Sweets and Bitters: Tales from a Chef’s Life

Regarded in the culinary world as the man who put Indian food on the fine-dining map, Satish Arora is known for reimagining traditional dishes in a contemporary avatar. He has been feted by connoisseurs and food historians for his contribution to Indian cuisine that, until his arrival, was considered too pedestrian to be put on a five-star menu.

In 1970, when twenty-six-year-old Arora was chosen to lead the Taj Palace kitchen in Mumbai, he became the youngest executive chef in the world. What followed was an exemplary career spanning fifty years, creating innovative dishes for the world’s biggest celebrities and dignitaries. From Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton and Amitabh Bachchan, Arora has served them all.

Arora’s extraordinary life is also a story of the evolution of five-star hospitality in India. Through his sense of humour, phenomenal memory and bagful of stories Sweets and Bitters offers delicious peeks into the most well-guarded food secrets of celebrities and heads of states, in the process memorialising culinary milestones in India.