Open up your tastebuds with Rocky and Mayur 

Open up your tastebuds, say Rocky and Mayur 
SuperChef Chennai 2018
SuperChef Chennai 2018

Hosts of cult TV show Highway On My Plate Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma are coming to Chennai. And this time — it won’t be to host a show centred around food, but to judge one. 

Rocky and Mayur 
Rocky and Mayur 

We’re talking about the sixth edition of SuperChef Chennai 2018. And the boys have some interesting stories from their  last visit to South India.“My lungi fell down while the cameras were rolling here in Tamil Nadu,” recalls Mayur with a laugh. While Rocky remembers his last visit to Chennai as being packed — literally. “I went to Junior Kuppanna, Dindigul Thalapakatti and Anjappar all in the same day and it was amazing.” Although he does admit in retrospect, “I could not move the next afternoon!” 
Since we first saw them make their entrance on the small screen back in 2007, this eccentric duo has expanded their brand to webisodes like Hot Stuff (a guide to India's spiciest chillies), award-winning cookbooks and next month Mayur tells they will be offering foodies easy-to-digest restaurant video reviews of almost 200 of India’s top restaurants. “It’s all the questions you have about a restaurant answered in 90 seconds,” he sums up the concept.


Going from corporate employees to India’s most well-recognised foodies across over decade has earned these gents has earned these co-hosts some unique skills. Mayur shares, “Give us one bite of any dish and we will tell you exactly what mood the chef was in when they made it.” Talk about psychic. As for what they believe in, though we catch up with Rocky and Mayur over two separate phone conversations  — two words come up over and over again — regional food. 


“You don’t have to keep reinventing or doing new stuff because there is so much in India that has not yet been discovered,” says Mayur from their countless travel experiences that are as diverse  as popping squishy woodworms from Arunachal Pradesh as a snack to dining with the army in the biting chill of Siachen. “The minute you start exploring other regions, there is no need to eat anywhere else for the rest of your life. And you still won’t be able to finish all of it!” exclaims Mayur, who incidentally left a prestigious job in marketing in pursuit of exploration — in this case, backpacking across 60 countries in five continents.


Rocky cites food trends that are waiting to be discovered in doing so. “Like I would love a hunk of meat with beautiful edible flowers on top,” he says, adding, “but edible flowers in India are largely unresearched”. Or he adds, “If you visit the North East, you’ll find over 200 varieties of vegetables that no one has ever heard of.” So widen your baskets this year — they urge chefs everywhere. And while you’re at it, grow your taste buds. Rocky says, “If there is one tip I live by, it’s that wherever I go, I try everything. The more you taste that is unfamiliar — the more you open up your palate."

SuperChef Chennai 2018 will be held on February 3 and 4. The event will kick off with an international food carnival at Amir Mahal, Royapettah on day one. Time: 4 pm.

 sonali@newindianexpress.com
@brightasunshine

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