Park Hyatt Chennai’s Masters of Food & Wine multi-course dinner showcases chefs’ culinary dialogue

Multi-course menus often ask for more patience than appetite. The first course dazzles, the middle one tests you, and dessert usually arrives like a white flag. But at the Masters of Food & Wine dinner at Park Hyatt Chennai, the rhythm felt different. Chefs Balaji Natarajan, Executive Chef Park Hyatt Chennai, and Ashley Nunes, Executive Chef Park Hyatt Hyderabad, were clearly thinking about energy — how a plate lands, and how quickly it disappears. The result was a seven-course dinner that did not behave like a marathon, but more like a steadily unfolding competition between two chefs who enjoy agreeing and disagreeing in flavour. 

“We knew the menu had to keep building tempo with every course,” Ashley said. With Ashley rooted in European technique and Balaji grounded in South Indian flavour, they realised early on that their defaults did not naturally overlap. They needed a meeting point, and Japanese cuisine became that anchor. From there, the menu took shape as a relay, each course picking up where the previous one left off.

The evening opens with an amuse-bouche of warm bread and three compound butters — miso, chive, and a South Indian podi that maps out the flavours the chefs were negotiating. Then begins the sequence of courses, each paired with a wine that shaped the pace of the meal.

Chef Balaji Natarajan
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The first course by Ashley features a pumpkin–mascarpone nori tart and a cheese-croquette nigiri with guero chilli; for non-vegetarians, a steak tartare and otoro nigiri was served over the same croquette. It was paired with a bubbly Prosecco from Italy.

Balaji took over with a crisp dosa okonomiyaki made from fermented koji rice, filled with peppered raw jackfruit or lamb. The coconut, tonkatsu and tamarind sauces pulled it together without overwhelming the plate, and a bold red from Maipo Valley, Chile, keeps the pace steady.

For the third course, Ashley shifts the meal into European comfort with his pizza ortolana — reimagined as a bite-size cracker topped with tomato, cheese, smoked aubergine and balsamic glaze. It pairs neatly with a Pinotage from South Africa.

The meal finds its peak in the fourth course: a coriander edamame or chicken gyoza paired with a mango–wasabi pulissery that was bright, sharp, and unexpectedly refreshing. It lands so well that another portion was ordered almost instinctively while sipping on a Cabernet Sauvignon, also from Maipo Valley.

The fifth course splits in two directions: a portobello mushroom glazed in teriyaki over truffled celeriac for vegetarians, and a miso-marinated black cod finished with a kaffir lime–coconut emulsion for non-vegetarians. Both dishes lean on depth rather than theatrics and were paired with a crisp Clarendelle Blanc from France.

For the sixth course, Balaji sears white asparagus with a chilli–garlic podi and served it with a golden curry and sticky tempered black rice which was also served with the Clarendelle Blanc.

Chef Ashley Nunes
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Dessert arrives as a two-part finale — one from each chef. Ashley’s fennel–white chocolate mousse with green apple granita leans cool and bright; Balaji’s flamed yuzu tender coconut pushes in the opposite direction, warm and aromatic. A pour of sake ties the two endings together.

What stayed with me was not just the food, but that energy, the give and take, the friendly one-upmanship that made every course feel alive. As Ashley put it, “cooking gives me a lot of peace. For three hours I forgot about everything and was completely involved. This is our passion.”

The Masters of Food & Wine – Dining Dialogue will be hosted at The Flying Elephant, Park Hyatt Chennai on 22 and 23 November from 7pm to 11pm. The meal with the wine is priced at ₹5,500. For reservations, call 89398 71109.