ALEXANDER THE GRITTY

One of India's most creative chefs comes of age.

- SMITHA MENON

It's been 14 years since Alexander Lee Sanchez first arrived in Mumbai, armed with a San Francisco food philosophy and big dreams. "I was 26. I wanted to impress everyone and be adored," recalls Sanchez, now one of India's most renowned chefs. "I was tasting everything before it went out, re-seasoning and cooking things myself. Throwing kitchen staff off the line and firing them on the spot."

After stints at Thirsty Bear Brewing Company (serendipitously called The Bear) in his hometown, followed by Michelin-starred establishments such as La Folie, Manresa, and The French Laundry, it was at The Table in Mumbai that Sanchez finally helmed a kitchen completely on his own. Young, naive and hungry for success, Sanchez threw himself into his work, turning into an angry, screaming chef who ripped into his team constantly. "The awards and acclaim came fast and quick, but I was a real a**hole."

IN THE EARLY YEARS of The Table-ages before conversations about toxic kitchen culture became mainstream-it wasn't uncommon to hear yelling in the kitchen if you were seated at the bar. Diners happily tucked into delicately scrambled eggs with truffle oil and shrimp dumplings in a spicy ginger broth, blissfully unaware of the hellfire just a wall away.

"In India, people will take a bullet for you. They're incredibly loyal, but often, that drive and pursuit for excellence is missing. That's what frustrated me the most back then. That 'chalta hai' attitude restricts you from going from good to great. I wanted my team to be spectacular," he says.

Yet since then, his outlook on cooking and life has changed.

"I realized that it was self-destructive behaviour. If you fire enough people, you have no one left. No one wants to work for you and your food is not necessarily getting better. Then you're just a miserable asshole," he says.