Chef cooks up plan for trio of eateries

AWARD-WINNING chef Stephen Gomes is to open not one, but three restaurants in Cardiff Bay in the coming months.

The culinary maverick, renowned for his experimental approach to Indian cuisine, will move his acclaimed restaurant Moksh on Bute Terrace to a new “bigger, better” location across the street by midSeptember. He will then turn its current site into 101, where he’ll apply his quirky gastro-physics take on cookery to traditional Welsh dishes.

Gomes is known for his appliance of science in the kitchen – previous efforts have seen him cook chicken in a dishwasher and serve up lamb cheesecake.

101 will even see Gomes offer up a dessert dedicated to the A48 (with edible traffic and scenery) and a meal inspired by the dehydrated ration pouches used by soldiers in the Royal Welsh.

First though, the 42-year-old, crowned the Outstanding Asian and Oriental Chef of the Year 2017 at last month’s Asian and Oriental Chef Awards in London, is to take over the vacant Pizza Pronto concession, transforming it into a go-to place for Mumbai-style street food in the Bay.

Called Gourmet Guru, it’s expected to open in early August and will incorporate an Indian tuk tuk as part of its design.

Gomes’ empire expansion marks the 10-year anniversary of Moksh’s eccentric output.

101, expected to open in early October, will use projectors at each table to screen film footage or animation to enhance each dish being brought to table, while Gomes’ use of an item of laboratory equipment called a rotary evaporator can even change the way some food items taste.

“Basically, I could serve you a plate of strawberries and they’ll taste of something entirely different, like mango,” he said. “Really, the possibilities are endless.”