Rose Chalalai Singh and Samyukta Nair put together a personalised spread in Paris
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The Paris-based chef Rose Chalalai Singh almost cancels lunch – she has been locked out of her private-dining atelier Rose Kitchen when we meet. A quick jimmy of a window allows her and her 14-year-old son Gabriel to get inside to start prepping the meal.
She’s planning a picnic-style spread to share with four Paris-based friends and her new business partner and fellow host, the London-based restaurateur Samyukta Nair, who arrives around mid-morning. “Whenever I visit, I want to move to Paris,” Nair says, walking into Singh’s lofty workspace in the 11th arrondissement.
It’s been a whirlwind friendship between Singh and Nair, who met only eight months ago but have spoken on the phone almost daily since. “Everything I do is personal, as you can see,” says Singh. “Sam understands that.”
In March, the duo took a research trip to Thailand, and last month they launched the restaurant Koyn Thai in London’s Mayfair. The outpost is the fifth for Nair’s LSL Capital group and the first London venture for Singh, who closed her popular Paris restaurant in the Marché des Enfants Rouges in the Marais in 2022.
Today’s lunch menu combines some highlights from Koyn Thai, including homemade pork sausage and escargots in a green chilli and Thai basil curry sauce – whipped up by Rhys Cattermoul, the executive chef at Koyn, who joins Singh in her kitchen – alongside Singh’s simple market-style dishes. She bought the seabass from the fishmonger this morning, and steams and marinates it with seafood sauce and fresh coriander, and percebes sautéed with lemongrass, chilli, Thai basil and lime leaves. “This captures the relaxed vibe Rose is known for – it wouldn’t be the same in Mayfair,” says Nair.
Their guests start to arrive. First, the Italian fashion publicist Cristina Malgara, then Georgian designer Djaba Nikolaï Diassamidzé, and designer Giovanni Bassan, who comes armed with bottles of orange natural wine from Katkoot, the wine label he runs with his brother, Francesco. The rain falls. Typically. The outdoor plan is brought inside. The wine is poured, and the chat is easy, even though Malgara and Bassan have just met. “We didn’t know each other, but we already know each other,” Malgara jokes about their shared Italian heritage.
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