Cook with compassion, to conquer hearts…
“Any cook can conquer someone’s stomach with his/her delicacy, but only a cook who cooks with compassion can conquer someone’s heart with his/her delicacy”
One of the most inspiring quotes that drive me forward in my cooking journey.
I have been reading the stories of the home chefs who are part of PinStove, and truly got inspired, hence presenting my own story and passion for cooking with everyone in the community.
I joined PinStove, London few weeks back and started building my own home food brand — Isle Of Taste on PinStove
An Apprentice to my Mom
My aspiration towards cooking took shape during my college days while helping mom in the household chores. My mother is an undisputed cook, who, despite coming from a traditional family, in a remote town in North Kerala(India), had the penchant to experiment with new dishes and read voraciously about cooking in the magazines. Between my mother and I, in the process, we built an ingenious repository of recipes cut out from magazines and transcriptions from the radio or television cookery shows.
On My Own
The methodical approach gave me the confidence to approach cooking seriously when I got married to Anish and moved to another city, Bangalore. Frequent lunch/ dinner parties to friends and families in Bangalore boosted my confidence and building the fundamentals. When in doubt, I used to take the phone a friend option (call my mom) or refer to the tried and tested recipe repository notebook.
Isle of Taste
London has opened up a new vista of opportunity to learn global cuisine and reach out to a larger community of food lovers. The initial pilot of few dishes in the local community led me to launch “Isle of Taste” a home-based, completely traditional and authentic food takeaway in Barking. The reception of Indian cuisine under the brand “Isle of Taste” has been overwhelming. Pinstove app has further enhanced the coverage of the endeavor by creating a set of loyal customers who are tech-savvy. I acknowledge that the team at Pinstove has been very supportive at each stage of the technology rollout and listen to me for my requirements, suggestions to build what I want for my business on the app
Future Perfect
All along I cherished the ambition to move towards healthy cooking. This is a destination which is free from the excessive usage of sugar, maida, salt, butter, oil, taste enhancers and the likes. The quest has been to find the right substitutes for these and strike the right combination, balance, and taste. The mission is on. I do believe that, it is the way to capture the heart and stomach of anyone tasting my food- i.e. to provide the best food in all respects!
Work-Life Balance
Anish and I work from Monday to Friday and my cooking starts on Friday evenings, and then lunch and dinners on Saturdays and occasionally on Sundays as limited orders. I started off with cooking a few extra portions and share with my friends around, and very soon it picked up the interest and reputation through the word of mouth. I have to thank Anish and my little daughter Nihaarika for all their support and help with the packaging etc.
The flexibility and manageability offered by PinStove are incredible — i.e I can cook when I love to cook. The dishes I like to cook. We are growing together
My dishes can be pre-orderd for Friday evenings and weekends in and around Barking, London
Browse My Menu (Order on PinStove App IPHONE and ANDROID .
