Memories

“My cooking reflects my thoughts, my memories from my childhood in Mauritius.”

My fondest memory is whenever mum made pharata, she would give my sister, brothers and me a piece of the dough each and we would all sit at the table and shape the dough in all sorts. That was a good incentive for us to learn to cook while keeping us out of mischief.

My dad owned several businesses, but the one we were all very much part and have fondest memories of was our “bar”. We were all very involved in the business like little helpers around but my mother was the mastermind behind it, working behind the scene preparing several “gajaks” (nibbles/tapas) from home for the bar.

As for us kids we had to help out especially during school holidays mostly at the end of the month when business was busy. My brothers helped more at the bar than my sisters and me, we helped my mum more at home.

Although my mum prepared many “gajaks” from home our bar was so popular, “gajaks” were sold as quickly as they arrived. My dad had no choice but to change hats from being the landlord to chef for the rest of the evening, preparing other fresh “gajaks”. I can say my dad was a self taught chef, everything he touched turned into “deliciousness”, his food were truly exceptional, it still intrigues me how he did it. My dad had so many talents, he knew how to build and grow his businesses, a risk taker who was not afraid of hard work.