Alfred Prasad

As Director Cuisine & Executive Chef of Tamarind in Mayfair, Alfred Prasad leads some of the most exquisite Indian cuisine kitchens in Europe and USA.

Alfred was born in the central Indian city of Wardha and lived all over the sub-continent during his youth, an experience which expanded his mind to the immense variety and possibilities of Indian cuisine. A graduate of Chennai’s Institute of Hotel Management in 1993, Alfred was hand-picked along with five others from all over India to undergo advanced chef training at Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi, at their flagship restaurants Dum Pukht and Bukhara.

In 1996, Alfred took over the kitchens of the legendary Dakshin restaurant in Chennai. He moved to London in 1999 and joined Tamarind as a Sous Chef in 2001. Within a year he had become Executive Chef. At 29, Alfred was the youngest Indian chef to receive a Michelin star, an honour, which put him firmly on the world’s culinary map.

At Tamarind of Mayfair, the flagship restaurant of the group, Alfred’s mouth-watering menus put an exciting 21st century spin on dishes, delicately balancing creativity and authenticity.

Alfred’s creative expression at Imli, showcases Indian food inspired from the heartbeats of India, its bustling streets, vast coastline, its eclectic borders, and home style cooking. This vibrant menu presented in a casual chic format, well suits its location in Soho.

Tamarind of London, in Newport Beach, California offers its diners a wonderful combination of Tamarind classics and a small section of the menu is inspired by the Californian style of cuisine. The menu has a strong seafood presence, incorporates a lot of local produce and offers a lighter treatment of many traditional dishes.

At Zaika, the latest entrant into the group, the menu offers refined yet creative and contemporary Indian cuisine incorporating traditional classic dishes with original new menus.

Lauded for his original take on traditional menus, Alfred presents each meal as a complete sensory experience to celebrate the immense diversity of India through his cooking. Passionate about using sustainable produce and the freshest, seasonal ingredients, he regularly travels back to India to research minimally documented culinary traditions and unearth old family recipes. Alfred is naturally artistic with a penchant for science and enjoys his profession, which he considers a perfect amalgamation of the two. Playing with the boundaries of science and flavour, he creates truly unique and inspiring menus and unforgettable food experiences and memories.

Alfred has gained industry and public recognition for his cuisine - he was named in the Restaurant Magazine’s top twenty ‘Movers and Shakers’ for 2004, as well as one of the ‘Rising Stars’ predicted to make it big in 2004 in Delicious Magazine.

Further to that, Alfred was added to the Debrett’s People of Today, the annual publication showcasing great achievers in British society. In 2007, Alfred assisted Gordon Ramsey in turning around the fortunes of ‘Curry Lounge’ in Nottingham as part of the television series ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ and also provided ideas towards the content of ‘Gordon’s Great Escape’ – his culinary adventure in India in 2010.

In 2012 Alfred was voted ‘Chef of the year’ at the English Curry Awards and also retained the prestigious Michelin Star at Tamarind for the 11th year in the Michelin Guide 2013. Alfred has been invited to showcase his cuisine at festivals at Hotel d’Angleterre in Geneva, The Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa as well as the Constance Belle Mare Plage, Mauritius.

Revered by his peers across the industry, Alfred has been described by Gordon Ramsey as a ‘man always pushing the boundaries, seeking out new spices and combinations’.