17 Feb 2024
The wood panelled walls of St Albans’ only fine dining Indian restaurant – the critically acclaimed Chez Mumtaj – are broken up by glass display cabinets heaving with the awards lavished on the venue over the 16 years since its inception.
They were initially designed to showcase bottles of wine and quirky Asian antiques, but as head chef Chad Rahman has become a victim of his own phenomenal success, these items have gradually been supplanted by trophies and plaques ranging from Craft Guild of Chefs and the British Curry Awards through to a much sought-after pair of AA Rosettes and assorted medals from the Culinary World Cup, including a gold.
The latest of these is for Best Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year in the South East of England in the Prestige Curry Awards, selected by a panel of food experts, judges and mystery diners.
Chad is justifiably proud. “I’m deeply honoured and humbled to be a recipient of an award on a national level”, were his exact words. But what is it that makes Chez Mumtaj so special? What did it take to break the mould and create one of the very few Asian restaurants of this calibre outside the capital? Chad’s journey as a chef and the philosophy behind his cooking are both intrinsically intertwined, it would seem.
“I grew up in a restaurant environment, and my father was a restaurateur, he ran the old Mumtaj restaurant for about 36 years.
“After I finished my A-levels here I decided that I wanted to go to hotel school, ideally in Switzerland, but at the time it was just far too expensive, so I opted for the US. I applied to the Conrad Lawton Hotel School, which is in Houston, Texas, and that’s where the adventure really started.
“The initial process of me becoming a chef – what really interested me about food – was my mother’s cooking. My mother was so gifted that whatever she cooked, the seasoning was always wonderful. She inspired me.
“I said a long time ago, in a national interview, that as a professional chef I’m no match for an Indian housewife. She only has a limited number of ingredients but is able to cook infinite amounts of different types of Asian food.
“Me as a trained chef, I have 60-70 ingredients to play with, whereas she has a small tub of key spices and that’s it.
“I pay homage to that. Because I look at my own mother and I think one of the things that I’ve realised is that women, especially mothers, when they cook, they cook with their heart, for their family. So that is something that’s just God gifted, in that sense, there’s a blessing.
“Even on a professional level, when I’m cooking, you’ve got to have heart, you’ve got to have love, and you can’t just brute force cook. I don’t believe in that. I believe there’s an intangible kind of feeling when you’re cooking, obviously using great ingredients, good quality produce that is potent in flavour and nutrients.
“We’re cooks at the end of the day, we’re not magicians. I can’t turn a ropey piece of lamb into a Rolls Royce. But then there are ways of cooking it, like slow cooking.
“For me as a chef, it’s all about flavour, because it needs to invoke something, rather than something that looks very pretty but has no taste. It’s just aesthetics.
“As the great Marco Pierre White said a long time ago, cooking is a philosophy, and I think he’s absolutely right, because you’ve got to believe in it.
It’s not just about looking at a recipe book, that’s just a guideline, the real cooking comes from the soul, even if you’re cooking beans on toast. Done nicely, with the right ingredients, yeah, it’s very satisfying.
“When an artist paints something on canvas, it’s there for interpretation by whoever’s viewing it, so it needs to please the eyes. Whereas for chefs, not only does it need to please the eyes, it needs to please the other senses, your taste buds, the aroma, so, it’s a lot more difficult.
“You could eat something which looks very pretty, but is very insipid, has all fancy ingredients but no flavour. I’m a great fan of fresh stocks, because that’s what adds real flavour, rather than just a whole lot of ingredients.
“When we cook braised lamb, we cook it with the leg bones, because I want the marrow to infuse into the gravy. Then once its cooked you let it cool down and then knock out the marrow, so that infuses into the actual gravy and gives it depth and flavour, and use an old-fashioned stirrer to blend it in.”
He is outspoken in his dislike of mass-produced shortcuts, whether that be big handheld blender sticks – “it denatures the sauce!” – or five kilogram trays of chicken breasts, but instead wants to keep alive the traditions of Asian cuisine.
“You know what they say, old is gold. I look back on my childhood growing up in a restaurant environment, and now with all the mod cons and advancement of technology. Somethings are great, but others it’s just all about convenience rather than the level of love that goes in.
“When I was in my early teens, before you could even be a chef, you had to be a butcher. You had to know how to skin a chicken, gut a chicken, portion a chicken, whereas now it comes in a 5kg tray all prepped and everything.
“It’s interesting you know, you see sometimes on Masterchef the Professionals, when they have the skills test, and are given a little bird like maybe a quail or a partridge and told to feather it and crack it into portions. Even trained chefs working professionally often don’t have a clue were to start, and you’ve got Monica Galetti, Greg Wallace and Marcus Wareing making all these funny expressions – ‘What the hell are you doing?’
“My repertoire in cooking is not just in Asian food. As a chef I look at French cooking, Italian cooking, Oriental cooking. Why? Because that’s what stimulates me.
“You can go into a Michelin-star restaurant now, look at a menu, and it’s got influences from all over the world.
“So it is a very eclectic menu, rather than just French cooking.”
It is this cross-cultural cooking which defined the concept behind Chez Mumtaj, which presents itself as modern French-Asian dining.
“My actual professional training is in classical French, that was the foundation. By default, being Asian and growing up in an Indian restaurant, I was able to subtly marry the two, using French techniques but accenting Asian flavours.
“If you’re only eating once a day eat something nice and satisfying, even the British classics like a Lancashire hotpot or a shepherd’s pie or lasagne.
“For me, as someone born in the UK, I can relate to my childhood, growing up with both Western and Asian food. So when I opened this restaurant, I wanted to do something where I could marry the two and showcase the styles without bastardising the cuisine.”
Before it was a restaurant, the premises had been occupied by a Scandinavian pine furniture company, with little more than a concrete ceiling and floor, and the refurbishment process took a long time, so when it finally opened in 2008, the final concept was considered a huge risk for a venue outside the west end of London.
“When I opened this restaurant in what was still sleepy St Albans, lots of people made the comment that it was a very bold decision, ’What is a restaurant like this doing in the suburbs?’
“For the first few years I don’t think the residents of St Albans were really ready for it, but as the reviews came in and more people dined here, people started to give positive feedback, and then it started getting recognised locally and then on a national level.
“But for me when I opened this restaurant the impetus really was the passion. That’s what made me get up in the morning and come to work, even though I was struggling in the infancy of this business, because I believed in my product. And I think that’s the key thing, if you believe in what you’re doing. If I had any doubt then I wouldn’t have survived it. When I cook, I always think in the back of my mind, would I pay for this in a restaurant? If the answer’s no, then why am I serving it to a customer?!”
Like the rest of the hospitality industry, Chez Mumtaj was hit hard by the pandemic, and forced to adapt its business plan in order to survive.
“Over the years we’ve had ups and downs, peaks and troughs, especially with Covid and lockdown. It was a wretched time, it was awful, and I’m very grateful to God that we’re still hanging in there. I remember on March 23 2020, I was sitting here with all the staff saying we’ve got to close the restaurant. “Then a couple of my sous-chefs said, ‘Why don’t we offer a takeaway menu?’ A few other senior staff said yes, and that was the moment where I had the support of my staff. Pre-Covid we never served takeaway from this restaurant, but now it’s very popular.”
At the heart of his restaurant can be found Chad’s core principles of flavour, quality, taste, coupled with his endless desire to create and refine his blend of cuisine: “I’m not willing to compromise on ingredients. Let me give the best that I can, that money can buy, and that’s always the underlying ethos behind sourcing great ingredients that are coated in flavour, that are nutritious and that people can enjoy rather than bulk production and just looking at it from a monetary aspect and profitability.
“What gives me the buzz is creating and formulating something in my head. I could be eating in an Italian or a French restaurant. I kind of deconstruct what that dish is and then give it my own spin with an Asian twist without overpowering it.
“There’s a dish that we do that’s a cross between a Thai and an Indian dish. The Thai aspect comes from kaffir lime leaves, and the lovely citrus infused into the coconut milk gives it a wonderful taste.
“A lot of the dishes that I do are signature dishes, and I tend to keep the menu very small rather than compromise on quality.
If you’ve got a great product all you’ve got to do is treat it with some respect and allow it to sing.
“One of my favourite dishes I developed when I came back from America in 1993 called a Lamb Nashliee, which is a rich lamb curry dish that’s garnished with fresh bullet chillis, you’ve got the aroma of the ginger infused into the sauce, and when you do eat it it’s just decadent.
“We do another dish which is a mild kind of French-style dish cooked with tarragon, so very, very mild and dairy based, but with full flavour, and then cooked with chicken tikka so you’ve got the smokiness of the chicken with the tarragon and mushroom, and then with a drizzle of white truffle it just brings it to life, a little squirt of fresh lemon juice and a little bit of garlic.
“All of a sudden you have that kind of Walter Mitty moment, it’s like a little red light goes off in my head, and then you start toying with it mentally in your head. When everybody’s left the kitchen, I do the trials, Balance is important, for example something can be too acidic, too sweet, too spicy, and those are the primary tastes you need to balance to create the equilibrium.”
So what of this latest award? With shelves full to bursting of previous accolades, why does this one mean so much to him?
“The Prestige Curry Awards encapsulate the true essence of multiculturalism here in Britain and this award is the highest accolade we in the curry industry can aspire to.
“We view this award as a nationwide affirmation that places St Albans firmly on the curry map, and it represents the culmination of the love and efforts of my family, staff and our customers.
“I salute the unwavering dedication of my staff and their families who have kept Chez Mumtaj open for business during such unprecedented economic times.
“We have also been incredibly touched by the spirit and affection of the residents of St Albans who have consistently shown us their support and kept us all going throughout these difficult times. Thank you for keeping us in your hearts.”
