#164 Pawan Dutta | Royce Hotel

Pawan Dutta is the Executive chef at Melbourne’s newest luxury hotel, The Royce. Channelling all the golden glamour of the roaring twenties, entering The Royce feels as though you are gliding onto the set of Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby. It is beautiful. No stranger to cooking in glorious and luxurious settings, Pawan has had an enviable career, travelling to and working in over 80 different countries in five-star hotels, resorts and on luxury yachts. This glamourous world has by no means gone to his head. Pawan is humble and grateful for the opportunities he has had to research and cook a plethora of cuisines using unfamiliar ingredients and the way he speaks about his current team and his philosophy was heart-warming. After Pawan and I had spoken, I was lucky enough to have a taste of his menu in the Showroom Bar at the Royce. The brief for the menu was, ‘British’ and this, too required some research for Pawan. He has nailed it. The flavours were modern, elegant and utterly delicious. A standout was the sous vide chicken with potato terrine, braised Dutch carrots and whisky jus. They say the simpler the dish, the harder it is to really get it right. This was right in so many ways and I can’t stop thinking about how good it was.