Born and raised in Pune, Arzooman Irani has a Diploma in Hospitality from Australia, a degree in Professional Cooking from the Baltimore International Culinary College, USA, and a Diploma in Management Studies from the Swiss Hotel Association — Les Roches, Switzerland.
Whilst gaining theoretical and technical knowledge, Arzooman has also been hands on, thereby making himself very versatile in his trade. Since then, his career has taken him to hotels and restaurants from Australia to the United States to back home to his native country, India.
Although he specializes in Mediterranean Cuisine, as a result of his travelling and absorbing cuisines of different places, he has picked up a lot of cooking techniques, ingredients from each and every place that he has worked for and has also brought about some element of his own creativity to that cuisine.
During his career as a chef with the Taj Group of Hotels he has worked at the Taj Fisherman’s Cove, Chennai; The Taj Green Cove Resort, Kovalam, Kerala; The Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort, Goa; Vivanta by Taj; Whitefield, Bangalore; Vivanta by Taj - Bentota, Sri Lanka; Vivanta By Taj – Gurgaon and The Intercontinental, Marine Drive.
Arzooman Irani's philosophy is “Cuisine is experimentation, research, imagination and most importantly, guest’s appreciation, and I have built my food philosophy on the harmony of all these aspects. ” He adds, "Seeing the colors and breathing in the aromas of fresh ingredients are all the inspiration I need,” "From there, I begin to visualize the combinations and construct the recipes."
Arzooman Irani's notable achievements include:
• Leading the Taj team in ‘Chef Guild’, an annual competition across the culinary field in Sri Lanka, from July 23-27, 2015 and securing 22 medals. (2 gold, 7 silver, 13 bronze) • In July 2014, Arzooman re-ignited the colonial fever in Bangalore by re-introducing colonial food enjoyed during the British Raj. Living in Whitefield, intrigued his curiosity to find out more about the cuisine of that time. During his research he came across a family having roots from past who shared with him a 100-year-old recipe book. Using this book as the premise he successfully put up an Anglo-Indian food festival, which was very well received and appreciated by the fine diners of the city. • Introduced innovative dining concepts such as ‘Casanova Diaries’, ‘Dining on Salt’, ‘The Black Garlic Experience’ and ‘Probiotic Breakfast’. • Was an integral part of the Taj Management Training Programme (TMTP) for three consecutive years. • Responsible for the global launch of the brand ‘Vivanta’ on 14 September, 2010.
Some of his signature dishes include:
• Black & White Sesame Crusted Sea Bass, beetroot reduction and lemon scented rice. • Pizza con Salmone e Mascarpone or handmade thin crispy pizza with smoked salmon and mascarpone • Mildly spiced “Goan” Crab Cake, Kokum fluid gel, basil seeds