-

Ajoy Joshi founded Nilgiri's in the late Nineties and has turned it into more than just a restaurant. He has organised many other activities that enable him to share his enthusiasm and knowledge about Indian food, its correct preparation, sourcing the best ingredients and passing on simple, yet essential culinary facts that he is always happy to share in person and via his blog.
-
Ajoy personally holds adult and children's cooking classes and one can purchase ready-made gourmet food that can be taken home [known as our 'nilgiri's@home' range] as well as spices, chutneys, paneer, made to order, and breads. There is also an array of function rooms, private rooms and tiffin rooms that make nilgiri's such a vibrant place to be in. For information about the cookery classes, click cooking class
Ajoy's training was completed in the gruelling culinary education he received from six Indian master chefs, experts in their own regional cuisine, who took him into their confidence with their own techniques of cooking.
Ajoy was trained in Madras (now Chennai), India and started his career at the prestigious Taj Group of Hotels where he was soon promoted to executive chef of the Taj Hotel, Bangalore. During this time he was also involved in setting up Karavali Restaurant, renowned for its ethnic coastal South Indian cuisine.
-
Ajoy opened the Malabar Restaurant in Crows Nest, Sydney, serving traditional South Indian cuisine which won awards and accolades both in Australia and India. In 1997, Ajoy sold the Malabar and embarked on a tour to study food trends around the world. It was from this tour that Ajoy then launched nilgiri's which has received many awards, the most recent being the 2010 "Best Indian" award for excellence in catering from Restaurant & Catering (R&C NSW/ACT).
Ajoy has appeared as a guest chef on numerous TV, web-clip and radio programmes and is respected as one of Australia's top Indian chefs. Ajoy is regarded as an authority on Indian food, both overseas and in Australia, where he is frequently asked to advise cookery schools and hotels.
Ajoy has published several cookery books on Indian cuisine, to purchase copies of his books click cookbooks
-

In 2007 Ajoy was awarded Rotary's highest honour by the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga– the Paul Harris Fellowship – for his ongoing support for the 'From Darkness to Light 2007' project for vision-impaired people in India.
-

Ajoy is supported by his wife Meera, son Aniruddh, and a highly competent culinary team.
To learn more about Ajoy, read his weekly blog, thoughts from Ajoy!