh Sasidharan Pillai |
| Citizenship | British |
| Spouse | Remya Suresh |
| Children | 2 |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Kerala cuisine |
Current restaurant(s)
| |
Television show(s) | |
| Website | chefpillai |
Suresh Pillai is an Indian-born British chef and restaurateur. He worked as chef de partie, sous-chef, and chef de cuisine at various restaurants in London for 14 years, including Veeraswamy and Gymkhana. He holds British citizenship. In 2017, he contested in the British reality TV show MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC Two. He returned to India to become the corporate chef and culinary director of The Raviz. He also started his own restaurant chain branded Restaurant Chef Pillai.
Early life
Suresh Pillai was born in Thekkumbhagom, Kollam, Kerala[1] to Sasidharan Pillai and Radhamma who were coir labourers. He completed his schooling from GPHSS, Chavara South. He was a chess player, and participated at the state and national level. He was the under-18 champion of Kollam district.[2][3][4]
Career
Suresh started his career in 1993 at the age of 17 as waiter at a restaurant Chef King in Kollam, Kerala after his high school education. He assisted the chef part-time, and later joined the kitchen where he learnt basic cooking skills. Three years later he moved to Casino Hotel in Calicut (now Kozhikode), where he learnt Malabar cuisine. Four years later, in 1998 he moved to Coconut Grove, Bangalore. He worked for six years and was promoted to head chef. He learnt cooking in South Indian cuisines such as Coorgi, Chettinad and Konkani. He then joined his first five star hotel The Leela Palace at Bangalore, at the starting position of management trainee, as without a culinary degree the position didn't consider his previous experience.[4]
In 2005, he joined the Veeraswamy restaurant at London.[2][5] He then joined as sous-chef at Purple Poppadom in Cardiff and later as head chef at Cinnamon Culture in London and again as sous-chef at Gymkhana and later as head chef at Darbaar Restaurant and later at Hoppers. He became the corporate chef and Culinary Director at The Raviz Hotel, Kollam.[4] He has been a guest lecturer and guest chef at University of the Bahamas in its Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute.[6]
In 2021, he started his own restaurant branded Restaurant Chef Pillai in Bangalore[7] and another one in 2022 at hotel Le Meridien, Kochi.[8][9]
In the media
In 2017, he contested in the British reality TV show MasterChef: The Professionals (series 10) on BBC Two. He prepared a soufflé in the first round and a traditional Kerala fish curry and a twist of mashed potato and pachadi in the second round.[10] In 2021, he made a guest appearance in the Malayalam TV serial Mounaragam in the role of a cookery show judge.[11] In 2022, he contested in the game show Flowers Oru Kodi hosted by Sreekandan Nair on Flowers. That year, he also joined the cooking game show Kutti Kalavara Seniors on Flowers as a judge. He also made his film debut in 2022 with a guest appearance as himself in the Malayalam film Cheena Trophy.[12] He had a role in the movie Neru directed by Jithu Joseph in 2023.[13]
Personal life
In mid-2005, he was living in London and received British citizenship.[4] He is married to Remya Suresh and they have two children. He moved to India with his family in 2020.[3]
References
- ^ a b Nagarajan, Saraswathy (18 January 2024). "Chef Suresh Pillai calls for an academy to promote, popularise and preserve Kerala's culinary heritage". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024.
- ^ a b Saraswathy Nagarajan (30 March 2018). "Suresh Pillai on his experiments with food". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ^ a b Amia Mariam (15 January 2020). "Chef Pillai and his Michelin Star Journey". Kerala Insider. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d Russell Shahul (2 June 2021). "How chef Suresh Pillai scripted the master recipe for success". onmanorama.com. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ Harikumar J. S. (10 September 2018). "Chef Suresh Pillai's #CookForKerala aims to raise funds for the flood-affected". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ Deena Theresa (10 September 2018). "Beyond the pan, within the kitchen". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ Shevlin Sebastian (16 June 2019). "Fresh Fare". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ സ്വപ്ന സാഫല്യം; ലെ മെറഡിയൻ ഹോട്ടലിൽ പുതിയ സംരഭവുമായി ഷെഫ് സുരേഷ് പിള്ള. Asianet News (in Malayalam). 26 May 2022. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ "At This Hotel | Restaurant Chef Pillai". marriott.com. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ Deepthi Sreenivasan (26 November 2017). "A Masterchef from Kerala". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ^ ഇനിയൊന്ന് അഭിനയത്തിൽ പയറ്റാം; ഷെഫ് സുരേഷ് പിള്ള സീരിയലിലേക്ക്. Indian Express Malayalam (in Malayalam). 31 July 2021. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ "Chef Suresh Pillai to debut in Mollywood with this Dhyan Sreenivasan entertainer". Onmanorama. 2 July 2022. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ ഇന്ത്യാ ടുഡേ മലയാളം എന്റർടൈൻമെന്റ് ഡെസ്ക് (20 August 2023). "ആ മോഹവും പൂവണിഞ്ഞു; മോഹൻലാൽ ചിത്രം 'നേരി' ഷെഫ് പിള്ളയും". indiatoday.in (in Malayalam). Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.