Rakhee Vaswani is a celebrity chef, culinary expert, food consultant, teacher, author, Cooking show host, entrepreneur and above all, a food lover at heart.
Certified by Le Cordon Bleu at Gordon Ramsay's Tante Marie in London, Rakhee began her culinary journey at the tender age of 11, keenly observing her aunts cook delicious food that caught her fancy (and her heart). Touted to be the 'Desi Nigella' of India, Rakhee is a natural with flavours and textures, her biggest asset being her strong palate and a deep rooted passion for the culinary arts and food the industry.
Rakhee’s vision to make world cuisines easily available in our city led her to pioneer the birth of the first set of cooking studios in India with Palate Culinary Studio (erstwhile in Khar, now in Santacruz) taking form in early 2010. Over two decades of experience in the culinary business and her natural gift for teaching have catapulted Palate Culinary Studio from a small mom-and-pop shop to a state of the art international cooking school where she trains budding chefs, amateurs, professionals and food enthusiasts alike, all within 4 years time!
An ardent travel buff, Celebrity Chef Rakhee’s extensive trips and brushes with reputed chefs across the globe help further enhanced her knowledge of different cuisines and translate into her studio tutorials and teaching sessions. Currently, she has over 99 classes to boast of, spreading across a wide repertoire of Indian, Lebanese, Japanese Chinese, Mexican, Sugar Craft and many more.
An all-rounder when it comes to food, Rakhee has also covered the taste of London for the FBAI where she interviewed chef Atul Kochhar and went on to work and experience a hectic day in the kitchen of his Benares. Her interviews with food Gods like Chef Raymond Blanc and Eric Lanlart have helped her gain expertise in varied cuisines. Her domestic travel trails led her to meet Chef Ajit Ramon from Jaivilas Oberoi who put up a royal sampler menu based on the diverse culture of India. She recently cooked with head chefs and dinned with them in the back kitchens of The Westin Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok & Holiday Inn, Phuket. Her food expeditions from all over the world are being put together in her blog soon for fans to be taken through a virtually ecstatic journey.
September 2015 is when Chef Rakhee Vaswani, in her true celebrity sense became the face of a new TV show called ‘Rewind with Rakhee’ on India’s first channel food-tainment channel called Living Foodz. It’s still airing as you read while she takes her audience through a food throwback from 1900’s up till today adding her own twists and fusions to classic recipes with each episode themed differently.
Looking forward - October 2015 sees Chef Rakhee’s first book launch as an author called ‘Picky Eaters’ which is essentially teaches mothers how to make food fun, exciting and yummy for their kids and a lot more to that goes with it.
She believes in getting inspired to inspire further, learning, sharing her know-how, relishing and pampering palates forever.