Prabhakar Annamalai - Kitchens of Taramani to Chindian cuisine in Singapore

Kitchens of Taramani to Chindian cuisine in Singapore

Prabhakar Annamalai, 1988 Batch

The Indian Wok and Manchurian Club are two of Singapore’s most popular Indian Chinese restaurants – while the former is located in the quiet, leafy suburb of Siglap. It is great for kitty parties and family get togethers, the latter is a busy lunch joint situated in the heart of Singapore’s IT hub, Changi Business Park.  

Having dined at both restaurants numerous times, imagine my surprise when I discovered that both restaurants were owned by a MadCat.  I took the opportunity of one long lunch break to walk across and meet Prabhakar (’88 batch) at the 70-seat Manchurian Club. It was a complete joy to meet and have a candid conversation with this quiet, unassuming gentleman.

Prabhakar chanced about hotel management when someone suggested to him that he add the hotel management JEE to the long list of JEEs that was taking as a high school graduate.  He cleared the IHM JEE and found himself at the welcoming gates of IHM Taramani in Chennai.  

The freedom he had at college was a stark contrast to the regimented life he had led at the Sainik School.  The three years he spent there were a blast, he says, although he always thought the hostelers had more fun than the day scholars.  There was always some celebration or the other at the hostel, he says, whether it was Onam or Vishu or Tamil New Year or the much talked about but never to be mentioned in the presence of officialdom after parties. He believes that IHM gave him the confidence and exposure to a Pan Indian culture that the rest of the country had not yet been exposed to.  

This prince of outdoor catering credits Chef Thimmayya for kindling his interest in the kitchen, something he developed at college, having had no prior exposure to cooking.  The creativity drew me in he says.  

Fast forward three years and it was time for campus interviews.  Prabhakar reminisces that he was shortlisted for the coveted ITDC interview, but being a nobody with no connections, he was in despair of landing a job with them.  Drumroll the late Mr Madhavan, one of the office staff at the college, and the late Mr Inder Bahri, the then Principal, who convinced the chain to take him on.  The gruelling two-year training program, most of which was spent at the Lodhi hotel in Delhi, was the best thing that could have happened to his career.  

MadCats had an advantage in the kitchen, he feels.  The number of great chefs the college has produced was well recognised by the industry.  However, the rigorous training by the likes of Chef Thimmayya and Chef Ramanathan while making sure the students were industry ready, only took you so far.  The practical exposure was lacking.  And this is where the ITDC came in.  The exposure was incredible – you could go from being busboy to Chef to Restaurant Manager to GM, all in the span of a day, he says.  

Training done, he found himself as the Head Chef of the ITDC Temple Bay Ashok Beach resort, which is today the Radisson Temple Bay.  It was a unique experience.  “There was this one time when a tour group had booked out the entire hotel for over a year.  Some glitches meant that the tour group couldn’t make it and boy, I had a paid holiday for nearly 6 months!”, he recounts.  

A few years in, it was time to bid farewell to ITDC.  His mentor, another MadCat, the late Chef Sounderarajan, was moving to the Mahindra group and he followed.  A posting in Bangalore saw him meeting his life partner, a sales executive at the same hotel, but a subsequent posting to Mumbai led to him looking for greener pastures – Mumbai just wasn’t for him.  It was at this time that the company that ran the catering for the Singapore Expo hired him as an Executive Chef, a once in a lifetime chance, one which he grabbed with both hands and an open heart. 

A few years on, the entrepreneurial bug bit and he entered into a partnership with a couple of IT professionals to open Bombay Café, a vegetarian restaurant that specialised in Indian street food.  While ideating a second concept, a craving for Indian Chinese food and the dearth of the same in the Little Red Dot veered them towards setting up the first Chindian restaurant in the country.  Looking for the best chefs, Prabhakar hired one from the oldest Indo Chinese restaurants in India, and is incredibly proud that the original team in the kitchen still continues to this day.  Prabhakar and his partners went on to set up 10 restaurants over the years, until the Singapore Government and its restricted work permit quota put paid to any further expansion plans.  The number of restaurants dwindled back to the two current ones and Prabhakar bought his partners over and went solo.  

Restauranteurs have good days and bad.  The worst of them was during COVID.  Manchurian Club which relied on the techie business was very quiet, but surprisingly, the Indian Wok, which is a favourite with the expat crowd did incredibly well through takeouts.  The Singapore government also stepped in with partial funding, and so they managed to stay afloat.

What would he say to today’s generation of young hoteliers and restauranteurs, I ask.  The modest father of an international model and a promising young strategic consultant says: “I happened to be at the right place, at the right time, took the opportunities that were offered and utilized them to the fullest.  To the young students and professionals out there: Enjoy your life. Enjoy work. Be honest to yourself, do your best, success will follow.”

Prabhakar Annamalai, batch of 1988