Anant Chowdhary's Journey From Home Chef To Restauranteur

At first glance, the humble burger appears to be a simple and unassuming culinary creation. However, to truly appreciate this American classic, one must delve deeper into its complexities. Like a carefully composed piece of music, a burger is a harmonious blend of various elements. The patty, for example, must be made from the right blend of meat or veg, seasoned just so, and cooked to the perfect degree. The bun, too, must be chosen with care - soft enough to provide a pillow for the patty, yet sturdy enough to hold its shape. And let us not forget the toppings - each one chosen with precision to create a symphony of flavours and textures that dance upon the palate. Indeed, the burger may seem simple, but it is truly a work of art, a masterpiece of gastronomy.

And where there’s art, there must be an artist, and in Mumbai’s tableau of gourmet burgers, that artist is Anant Chowdhary. Though food was always the dream in his heart it took a lot of missteps and restarts for him to finally bring his restaurant – The Serial Griller – to life. With a focus on American classics, and high-quality but affordable fare, they have been a staple on the Mumbai restaurant scene and driven by Anant’s passion for food have made a name for their mouthwatering burgers. 

We caught up with Anant to understand more about his journey from home chef to successful entrepreneur


How did you first become interested in food?

My background was in media, I worked in movie marketing for almost eight years starting as an assistant to Boman Irani’s manager. But as a child, I was always passionate about food. Not just making it but eating it too! My mother was a teacher and a single working mother, and we couldn’t afford to eat out every day but she used to try to recreate those dishes for me at home. Helping her to prepare those dishes is where my liking for food began. I would visit roadside stores – Chinese places and things – and would stand by the side and watch them preparing food and the ingredients, and I’d go home and replicate them. By God's grace, everyone would really enjoy what I made, which gave me the confidence as a child to keep trying.

How did you go about starting your restaurant?

My mum, being a teacher was of the opinion that a steady job and income were the way to go in life. I tried to become a pilot in Dubai, but the training program turned out to be a scam so I came back to India and graduated in mass media. But through all these years, I wanted to cook or have my own restaurant. Back then all I knew was you needed a lot of space and capital to start a restaurant, which I didn’t have, and there was no one to guide me so I put that dream aside. In 2015 I wasn’t happy in my job, and I came across a platform that was giving opportunities to home chefs to sell their food to the public. So I prepared a few dishes, and I gave them samples, one of Mediterranean cuisine, one of my grandmum’s Goan Fish Curry recipes, and one of burgers. They chose the burgers, so I signed up with them in December and just when I thought I’d be a successful home chef, they shut down. It seemed like every time I got close to this goal, it fell apart. 

What made you keep going?

A friend had the money to invest, so I approached him. He was confident about my culinary skills and wanted me to prepare and submit a business plan to his father. My mum was against the idea, she even took me to a Jyotish (Indian astrologer) who told me not to do it “You’ll lose your friend and your money”. I had dropped the idea, but one of my mum’s friends suggested I work part-time from home. I started developing my burger recipes. I was obsessed with the show Man Vs Food and I’m a hardcore meat eater I loved the idea of American cuisine and culture, so that inspired me to create 3-4 really good burger recipes because it was more about making that quality of the food which I would love to eat and then sharing it with others. I mentioned this to my friend who suggested instead I do this only in the evenings and keep my main job as well. So April onwards I started with six items on the menu, a logo that my uncle designed and cooking from my home kitchen. Most of the initial sales were to friends and family and all the money I earned I put back into buying more equipment and upgrading. 

What were the biggest challenges you faced?

At that time we weren’t signed up with any delivery platforms. I would go in the morning and slip our leaflets into newspapers. But when we did sign up with delivery platforms we saw so many more orders and then I decided to quit my job. I started working from 10 am to 11 pm and it was only then that I hired staff. Until then I had invested only Rs. 5000 to buy a fryer and would make everything myself. And it was in 2017 that I had the confidence to expand to a new location. That turned out to be overconfidence because I had no idea what I was doing. It was very difficult because now managing two stores, which stars where I didn't know how to manage staff, and I also didn't know how to manage quality between two stores. I made my own mistakes. I learnt from them. And then in 2018, I made a 30-seater restaurant in Andheri and designed everything myself. COVID hit hard in 2020 and we had to close down the Juhu and Khar stores, moved back to my home kitchen and then reopened in Khar in 2021. This journey has been like a graph going up and down all the time. Last year, our QSR concept caught the eye of a franchisee and now we have a total of 5 stores – some dine-in some delivery – in collaboration with kitchen operators and franchisees. 

How do you feel the Indian palate has adapted to Western fast food?

If you asked me two years ago, I’d say people were still getting used to it. They had not totally accepted the product. At that time it was just the big brands with over-processed food. But handmade gourmet burgers that are preservative-free would be very expensive. So I realised there was a gap for affordable burgers that were high-quality. Last year, burger orders outnumbered pizza, and year after year people are becoming more aware of this concept. 

So what makes the perfect burger?

I think a perfect burger, starts from a good bun. The bread has to be moist. It has to be dense but very light. It shouldn't start breaking when you just hold it tight. That is one thing which is very important. Other than that, the combination of sauces that you use. You can’t expect to make a great burger with store-bought sauces and each burger needs its own complementary flavours. So a beef burger would need something with zing and zest, but a chicken might need something more aromatic since it has less of its own flavour. How you layer your burger is also very important. A lot of people always have this debate about whether the lettuce goes first or the sauce. It all depends on the filling, if it’s a juicy patty you need the lettuce layer to protect the bun, but you might not for a less moist patty. And the most important is the patty, the seasoning. The patty-to-bun ratio. The balance has to be right so that every bite has to have a combination of everything.

If you had to pick one of your burgers to eat forever what would it be? And can you share a burger for our readers to try at home?

That’s like asking a father to pick a favourite child! But I think it would be a spicy burger. No frills, not much happening, just simple and spicy. I have a very Indian palate after all, I’m not a barbecue fan. 

I’d like to share one of my very first recipes, one of the six on the first menu. It’s a vegetarian patty, so everyone can try it. It’s called the Safah Garbanzo, made with Garbanzo beans, it was spiced with Mediterranean flavours, some sumac, and, and Arabic seven spice that we would make at home.

Ingredients

  • 1 Burger bun
  • 20 grams Butter
  • 25 grams Lettuce
  • 3 Tomato slices
  • 3 Onion slices
  • 4 Pickles
  • Panko breadcrumb
  • Maida
  • Salt (as per taste)
  • 1 tsp Sumac powder
  • 1 tsp Arabic all spice
  • 1 tbsp Tahina paste
  • 1 tsp Lime juice
  • 2 tbsp Garlic paste
  • 50 grams Mayonnaise (eggless)
  • 90 grams of boiled Garbanzo beans (Kabuli chana)

Method:

  • Mash boiled garbanzo beans in a bowl.
  • Heat oil in a saucepan and add ½ tbsp garlic paste, sumac, Arabic allspice, tahini, and salt. Stir-fry until the raw texture is gone. Let it cool down and add ½ tsp lime juice.
  • Make a 4-inch round patty from the mixture.
  • In a separate bowl, mix maida, salt, and Arabic all spice with water to make a slurry.
  • Take panko breadcrumbs in another bowl and keep both handy.
  • Dip the patty in the slurry and quickly dip it in the panko. Repeat if any exposed edges appear.
  • In a separate bowl, mix mayonnaise, lime juice, salt, and garlic paste. Keep it aside for 15 minutes.
  • Heat oil in a large pan and deep fry the patty at 170°C for 4 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Remove and keep on a paper towel.
  • Slice the bun in half and apply butter generously.
  • Toast it in a pan or oven until crispy.
  • Place a layer of lettuce on the bottom bun, and apply your flavoured mayo, 1 tbsp, and 3 slices of tomato. Then place your patty, and layer with pickles and onion slices.
  • Apply your sauce to the top bun, close, smash it and enjoy!