(MELANIE DUNEA Melanie Dunea) On March 6, 2021, actress Priyanka Chopra-Jonas announced the launch of her new restaurant in New York City, Sona, on her Instagram account, calling it a space that was “the very embodiment of timeless India and the flavours I grew up with”. Probably one of the best kept secrets of the culinary world, this restaurant is helmed by Chef Hari Nayak, the Udupi born culinary genius who has left his distinctive stamp in restaurants across the world. Looking Back Born in the coastal town of Udupi in Karnataka that has a vibrant culinary landscape, Nayak admits he was always interested in cooking professionally. After graduating from a hotel school in Manipal in 1994, he joined the Culinary Institute of America, New York, and topped the class as an Honors Student in 1998. Sharpening his skills working with chefs like Daniel Bolud, Marcus Samuelson and Albert Adria, he also trained as a pastry chef. “Coming from a small town and doing it all by myself in the pre-Internet days, going to the library and finding the best school in America has been an exciting and wonderful journey. It’s been over 25 years in the chef’s coat, and I am lucky that I progressed my career on the path I wanted.” Interestingly, he never planned his career in terms of opening so many restaurants including Charcoza in Riyadh, Masti and Bombay Bungalow in Dubai, Jhol in Bangkok, Alchemy in Bengaluru and now Sona in New York. “It has always been about what’s next and how do I reinvent myself and how do I keep learning and I have been lucky to get projects that kept me going.” And life has come full circle for Nayak as he came wanting to learn everything but Indian food to become a cookbook author of Indian recipes and someone who has changed the perception of Indian food abroad.