Koushik Shankar (better known as ‘The Mad Chef’) is an Indian chef and restaurateur. In 2023, he appeared as a judge in season 2 of the Tamil cooking TV show ‘MasterChef India – Tamil,’ which aired on the OTT platform SonyLIV.
Wiki/Biography
Koushik Shankar was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He attended Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore. He pursued his diploma level studies in French Linguistic Skills at Alliance Francaise De Bangalore, Bangalore. In 1997, he received a diploma in Hotel Management from the Institute of Hotel Management, Bangalore. He received a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Analytics from the Symbiosis Center for Distance Learning.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Salt & Pepper
Eye Color: Black
Parents & Siblings
Not much information about his parents and siblings,
Wife & Children
There is not much information about his marital status.
Career
Koushik Shankar started his career in 1997 as Tr. Chef De Partie (station chef) at Leela Kempinsky (now The Leela) in Mumbai. He worked there for a few months and then resigned. Later, he worked as a Product Development Manager for more than two years (1997-1999) at Cafe Coffee Day, located in Mumbai. In September 1999, he joined Chimayo Chains Private Limited, Chennai, where he worked as Product Development and Marketing Manager. After working there for more than three years, he resigned in October 2002. He worked as a Product Development Manager at Java Green Private Limited, Chennai. He worked there for more than three years (October 2002-February 2006). In 2006, he created his own food and beverage consulting company ‘Eatitude Gourmet Technologists.’ He has worked as a consultant for various cafes and restaurants including Toss Up, Illusions, Peach’s, Simply South, Azzuri Bay, The Tower (North Carolina), Mantra (North Carolina), Hundred’s Heritage, Coal N Flame, Eleven Fine Dining, Greens N Bijian, Raakozhi, Sri Krishna Rassa, Sri Krishna Gokulams, Sri Krishna Sweets, The Gig, Texas Fiesta, The Bayleaf, MASH, Chennai Chillin’, Hazzel Dairy, The Madaras Kafe, Boomerang, Soup and Salad Café, Dewberry’s, Funk N Jazz , Kalmane Koffees, Java Green and Qwiky’s.
Television
Koushik Shankar has appeared as the lead chef in the Tamil culinary TV shows ‘Masala Express’ and ‘Thamizhagathin Samayal Champion,’ aired on Jaya TV. In 2021, he appeared as a judge in season 1 of the cooking TV show ‘MasterChef India – Tamil,’ which aired on Sun TV. He also appeared as a judge in the season 2 of the TV show in 2023. The TV season 2 was shown on the OTT platform SonyLIV.
Koushik Shankar (left) in ‘MasterChef India – Tamil Season 2’
In 2022, he made an episodic appearance in the debate-cum-talk show ‘Tamizha Tamizha.’ The TV show aired on Zee Tamil channel. In the same year, he appeared as a guest judge in the comedy-based cooking competition TV show ‘Cooku with Comali,’ which aired on Star Vijay.
Jury
In 2022, he, along with Ranveer Brar, was a judge at the Market Research & Merit Awards, held in New Delhi. In the same year, was a jury member for several more award ceremonies such as the ‘Indian Food Activist Awards,’ ‘Indian International Victory Awards,’ and the ‘Restaurant Awards.’
Koushik Shankar as a judge at India International Victory Awards 2022
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 2023 President’s Medal by IFCA
Koushik Shankar with his President’s Medal
- Best Chef Award by Tamil Tourism 2017
- Awards at Indian Restaurant Congress 2017
- Times Hospitality Icon 2019
- Times Food Awards 2016
Koushik Shankar with the Times Food Awards 2016
Tattoo
He has a Japanese dragon tattoo inked on his full right arm.
Koushik Shankar’s tattoo
Facts/Trivia
- He has been interested in cooking since childhood. In an interview, he revealed that he tried Chinese cuisine after taking inspiration from a comic book called ‘Asterix In Spain’ when he was five years old.
- In an interview, he talked about how he was named ‘The Mad Chef’ and said,
I got the nickname Mad Chef in college when my instructor saw that I had made South Indian food with a Continental presentation. And the name stuck.”
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
