Chef Kelvin Cheung’s Instagram feed is a visual rollercoaster with peaks of restraint, his crossfit frames and dips of temptation with bacon maple donuts and feta cheese fries. The Canadian import has been helming celebrity haunts such Bastian, One Street Over, Ellipses and The Drunken Clam and is currently the main cheerleader for the ugly delicious trend in Mumbai.
Its latest calling card? The Kelcake. A seven-to-eight layer core idea of a tall cake that comes in different versions. Sometimes in brown butter sponge, coconut mousse, roasted pineapple, passion-fruit curd, pretzels, sea salt caramel and marshmallow. Other times in dark chocolate-coffee sponge, espresso mousse, homemade baileys cream, burnt milk, burnt marshmallow, which smells like his grandmother.
The cakes look like a science experiment – always about to tip over, bubbling meringue and marshmallow congealed and torched, with the fruit garnish blackened as collateral damage. Looking as if it belongs on Miss Havisham’s dressing table, it weakens the resolve of even the most steely willed Pilates devotee. And because the Pilates-lover must come back, he also makes edamame hummus and gluten free waffles.
Cheung’s personality is his calling card. He is inked within the inch of his life with quirky tattoos – a green robot hangs on to a red helium balloon on one forearm. His trademark denim apron has lately given way to canvas one, held up by leather straps – more a uniform for an iron smith than a chef. Out of the kitchen, he’s kitted in sharp suits made of tapestry material (or a flower-loving grandmother’s upholstery) or a loud print, short-sleeve “ugly” shirt, as he calls it and a clashing bow tie from the streets of Bangkok, joggers and a pair of sneakers from his vast and vociferous collection. He’s not afraid to talk about his fine-tuned skin care routine that keeps bags away from his eyes.
His appearance, and his foods are a mix of the nostalgia of the child of Chinese immigrants (he confesses to thinking in Chinese), his upbringing in Chicago and Canada (burgers, donuts, the lust of sugary carbs and a playfulness of a (very successful) adult impersonator (Bastian is a play on Sebastian, from the crab from The Little Mermaid. A bit ghoulish considering the restaurant specialises in seafood).
He sautées these elements into his food, life and interactions with guests. He’s the amiable guest at every table, swiftly altering recipes for Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif or Sonam Kapoor to accommodate a new dietary requirement or craving.
And then he’s back in the Crossfit box, working at being strong while looking like someone who doesn’t refuse a cookie.
