Mise en Place

Celebrity chef Harsh Dixit shares his monsoon menu — congee, ramen, ice cream — crafted for Bollywood's most exclusive kitchens

- By Anushka Halve<br>Photography by Shivangi Kulkarni

Who Is Chef Harsh Dixit?

A private chef to the stars, Chef Harsh Dixit's clientele includes Bollywood A-listers such as Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. He leads the Private Chef's Club, where his team caters to celebrities, including Nagarjuna, Ayan Mukerji, Janhvi Kapoor, Mahesh Babu, Athiya Shetty, Suniel Shetty, and KL Rahul, among others.

His culinary inspiration came from an unlikely source: Saif Ali Khan's character Nick Arora in Salaam Namaste (2005). "That's when I knew I wanted to be a chef," he recalls. His spirit animal, however, is Po from Kung Fu Panda — an unlikely dragon warrior, destined for greatness he could not foresee.

His career began at Yauatcha in Mumbai, where he absorbed the rhythms and patterns of cooking professionally, building on the instinct he inherited from his mother and grandmother. His first venture was a customised meal service focused on nutrition and flavour, tailored to clients' diets. "I got my first celebrity call from Sidharth Malhotra's manager," he shares. "That same evening, Ranveer Singh's team reached out. Then came Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Shahid Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arjun Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, and it just kept going from there."

Today, Chef Harsh is serving up some monsoon favourites that his A-list clients keep coming back for.

What Does a Private Chef Do?

"At its core, being a private chef is about bringing systems into people's homes," Chef Harsh explains. What he values most in his clientele celebrity or not - is their investment in understanding their own bodies, lifestyles, and how food fits into that picture. "It's one of the most powerful forms of self-care."

Congee