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Tākina Events’ new executive chef Dinesh Rajamohan plans to up the ante when it comes to giving clients a great taste experience.
It has taken the Indian-born father of two seven years to work his way up from sous chef at Te Papa to executive sous chef across the road at Tākina Events to his new role.
In the kitchen and armed with a culinary team of 30, he aims to continue on with Takina Events’ winning food philosophy – to nourish people and ideas with local, sustainable, and delicious cuisine.
“Using local produce and cultural flavours, I want to coach and develop my hardworking team so we can build on our great NPS score of +83 and continue to create exceptional experiences for our clients.”
Tākina Events manages 29 spaces across the two waterfront venues, Te Papa and Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre.
That means catering for about 500 functions and events at both venues each year, alongside providing kai for the two on-site cafes.
On any given day, Dinesh and his team could be catering for functions for anywhere between 25 and 1100 people.
One of his biggest events was a three-course lunch for 1100 people at the Cello Championship earlier this year.
“Moments like these remind me why I love this industry – bringing people together through exceptional food and hospitality,” says Dinesh.
While attendees only see the food in front of them, behind the scenes it can take months to prepare for these occasions.
There’s everything from brainstorming sessions with his team, creating often bespoke menus in consultation with clients, going through a tweaking and tasting process, sourcing ingredients from local suppliers/producers and the actual cooking.
One of his favourite creations is a canape vegetarian option, petit onion tarts which uses molecular gastronomy technique for spherification.
He has reinvented an Indian bar snack – Chicken 65 that is on the Tākina canape menu.
And Dinesh has embraced Tākina Events’ principle of creating traditional Māori foods sourced from iwi-owned businesses, te reo Māori menus and collaboration with mana whenua.
“It hasn’t been an easy transition. Cultural flavours like kawakawa and titi (muttonbird) only Māori know about, so I’ve had to experiment and explore.”
Dinesh’s passion for cooking is clear, but what he loves most is clients’ feedback.
“When a conference ends and a client says the food was outstanding, that is most rewarding. Compliments like that push us and motivate us to do even better.”
In his new role Dinesh has extra responsibilities. On any given day he leads his team of 30, runs day-to-day kitchen operations, looks after both cafes, liaises with stakeholders and sources and meets local suppliers. Then there’s the admin side, including payroll.
Having grown up in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Dinesh has always had his heart set on becoming a chef.
“I used to help my Mum in the kitchen and that is where the spark began.”
He went on to study at Tamil Nadu Open University, winning outstanding performer in the kitchen and chef of the year in his final year.
From there he landed sous chef roles for premium luxury hotel brands in India, learning his trade from some of the world’s top chefs.
Then in 2019 good friend and Te Papa executive chef Ila Rajrndran encouraged him to apply for a role here and the rest, as they say, is history.
Seven years later Dinesh and wife Swathi have two daughters – Thakshvi and Tanvi – and they proudly call Wellington home.
“It’s a great place to bring up children. I love the people and our community.”
So much so, when Dinesh isn’t at work he regularly makes soup to take to Lower Hutt’s War Memorial Library for its free lunchtime soup and bread day.
“I can’t stay away from the kitchen! In winter I’ll make pumpkin and ginger soup, and it goes within 40 minutes.”
Dinesh’s daughter Thakshvi is following in his footsteps. She often helps him in the kitchen at home and makes muffins for school fundraisers.
Whether it’s at home or at work, the kitchen is Dinesh’s happy place.
“I am living my dream. It’s always a pleasure bringing thoughtful food experiences to life, especially in one of Wellington’s most iconic venues.”
