If you are ever around London, you really should try Amaya: they say it's the capital's only Indian grill, but what I love about it are its fresh flavours, the way spices are present but discreet , not to mention the fact that your food is literally cooked for you, in a fabulous contemporary setup, right in front of your eyes.

The only Indian chef who is attempting to produce the same kind of food in Malta (albeit out of the godawful Qawra), against all odds, is the lovely Allen Diwan: larger than life and amazingly passionate about his craft, Allen is the kind of chef who ploughs all his money into foodie trips where he savours everything he can in order to learn. Allen was sous chef to Athul Kochar, London's first Michelin-starred Indian chef.

On Saturday 30th October, in a beautiful and huge kitchen in Mgarr, Allen will be showing us how to make Pulao Rice, Meen Molee (a gorgeous fish coconut curry), onion bhajis, fresh tomato chutney and, if it is not 4pm yet (our workshops do tend to be overtaken by our crazy enthusiasm), even a rice pudding. All of the dishes will be executed in a contemporary manner: simple but scrumptious.

As most of our students tend to return, some of them having achieved Mona's Meals Ph.D status at this point, half of the workshop is already full. Nonetheless we have some space left. E-mail Mona at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to book.

 

The workshop kicks off at 9.45am with capuccinos and espressos. We are usually there until around 3.00pm, depending on whether we have eaten the food we cook standing up at our stations. Workshops are payable in advance.