Chef Ravi Nage, the Regional Catering Manager for Emirates in the Asian Sub Continent, Europe and UK is passionate about serving onboard passengers a dining experience with a difference.
Nage, in his white and red Emirates branded chef gear, hosted a lunch at the Fairmont Zimbali Resort on Thursday where he showcased some of the Indian meals served on board the airline. On the menu were green chilli and garlic scallops with aloo tikki and mango salsa for appetisers and a shahi mutton korma with saffron rice and aloo gobi mutter for mains. The meal was finished off with a rasmalai, a cheesy sweet dish.
The food
One of the appetisers...green chilli and garlic scallops with aloo tikki and mango salsa. Picture: Zanele Zulu.
Shahi mutton korma with saffron rice and aloo gobi mutter was one of the mains served. Picture: Zanele Zulu.
The Rasmalai.
Nage fell in love with cooking as a youngster. He remembers spending time with his mom in the kitchen at their Mumbai home as a youngster.
He worked as a chef at some of the biggest hotels, including Moevenpick Restaurants of Switzerland, Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C for more than 20 years. He joined Emirates in 2013.
Chef Nage runs us through the meals prepared on the Indian route. Picture: Zanele Zulu.
Emirates serves more than 110 million meals a year, catering for over 55 million dine-in guests annually in First, Business and Economy Class. Nage said that menus were designed with the passenger profile in mind.
“We design, plan and execute the menu from Dubai to the destination, and the destination to Dubai. The demographics of our travellers play a big role in our menu creation and runs in four cycles.
“We want to instil a sense of familiarity for customers and have to try to add something special of that particular destination,” he said.
The father of two said India was quite popular for Durbanites, with Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore top Emirates gateways for locals in the sub-continent.