Legend Award: Kumar Mahadevan
For an outstanding long-term contribution to the hospitality industry.
Abhi’s Indian Restaurant, North Strathfield
The year is 1983 and Indian food in Sydney is dominated by bright red tandooris and samosas that could double as a cricket ball. The Indian government offers three young chefs permanent residency and paid work in Australia in return for promoting Indian cuisine at Mayur, a posh new restaurant with a reported $2 million price tag to open in Martin Place.
Kumar Mahadevan was one of those chefs, formally trained in India by the prestigious Taj Hotel group before taking a job with Sheraton in the Middle East. With his wife, Suba, Mahadevan opened Abhi’s in 1990 and you can often still find both of them chatting to longtime regulars at the restaurant.
Sydney’s Indian food scene is far more complex and vital today with considerable thanks to Mahadevan, and he is still just as passionate about cooking as he was 42 years ago stepping off the plane.
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