WEBVTT - Romy Gill 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:05.680 I think like you, I. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.840 Really pushed myself, and I also I think I should stop. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:12.160 You know, you're not never going to please anybody. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:13.920 Yeah, you're never going to please anybody. 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.079 That's so funny as opposed to you're never going to 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:16.959 please everybody. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:18.480 You're never going to please anybody. 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.439 My dad used to say that because you know, the 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:22.800 phrase is I can't have everything, and my. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.120 Dad used to go, oh, well you can't have anything. 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:26.680 I like that. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:33.120 Hello, I'm Mini driver. I've always loved Preust's questionnaire. It 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:37.400 was originally in nineteenth century parlor game where players would 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.080 ask each other thirty five questions aimed at revealing. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:42.120 The other player's true nature. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.919 In asking different people the same set of questions, you 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.280 can make observations about which truths appear to be universal. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:50.120 And it made me. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.400 Wonder, what if these questions were just a jumping off point, 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.520 what greater depths would be revealed if I asked these 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:01.080 questions as conversation starters. So I adapted Pru's questionnaire and 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.840 I wrote my own seven questions that I personally think 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.959 are pertinent to a person's story. They are when and 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.720 where were you happiest? What is the quality you like 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:14.280 least about yourself. What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.679 for you? What question would you most like answered, What person, place, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.679 or experience has shaped you the most? What would be 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.360 your last meal? And can you tell me something in 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.000 your life that's grown out of a personal disaster? And 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:32.520 I've gathered a group of really remarkable people, ones that 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.119 I am honored and humbled to have had the chance 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.760 to engage with. You may not hear their answers to 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.160 all seven of these questions. We've whittled it down to 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.520 which questions felt closest to their experience or the most surprising, 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:49.360 or created the most fertile ground to connect. 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.800 My guest today is the chef, author, and broadcaster Romy Gill, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:02.200 a truly wonderful, self made powerhouse whose food is well. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.520 Last time I ate at one of her pop up restaurants, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:10.920 it was an extremely quiet experience because nearly everyone in 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.000 the restaurant was quite literally in a silent reverie over 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.120 her food. Her cookbooks are warm and insightful, and the 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 newest of which is out this September and is entitled 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:22.920 Romy Girls India. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.000 Where and When were you Happiest? 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.880 So I'm going to take you back to my childhood, 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:41.640 those long train journeys. If anybody hasn't experienced that, children's 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:46.600 born in nineteen seventies, eighties and early nineties, Indian families 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:48.280 will understand what I'm talking about. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:49.760 In India is such a big. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:54.240 Country and those long train journeys were something so beautiful, 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:58.040 so amazing that we would embark on this journey. My 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.680 dad worked in a steel plant in West Bengal, but 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:02.440 my parents are both. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.440 From north in Deer and we would take this. 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.200 Long journey from Bengal to the Punjab. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.000 Jah, which is a nor then investment goal is to 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.480 East India. So I think that journey was more than 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:18.040 twenty four hours on a train on the train, and 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.480 you know, and Dad would make this beautiful picnic that 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.480 needed to be last the whole more than twenty four hours, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.440 and we would look in the uniqueness of that. I 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:32.079 think it's rare now because everybody flies so quickly from 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.760 one destination to another, and that train going from different 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.160 regions of different state, and then the trains would stop 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.360 and my dad and mom hagging and bartering for mangoes. 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:44.120 You know, if it's like one hundred of fees, give 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.600 it for sixty rupees or something like that to kill it. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.280 And all those food. 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.840 From different regions or states, you would only eat when 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:53.880 you're going on that journey, because you have to understand 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.520 it's so diverse. We are such a diverse country. We 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.520 speak different languages, a food is different, and as a child, 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.240 that was for me something I don't know. I was 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.960 so eager to wait for those delicacies, to eat those food. 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.280 So as you go into each region, you'd get a difference, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:17.599 so you'd know we're going into mango region. Now that's 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:19.920 what we're going to be looking forward to. And then 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.080 that's so lovely. 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.520 And strain would stop, and then we would need Like 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.520 some places there was a katori or body, which is 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.880 like a deep fried bread with potato curry, which is 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.640 so delicious, so simple, and you know, just digging that 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:39.720 bread in soaking aludum, we would call it just heavenly. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.440 As a child, those things were so important. You know, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.960 you understand we didn't have that technology. We are brought 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.159 up in a very different environment, in a very sheltered environment. 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.279 You know, grew up in a steel plant. So I 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:55.000 think for us, especially for me, those strange journeys, I 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.479 think is my happiest place. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:57.839 Still. 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.680 It still gives me joy when I talk about it. 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.599 It's just it reminds me how I would meet people 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.359 from different states going on that journey. You make friendships, 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.280 and my system met her husband on the train. You 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:10.960 fell in love and got married. 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:17.960 No, Oh, my gosh, that's so incredibly romantic. That's amazing. 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.960 Would food become I mean, I'm assuming it would. The 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.800 different regions and the different times, and the different things 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.039 that you would eat, I'm sure became markers of time 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.200 on a very long train journey. What you were going 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.360 to eat next would be then sort of next focus. 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:34.080 I mean, eating is an excellent way. 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:35.400 To excitement, isn't it. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.160 And then there would be little street vendors coming with chai, 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.000 which is Indian tea, or child moor, which is like 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.680 an Indian snack of things like that. They would get 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.600 on the train and sell I mean even at mango 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.960 or raw mango with little chili flakes and black salt, 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.880 and you bite into that sourness and sweetness and chile. 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.000 I mean, I just cannot tell you how magical the food. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:59.200 And I'm so. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.760 Happy that I I'm a chef, and I. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.360 Have those wonderful memories that I can create those dishes 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.040 as well. I think that will always be my safest 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:08.520 place and a happy place. 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:10.080 Oh how lovely. 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.719 What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you? 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.839 I don't know if you've seen or heard a film 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:26.719 called Lunchbox. It's a beautiful, beautiful movie. It came out 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:31.880 in twenty thirteen. It tells a story of a mistaken 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:38.200 lunch box delivery in Mumbai, where it leads to an unexpected, 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:45.520 beautiful friendship between a loona and a housewife who's very neglected, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:50.560 and they started exchanging notes in the lunch box. And 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.159 that relationship, I can't tell you, gives me goosebumps because 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.119 it's such a beautiful movie the way it's made, Because 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.719 if you see Bollivard movies, there are movies dancing around 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.240 the trees and many other things. But we have very 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.920 very good films as well, and they develop, I would say, 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:13.440 a deep emotional connection despite not ever meeting face to face. 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.480 They do decide to meet, and then circumstances happen and 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.920 they don't meet, and they leave you in a kind 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:21.000 of a situation. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.240 You can make up your mind and think. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.280 That they might meet it, or they might not meet 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.920 I think the brief, profound connection. 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.920 That impacted their lives. 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.320 I think that for me is a remember of power 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.200 of how you don't have to have a connection through 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.240 just you know, sexual or anything like the connection they 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.160 had through those letters through the food. For me, that 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.520 I think defines a relationship or love. I think it's beautiful. 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.440 I think you will love that movie. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.600 I'm definitely going to check that out. I love the 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.400 sound of that. I think it's not astonishing to me 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:04.160 that the idea of a conversation through food is something 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.440 that really appeals to you, because that's what your food is, 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.880 and it's what your books are like. They are like 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.840 having a conversation with your My favorite cookbooks are that way. 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:14.560 You feel like. 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:16.440 You're having a conversation with a person who wrote them 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.680 because of their conversation with the food. And when you've 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.760 cooked for me and all the other people who were 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.400 there the night that we ate your food, you couldn't 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.480 hear anybody talk because everyone was so busy eating. But 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.880 I love that idea of the literal and the figurative 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.079 communicating through a lunch box. That's so beautiful. 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:43.120 It's a beautiful movie. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.800 So what question would you most like answered? 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.680 Do you know what I'm thinking about this? For ages? 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:01.560 Just I don't know. 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:07.120 I think finding meaning and happiness in my life? Should 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:12.200 my life be about finding meaning and happiness? 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.079 If I know the root to one. 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:20.520 Of those things, I think I would have also found the. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:21.240 Way to the other. 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.240 If you find meaning and happiness in my life, Oh, 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:25.920 I see. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.959 So do you not feel like those things are present 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:30.760 in your life anyway? 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:32.520 They are? Yes? 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.880 Meaning for me, meaningful with be I'm just chasing this 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.680 dream of being the best chef or a good author, 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.760 or a good mom or you know, things that are 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:49.000 meaningful for me. And happiness is where my family is, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.559 my friendships are There's two different things for me. They 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.960 are in my life, but I'm still chasing them. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.199 So as your question, how you would combine both of those, 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:00.960 how to cont them both. 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.520 How to connect them, and how in that way would 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.680 I be able to find join together happiness? 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:08.079 I don't know. 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.760 Yeah, I mean it's the balance of it comes back 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.480 to kind of the work ethic and feeling like there 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:21.280 is huge meaning in our work, huge meaning in our family. Yeah, 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:23.840 but how to connect those in a way that is balanced. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.480 I feel like that's pretty much everybody. I mean, well 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.480 good people who are kind and loving and want to 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.400 explore how it is to combine those things. 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.080 But it's tricky, it is. 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.080 I know, I'm very happy with that what I do, 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.400 but I'm just pushing and pushing and pushing you know 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.160 when it's going to be enough. But I think that 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:47.840 to balance. Like you said, yeah, yeah, I mean good luck. 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.360 But you're not alone feeling that way. It's like something 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.480 that I said in my book. I was always complaining 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.720 to my mother about the hustle and having to always 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.080 work so hard and constantly trying to keep things going. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.040 And you know, I'm self employed, always have been, that's 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.440 what you do too, and because getting exhausted with that, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:11.520 it exhausted with how much constant worry and work that takes. 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:15.559 But she would always say that's why she got out 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.400 of bed in the morning, and that if you took 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:24.680 that away, we probably wouldn't be happy. In quotes, you know, 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.720 it's really tricky because it's kind of counterintuitive. I think 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:29.600 the stuff that you think, if you got rid of that, 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.840 you'd be happy, but I don't think. No, if I 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.920 got rid of hustling really hard every day for everything, 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:38.839 every job, everything that I write. 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.040 You know, I don't know who doesn't. 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.199 I sit around and I sometimes make lists of people 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.160 that I think have it really easy, and then I 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.520 read it out to my boyfriend and he's like, no, 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:49.120 I don't believe it. 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.720 They had this thing. No, they wake up at four. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:53.760 In the morning and they remember when they did that. No, 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.599 they made that film. It was rubbish. You know. 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.599 It is one of those things I think. I don't know. 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.760 Maybe I'm Indian, and I just think coming to this 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.240 country and my daughter's a first generation here and living 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.560 in a very white town on where I live in 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.800 near a village, opening a restaurant or it's just constantly 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.280 trying to prove myself. I think it's never going to 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:14.959 be enough, you know, like you said, never going to 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.800 be enough. It's just everybody has to do it, so it's. 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.320 Not just me. Where was your restaurant in the Cotswolds. 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:22.040 Yeah, South Gloucestershire. 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:23.640 Yes, God, your food is amazing. 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.320 But I think about that, like, did you in creating 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.480 that place, that incredible restaurant, did you think about where 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.079 you'd come from? Like, was that part of the journey 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.679 of opening it there? Did it add another level of 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.319 I really really understand where I came from because I'm 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:44.679 in a place that is so extraordinarily different from It's 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.000 not even London, you know London at least it's super multicultural, 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:49.840 and you know it wouldn't be such a big deal, 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:51.480 but that must have been such a big deal for you. 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.720 It was, but my daughter was six months old, meaning 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.160 and I really wanted to be where my kids are. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.679 If something happened, I could just rush quickly. I want 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.520 to be around that. It affected my relationship with my kids, 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.280 my husband because I wanted to open there. It took 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.360 me nearly four years. The banks won't give me a loan. 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.000 I sold all my jewelry, all the gold jourally my 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.200 parents and my in laws had given me, sold all 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.280 the jewey to invest in it, and my husband helped 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.440 me along with it. But I think it was hard. 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.560 But I didn't want to do it anywhere else. But 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.240 people did support me, and people came from far places 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:25.800 to eat. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:26.760 I know they did. 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.680 I mean because it was incredible and it actually it 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.199 wouldn't have mattered where it was, I don't think because 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.520 it was so incredibly delicious, and that must. 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.760 Have been amazingly satisfying for you to. 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.320 Have created something that was really hard to create in 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.200 a place that was local to you but not lots 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.240 of people, and then to see everybody coming from all 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:46.880 over the world. 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.120 I think sometimes people say, oh, passion, you do the passion, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:51.160 because it's no. 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.600 You have to have the pushing you. I had to 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:54.920 be there. 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.880 I had to be continuously sleek, push myself and be 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.440 there like fourteen hours, killing myself. But I think the 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.920 restaurant made me what I am today. I would not 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.920 change anything about where I opened, and I think if 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.520 I didn't open it there, I wouldn't open anywhere else. 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.600 I think the restaurant is what Romi is today. 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.000 How amazing I mean clearly. I mean everything has grown 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:18.920 out of that. All of the books and all of 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.400 the rest of the cooking has grown out of what 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:22.200 began there. 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.840 Right in's a little seed and that was my foundation 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:26.360 and now it's all the branches. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:35.200 Yeah. Yeah, what person, place, or experience most altered your life? 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.680 God, it's got to be Gundi. It's got to be 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:38.360 my husband. 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:40.840 I know it's People might think all that, but if 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.960 you have to understand Indian men. And I always wanted 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.040 a husband like my dad, who's really calm, really placid, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.280 very helpful to my mom. My dad is fantastic and 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.360 I Gundhi was one of those people that really encouraged me. 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:59.240 You know how we met and eventually opening the restaurant. 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.360 Anything I sa said, he was there for me. He 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.920 changed my life for many things. Also, anywhere in the 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.840 world I go, he's always there to hold my hand 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.360 and say, even if he's here, I'm there. He's always there. 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.840 He's never said you can't do this and you can't 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.880 do that. He's always been very supportive behind me. And 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:20.480 a lot of people say, very se your husband. We 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.120 never see him. He's very shy. He doesn't look like 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.400 to go out anywhere. But he's always there for me. 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.280 I think if he didn't support the way when I 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.680 open the restaurant and looking after our daughters, I wouldn't 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:34.360 be where I am today. I think, you know, and 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.360 when some you know potwasher didn't turn up, he would 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.840 go to the restaurant and wash the dishes for me 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.600 in front of the house. Thing he has done, I 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.640 can't tell you how lucky I have. I've known him 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.200 for twenty seven years, and I think he's one of 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:54.920 those people that has really really changed my wheels on 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.520 many things. I think he keeps me grounded because I 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.880 am a very hyper person. He's a very calm. 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.480 Were you a chef when you met him? Were you 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.200 already a professional chef? 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:05.640 No? 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.040 I was not at that time here when we met, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.840 because my mom had cancer when I was growing up 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:12.640 and doing my A levels. When I got to know 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:13.840 and I said to my dad, I want to be 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.560 a chef and he said no, because they're very handful 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:19.560 of women chefs in India and you just won't survive. 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.160 And in a way he was right. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.600 I think when you have in you whatever you want 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.160 to do, you eventually when I met gun Deep and 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.040 I said, this is what I want to do and 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:29.640 I want to be in the hospitality. 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.480 Were you in India? Was this happening? 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.480 So? When your dad said no, there are too few chefs, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.720 it's not a stable life. What did you then go 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:39.280 on to do? 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:40.840 I went on to do arts. 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.800 I did literature, history and philosophy and completely different from 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.400 what I did. And when I moved here and met 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:49.520 gun Deep and I said, I want to open my 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.800 own restaurant one day. We were like two in twenties, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:54.800 and he looked at me and he thought, this woman 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:55.720 is going to do it. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.120 So wait, how did you get from philosophy and the 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.520 arts in did you go to college in India? 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:01.800 Yeah? 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.640 So what brought you to England? And how did you 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.600 get from philosophy in the arts to I'm going to 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:07.440 open a restaurant. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:09.560 I came here when I got married, you know, mad 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.080 Gundi back in India, and then I just followed him. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:13.240 And then you're married. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.080 Here, so I think that kind of we met in 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.280 a wedding and then we've just followed each other and 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:20.719 I knew he's a keeper. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:22.919 He's a keeper. I'm not going to let him go. 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.480 And how did you just never let go of that 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.639 dream of having a restaurant, even when you were studying 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:34.000 other things which were interesting and great. Were you still 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.360 harboring those feelings of I'm going to open a restaurant 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:37.760 one day? 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:42.240 Always, always, always, aways, always I wrote to different chefs. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.199 Micheline started chef's cookery schools men when I came here 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:47.760 in and I was like, don't give me money, don't 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.160 pay me, I want to learn. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:50.640 I want to learn. 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.080 All the techniques. Everything up front of the house is 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.040 very important. Everything little detail about restaurant is not just 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.560 about cooking. And a lot of the chefs did reply, 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.320 and a lot of the cookery school did and didn't 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:00.600 pay me. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:01.560 But it was okay. 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.600 I was prepared to do things that I could learn, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.000 the techniques, the method, how it's done. I think you 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.480 have to have that and you have to learn from people. 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.719 Who was the first chef who really taught you beyond 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:16.280 your mother and back home. 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.840 Chef Manjid Gil who is in India. He was executive 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:24.760 chefs of ITC in India and I always followed his vision. 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:26.480 He used to be on television as well. 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.920 And I wrote to him from here that I want 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:34.720 to learn from you, and he did reply. Those times, 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.240 calling India was so expensive, so I used to beautifully 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.440 write letters and I got and replied back and he said, yes, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:44.000 I would love to teach you. I love to meet you. 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.320 He's my mentor and he still guides. 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:46.960 Wow. 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.000 Yeah, he's like you know, he's one of the I 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.080 never met him, and I wrote to him and then 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:57.080 I also should really give credit to Utule culture as 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.760 amazing restaurants he was the first Mission Chef. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:01.840 Is it the first mission to start Indian restaurant? 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.800 And he really helped me to be on TV. 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.360 And he was doing this Master Chef in his restaurant 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.359 and he said, I really like Romi to be on 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.440 it as a guest judge. And my restaurant has just opened. 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.080 He was really really encouraging. He said, Romey has opened 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.320 this restaurant. She's really feisty, and she's really good at 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:20.800 what she does. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:21.840 She knows the food. 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.600 And you know, I always always mentioned the couple of 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.560 people that really pushed me in my life. I think 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.000 you should never forget those people. They're really important. People 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.720 come in your life that really encourage you. He was 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.800 the one who put intelligence and restless history. It's because 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.760 of our all. And you know, Ali like meeting you 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.280 talking about your book on Radio four, I know was incredible. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.159 It's an amazing thing that all of these things that 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.800 connect us, like the appreciation of each other's art. I 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.200 wish it happened more. I love it you reaching out 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.160 to tell me that you love my book, or then 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.119 all my friends hearing you on Radio food h that 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.119 they've listened to forever, or me coming to eat in 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.520 your pop up and bringing my friend and now her 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.399 having your cookery books, and now us making your food together. 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.320