Koushik Shankar (Chef)

Some Lesser Known About Koushik Shankar

• Koushik Shankar is an Indian chef known for his fusion dishes. He appeared as a judge in the Tamil TV cookery show ‘MasterChef India – Tamil Season 2’ (2023), which premiered on the OTT platform SonyLIV.

• He has loved cooking since he was a child. In an interview, he disclosed that at the young age of five, he tried to cook a Chinese cuisine after reading its recipe in a comic book titled ‘Asterix In Spain.’

• He started working at the Leela Kempinsky (now The Leela), Mumbai as a Tr. Chef De Partie (station chef) in 1997.

• In 1997, he started working as a Tr. Chef De Partie (station chef) at the Leela Kempinsky (now named The Leela) in Mumbai and worked there for a few months.

• In the same year, he joined the Cafe Coffee Day in Mumbai as Product Development Manager. He worked there for more than two years and left the job in 1999.

• Shankar worked as a Product Development and Marketing Manager for more than three years (September 1999 to October 2002) at Chimayo Chains Private Limited, located in Chennai.

• In 2002, he joined Java Green Private Limited, Chennai, as a Product Development Manager. After working there for more than three years, he resigned from there in 2006.

• The chef established his own food and beverages consultancy company ‘Eatitude Gourmet Technologists’ in 2006.

  

• Shankar, through his company, has provided consultancy to various well-known restaurants and cafes such as Toss Up, Illusions, Peach’s, Simply South, Azzuri Bay, The Tower (North Carolina), Mantra (North Carolina), Hundred’s Heritage, Coal N Flame, Eleven Fine Dining, Greens N Grains, Raakozhi, Sri Krishna Rassa, The Gig, Texas Fiesta, The Bayleaf, M.A.S.H., Chennai Chillin’, Hazzel Dairy, The Madaras Kafe, Boomerang, Soup and Salad Café, Dewberry’s, Funk N Jazz, Kalmane Koffees, and Qwiky’s.

• He has showcased his culinary skills as the main chef in the Tamil cooking television series Masala Express’ and ‘Thamizhagathin Samayal Champion.’ Both the cookery shows were broadcast on Jaya TV.

• The chef appeared as a judge in seasons 1 and 2 of the popular Tamil cookery TV show ‘MasterChef India – Tamil’ in 2021 and 2023 respectively. Season 1 of the show was aired on the TV channel Sun TV and season 2 premiered on the OTT platform SonyLIV.

  

• He made a guest appearance in the debate cum talk show ‘Tamizha Tamizha’ (2022), which aired on Zee Tamil.

• In 2022, he made an appearance in the comedy-based cooking competition TV show ‘Cooku with Comali’ as a visiting judge. The TV show was broadcast on Star Vijay.

• He was the judge along with Ranveer Brar at the Merit Awards & Market Research, which was held in New Delhi in 2022.

  

• He has been a judge for several award ceremonies held in the year 2022 such as ‘The Food Connoisseur India Award,’ ‘Indian International Victory Awards,’ and ‘Restaurant Awards.’

• In an interview, he revealed how he got the nickname ‘The Mad Chef’ and said,
  

  I got the nickname Mad Chef back in college when my instructors saw that I had done South Indian food with Continental presentation. And the name stuck.”