(July 19, 2025) Every evening after school, Kumar Mahadevan would find himself in the small kitchen of his grandmother’s home in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. While other children played outside, he watched closely as she cooked — grinding spices by hand, stirring pots of rasam, and talking him through each step like a gentle teacher. He wasn’t there just to eat. He was there to learn.
“I was eight when I made rasam for the first time,” Kumar once recalled. “My grandmother taught me how to balance the flavours — sour, spicy, a little sweet. I didn’t realise then, but that was the beginning of everything.”
That early experience didn’t just ignite a love for food. It laid the foundation for what would one day become a culinary career that reshaped how Australians saw Indian food — and earned him a quiet but powerful title: the Guru of Indian Cuisine.
Kumar Mahadevan
When Kumar arrived in Sydney in 1985, Indian food was still seen largely as takeaway — heavy curries and butter chicken served in foil containers. There were few restaurants, even fewer that represented regional or home-style cooking. He changed that. Through his restaurants, Abhi’s and later Aki’s, he introduced Australians to a different kind of Indian cuisine — one rooted in tradition but elevated through technique, fresh local produce, and thoughtful presentation.
Early Life in India – A Childhood Steeped in Flavour
Kumar was born in 1959 and grew up in a large joint family, surrounded by the aromas and flavours of South Indian cooking. His mother and grandmother loved to cook, and their kitchen quickly became his favourite place. “I have loved food since I was a child… I followed doing what I loved – and have been lucky enough to make a career out of it,” he once said. Those early experiences with spices and cooking sparked a deep passion.
By his teenage years, Kumar knew he wanted to become a chef. He joined Madras Catering College in Chennai — even though his parents weren’t sure about it at first — and did well. In 1979, he earned an apprenticeship at the famous Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, where he trained under top chefs and learned the fine details of traditional Indian cooking. Each skill he picked up brought him closer to the journey that would one day take him overseas.
Starting Over: From Long Hours to New Beginnings in Sydney
Like many young Indians in the 1980s, Kumar saw going abroad as a big opportunity. In 1985, at just 25, he took a job as head chef at Mayur, a new Indian restaurant in Sydney — a city that was completely new to him.
Chef Kumar Mahadevan
Arriving in Australia was exciting but also challenging. Indian food wasn’t very well known at the time, and Kumar worked long hours — sometimes up to 96 hours a week — to introduce his cooking to new customers. He had signed a four-year contract with a heavy penalty if he left early, so even though the job was tough, he stuck with it. “I was cooking for the likes of Elton John and Mick Jagger,” he recalls. But behind the glamour were long days and homesickness.
In 1988, Kumar faced a tough moment — just hours after his first child was born, he was told to return to work in the kitchen. Tired and frustrated, he thought about quitting for good. But soon after, the restaurant he worked for ran into financial trouble and shut down, releasing him from his contract. It was a difficult time, but also a turning point. With his wife Suba by his side and a sense of freedom, Kumar decided to start something of his own in Australia.
Founding Abhi’s – Revolutionising Indian Cuisine in Australia
In 1990, Kumar Mahadevan opened Abhi’s Indian Restaurant in North Strathfield, a Sydney suburb. It was a small place with just 50 seats, named after his baby son, Abhinav. Back then, most Indian restaurants in Australia served the same few dishes like butter chicken and vindaloo. But Kumar wanted to do something different. “From day one, the Abhi’s menu was very different from the normal run-of-the-mill Indian restaurant… people began to see Indian food like they had never seen it before,” he says.
Abhi’s served dishes that were new to most people in Sydney at the time — like fish wrapped in banana leaves with mint chutney and crispy palak patta chaat. Kumar chose not to serve the usual samosas and heavy curries. Instead, he focused on lighter, home-style food. In the beginning, business was slow, and his young family had a tough time. But Kumar never gave up on his vision.
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Kumar’s food quietly started getting attention, but everything changed in 1994 when a well-known food critic, Les Luxford from The Sydney Morning Herald, paid a surprise visit. He was impressed by the bold flavours and wrote a glowing review titled “The Search is Over.” Overnight, Abhi’s became a sensation. “There were queues down the street,” Kumar remembers. The once-quiet neighbourhood restaurant turned into a popular dining spot, giving many Australians their first taste of the variety and richness of Indian food. As the place got busier, Kumar’s wife joined him in the kitchen to keep up with demand. Abhi’s not only survived its early struggles — it became a well-loved and respected restaurant.
Becoming the “Cuisine Guru”
With the success of Abhi’s, Kumar Mahadevan became known as a pioneer, and people in Sydney’s food scene began calling him the “Guru of Indian cuisine.” The name reflected the way he helped Australians see that Indian food could be elegant, creative, and high-end. In 2003, building on that success, he opened Aki’s at Woolloomooloo Wharf — a more modern and ambitious restaurant named after his younger son. At Aki’s, he took Indian food a step further, combining traditional dishes with modern presentation in a stylish waterfront setting.
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Both Abhi’s and Aki’s went on to earn Chef’s Hat awards (Australia’s equivalent of Michelin stars), making Kumar the first Indian restaurateur in the country to achieve that honour. Critics praised his “clever flavours and fresh, fragrant spices” delivered in modern style. Kumar enjoys combining the South Indian flavours he grew up with and fresh Australian ingredients — like local seafood and tropical fruits — to create dishes that are new but still true to tradition.
Beyond his restaurants, Chef Kumar became a well-known name for promoting Indian food in Australia. He appeared twice on MasterChef Australia, impressing contestants with regional dishes like prawn okra curry, and teaching them how to use spices with care. He was also chosen as an ambassador for Indian cuisine at Sydney’s first International Food Festival. Over the years, he has won many awards, co-written a cookbook with his wife, and mentored a new generation of chefs. But his biggest impact has been changing how people see Indian food. Thanks to chefs like Kumar, Indian cuisine in Australia is no longer just seen as takeaway — it’s recognised and respected as part of the country’s fine dining culture.
Indian Cuisine in Australia – A Historical Background
Indian food has had a slow and steady rise in Australia. The first Indian immigrants came as early as the 1800s — many were Punjabi farmers or cameleers who brought their spices and cooking traditions with them. But for much of the 20th century, Indian food stayed mostly inside homes or was served in a few curry houses with dishes adapted to British tastes. It wasn’t until the 1960s, when Indian teachers and doctors started moving to Australia, that Indian food began to find a place in the wider food scene.
In the early days, there were only a handful of Indian restaurants in Australia, and most of them served a small selection of North Indian curries, similar to what was popular in the UK. In the 1980s, as more Indian professionals moved to Australia — especially in IT — the demand for authentic Indian food started to grow. By the 1990s, Indian restaurants began popping up in cities like Sydney and Melbourne, and Indian food slowly shifted from something unusual to something more common. “When I first began, the cuisine was very basic… it was regarded very much as a takeaway food rather than a fine cuisine,” Kumar recalls of the late ’80s.
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Kumar Mahadevan and a Changing Cuisine
Today, things are different. Indian food in Australia has gone through a major transformation — with stylish plating, regional dishes, and even street foods like chaat and idli now appearing on menus. As Kumar proudly observes, “people are now beginning to see that Indian can be a fine dining food rather than just a takeaway.” The Australian palate has grown to appreciate the bold flavours and variety of Indian cooking. With over 700,000 people of Indian origin now living in the country, Indian food is no longer a novelty — it’s part of everyday eating, from pubs serving turmeric-laced curries to upscale restaurants pairing Aussie wines with Kashmiri rogan josh.
Kumar Mahadevan’s story reflects how Indian food has grown and evolved in Australia. He left home with his family’s recipes, a love for cooking, and a dream. Through hard work and determination, he not only built a life in a new country but also helped change the way Australians think about Indian cuisine. The boy who once stirred rasam in his grandmother’s kitchen in Tamil Nadu went on to introduce new flavours, ideas, and dishes to diners in Sydney. Today, when people enjoy a bowl of his rasam or bite into a spinach chaat, they’re tasting the care, tradition, and passion he’s carried with him across continents. Kumar’s journey from India to Australia is a strong reminder of how food can connect cultures and create lasting change.
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