The Culinary Legacy Of Chef Rahim Inspired A Generation Of Cooks

The Culinary Legacy Of Chef Rahim Inspired A Generation Of Cooks

Much before the food scene of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack started buzzing with young chefs and pâtissiers, Chef Abdul Rahim fondly known as Chef Rahim had created a legacy that is unparalleled and unmatchable in stature. In the world of food. He created a unique identity for himself and has his own fan following. He was the earliest Executive Chef of Odisha.

Chef Rahim was not trained in any culinary school or did not do a hotel management course but his hands created magic in the kitchen. Anybody who has had the good fortune of having food cooked by him always came back again. His chicken biryani, tikkas and kebabs were loved by everyone and they kept coming for more of them.

Deboo Patnaik, Director of the Crown Hotel told My City Links about Chef Rahim and said  “A few of my friends referred Rahim to me in 2001. Soon he joined the Crown Hotel in 2002. Since then he has been with me through thick and thin for over seventeen years and I have so many memories with him. He was naturally gifted. He has left behind large shoes to be filled. It will never be possible to replace Rahim.”

Rahim used to prepare a special chicken santula for Patnaik as he doesn’t prefer to have spicy food, remembered Patnaik fondly. Rahim was not well for the last few days. His family was bringing him to Bhubaneswar for treatment on the night of September 29. Within 10-15 minutes of the journey, he started feeling uneasy and became seriously ill. So his family took him back home where he passed away.

Odisha has not seen a chef who was as popular as he was among food lovers. It is very difficult to have someone who will be able to achieve his kind of popularity in the near future. He was an institution in Odisha’s food industry. 

Rohit Srivastava, Chief Foodie at FoodFindo met Chef Rahim in 2015. Remembering his experiences with the chef he said, “Sometimes if I did not know what to order from the menu then the chef would suggest something that was worth trying that day and it always turned out to be good. I have always had confidence in what he recommended.”

He further added, “There are certain dishes like chicken bharta and chicken butter masala where Rahim set the standard for everyone. He can never go wrong with these dishes. His biriyani happens to be one of the best in Bhubaneswar. Rahim was always happy and he was a man of few words. He always used to say no matter what you cook, if you cook with love then everything tastes good. His passing away is not just a loss for a hotel or a restaurant but for the entire food community.”

There are very few people in the food scene of Odisha who have actually made a mark. In Hotel Crown’s case, one always knew that Chef Rahim was the one in the kitchen and the food will always taste good with his expertise. What kept him delivering good food every single time was his interactions with the dinners. He understood people’s taste palettes at a level that cannot be taught in any culinary school. That was his wonderful gift. 

Cuttack based Chef and Blogger Rachit said that he has known Rahim from the time when he was a kid and Rahim was at the Akbari Hotel. “Those tandoori chickens and kebabs are some of the best I have had till date. When I was doing my hotel management, I was training at Ginger in Bhubaneswar. There I met one of Rahim’s nephews who learned the tricks of the trade from Rahim.”

“One thing that a lot of people don’t know about Rahim is that he has single-handedly taught kitchen craft to a lot of cooks of Odisha. If you have had good Mughlai food somewhere in Odisha then there is a high probability of one out of four that the cook has been trained by Rahim. He is kind of an urban legend of the Odia food industry,” Rachit said about how Rahim gave back to the food community by passing on the skills and knowledge to the next generation. 

Rahim has won many hearts over the years, not only with his cooking but also with his personality. A lot of people know about him because of the hotels and restaurants he was associated with but some knew him personally. One such person is Sujata Patnaik who has known him since the 1970s. She shared an interesting anecdote about the chef with MCL and said, “Back then my uncle started a restaurant at College Square in Cuttack which was called ‘The Savoy.’ He used to visit Kolkata frequently. Rahim was a sous chef at a restaurant there”. 

“My uncle asked Rahim to join The Savoy and he did. Soon he became the main attraction for The Savoy. Back then there were no real good restaurants in Odisha. With Rahim at The Savoy, for the first time, Odias got a taste of real good food in a restaurant. Not only could he cook good Mughlai food but also Chinese and Continental. That is where it all started.” Sujata added.

“When I was about to get married in 1981, Rahim came over to teach me the fundamentals of cooking. He taught me a dish which was called Singapore Prawn which I could never afford back then. The dish had very expensive and special ingredients for that time like cashew paste, poppy seed paste and almonds. After teaching it to me he said with a smile that whatever you cook with love is always going to taste well,” said Sujata about how Rahim taught her the basics of cooking. 

After a few years, Rahim joined the Akbari Hotel in Cuttack and it started getting a lot of name and fame because of his delicious food. When Sujata returned back to Odisha after staying out for many years, her friends told her that there is a lovely chef at the Crown Hotel who cooks really well and he is called Rahim and suddenly she remembered him. Over the years whenever she visited The Crown she would always meet him. 

Even though he cooked really well and was well known for his craft, Rahim was never high headed. “Rahim has earned his stripes; may not be from any institute but from his dedication and love for his art. I have always loved his biryani, tikkas and kebabs, especially the galouti kebabs,” Sujata shared.

Rahim’s colleague and friend for more than 17 years at the Crown Hotel, Nevada Benjamin shared one of his cherished memories with the Chef and said, “He was supremely talented and he was loved by everyone who knew him. We have so many memories together over the years. In 2018 when the Argentine hockey team visited the Crown Hotel during the Hockey World Cup, Rahim had prepared a special soup for them. The soup was such a hit with everyone that they all took several servings and it was over within no time. We never expected that. Rahim went ahead and prepared a second batch in no time although it was a complicated recipe. That is the legacy he left behind.” 

The best thing about Rahim that kept bringing back people for more and more of his lip-smacking spreads is his consistency. “Whenever I meet people who want to get into the food business, I always suggest them to follow Chef Rahim’s way, that is, if you want to make good food then making it is not enough, the quality has to be consistent every single time,” said Rohit.