Performing Chef

The secret ingredient in her cooking: lesser-known parts of Punjabi cuisine. The recipe: a family’s culinary traditions, passed down generations of chefs. Armed with these, Reetika Gill quit her desk job to share her food philosophy with the world. It gave shape to Curry Singh Kitchens, a small restaurant with a selective menu based entirely on old family recipes that opened in 2016.

Going beyond regular restaurant menu options, she took domestic favourites like tinda, karela and methi to create memorable dining out experiences. Non-vegetarian dishes, too, got purged of their reputation of being loaded with fat and cream. The food is free of cream and nuts, and only ghee and mustard oil are used along with seasonal ingredients.

Gill comes from a family of chefs – her father Manjit Gill is a former ITC chef and one of the most prominent names in Indian cuisine; her sister, Preetika is also at ITC and her mother is the culinary mastermind in the Gill household.