Hailed as ‘ustaad’ (maestro) by the culinary world, chef Imtiaz Qureshi’s family simply knew him as the perfectionist who did not need to sample the dish to taste for salt, “and yet, he would always get it right”, his son Ashfaque Qureshi reminisces.

His father’s contribution to Indian gastronomy — many knew him as the ‘Grand Master Chef of ITC Hotels’ — won him a Padma Shri in 2016.

“He was one of the hardest-working people I’ve known,” Ashfaque shares, recalling his fondest memories of his father reaching home from work early in the morning when he and his six siblings were prepping to leave for school.

“But he always brought us back something to eat, typically something sweet: shahi tukda(bread pudding), kulfi(frozen dairy dessert). Things like these leave an imprint in your mind," he adds. 

Beyond the tidbits, the siblings came to appreciate the passion with which their father would speak about food. “For him, food had to be told as a story; he had to get into the details about the history of the dish. We knew him as a storyteller who became a chef,” Ashfaque smiles.

And even after his passing in February 2024, at the age of 93, his legacy is sustained by his family through the many restaurants the chef pioneered, each of which champions the dum pukht — the slow cooking techniques of the royals, and the Awadhi cuisine native to Lucknow.

“When I came to Delhi with my first job, my only objective was: Chef Qureshi ka kebab khaana hai (I have to eat Chef Qureshi’s kebabs). Salaries weren’t much at the time. I saved a big chunk of my salary from Taj Palace, and went next door to have a kebabat [ITC] Maurya,” chef Ranveer Brar recounted in an interview........

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