Sriram Aylur

The Climb

Working partner at Father’s restaurant in India in 1984 put Sriram Aylur into the day-to-day mechanics of service early: pace, discipline, and the close reading of a professional kitchen. In 1989, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces added the scale and standards of hotel dining, where consistency matters as much as execution. The next step carried him into wider operational responsibility at Gateway Hotel Bangalore in Bangalore, India, and then into the role of Executive Chef at Gateway Hotel Bangalore, India. The through-line is practical rather than theatrical: each post broadened the working knowledge behind the food. Today, Sriram is Executive Chef of Quillon.

Today

Since 1999, Aylur has been Executive Chef at Quillon in London, and that length of service defines the work as much as any single plate. The brief has been steady: shape a cuisine grounded in Southwestern Indian coastal cooking while keeping it responsive to the present. That balance requires control, not decoration. Food can change shape, but the character that makes it identifiable has to remain intact. Southwestern Indian coastal cooking asks for restraint as well as force. Its strengths sit in layering, aroma, memory and balance, with no need for one note to dominate the rest. Aylur’s own framing of the style points to that discipline: composed, measured, and attentive to what remains on the palate. The result is a cuisine that relies on refinement rather than volume.

Signature

Sriram's signature dishes include Lobster Pepper-Garlic, Seafood Moilee, Baked Black Cod, Malabar lamb biryani, and Fish in Banana Leaf. Read together, they point to a kitchen rooted in coastal produce, spice, smoke and seafood, with texture doing as much work as seasoning. The list is specific enough to show range, and cohesive enough to show method.

In Their Words “It gave me the overall perspective of the restaurant. It was the best training I ever received.” “I believe food should evolve without losing its soul.”

Recognition

In 2008, Aylur earned a Michelin Star. The recognition follows a path that moved from India to London and confirms the level of discipline underpinning the cooking. That single Michelin Star is also a marker of continuity: a long post at Quillon, and a body of work that has kept Southwestern Indian coastal cooking at the center of Sriram Aylur’s name.