We all know that food sustains life. But in Hardeep Somal's case, it may have actually saved his. As a kid, he ran with a rough crowd. Had he not straightened up and gotten a job washing dishes in a pizzeria, he might have joined his friends in jail. Then he never would have opened Klay, and the world would be without his delicious chicken reshmi kebab (shudder!). We caught up with Hardeep for dinner to learn about how he got back in touch with his roots through food and why you can't turn your back on a simmering pot of curry.

CNS: Tell us your food origin story.

I grew up in London and was a bit on the rough side of things. I didn't really enjoy the classroom too much. So education wasn't really for me and got myself into a little bit of trouble.

CNS: What kind of trouble?

I would say a little bit of trouble, like just kid stuff. The police knocked on our door a couple of times. There were some people around me at that time; later on in life, they ended up in prison.

Anyway, my dad wanted me out of London. So, I went to Germany – Mannheim, near Frankfurt – to live with my uncle there. He knew I was there because of my bad behavior. So, he said, "If you're gonna live here, you have to earn your keep. You can't just be sitting around the house, waiting for nothing. You've got to do something in life."

He owned some properties in some of the surrounding towns. One of his tenants was a pizzeria, and he got me a job working in the kitchen. I was washing pots and dishes and stuff. And then I was always looking at the guy making the dough for the pizzas. They used to make it by hand – no mixing machines. And then I jumped in and I said, "I want to do this. I don't want to wash dishes."

So, I just started doing the dough, making the dough, preparation, cutting stuff for pizzas, and slicing pepperoni, and doing all that kind of stuff. And then I started cooking the pizzas. And then did bits and bobs, mainly the pizza side, a little bit of pasta. It was the start of my career.

After about two years, my dad said, "You've got to come back home now." When I got back, he asked me, "Would you want to go to college or university?" Indian family. So, they're big in getting everyone educated. Right?

I was like, "Dad, you're kidding me. I want to be a chef." He was shocked. So, I just started looking for jobs. I got a job in a pub in Heathrow because I lived in West London. It wasn't very technical.

So, my mom said to me, "Look, I've got some contacts." She knew one of the executive chefs in the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow Airport. So I started working as a commis chef in the cold kitchen for a while. I worked my way up to the brasserie there and then to the all-day dining restaurant there.

After about a year and a half, I was getting restless. It was the early 2000s, and Richard Branson opened the Virgin Club Lounge in Heathrow. It was supposed to be the most luxurious VIP club lounge in the world at that time.

They had a spa and a huge deli counter with all this really nice food – pick and choose, grab and go, whatever you want. So, my friend got me in there.

And then after that, I went to a five-star hotel called the Royal Gardens Hotel Kensington. I worked on the top floor, which was a fine dining restaurant.

So, you worked your way up from the dish pit to the kitchen. No formal training at a culinary school or anything like that?

Yeah. I came to really like fine dining. Anyway, so I worked there for a year and a half. The head chef there was this Jamaican guy. I will never forget him. He was awesome – very strict. Like, when I was at Virgin, it was a lot wilder and crazier. But this guy gave me structure. He taught me discipline. It was good for me. Probably one of the best experiences of my career. But after a while, my partner at the time wanted me to get out of fine dining. The work just takes a toll on you. You're waking up at 6am and coming home at 1am. You're tired on your days off. Your days off are when everyone else is working. It was just all-consuming.

CNS: So, then what happened?

I met Gavin White. He brought me on board to do Glo London, and I ended up opening their first restaurant in Shanghai at the corner of Wulumuqi and Dongping Rds. After that, I was approached by the Camel Group. I did The Camel. I helped them develop their menu and get their costs under control. And after that, I was going to leave until they said, "Do you want to do a steak and lobster restaurant?" So, I stayed. We started on Xikang Rd. That restaurant was a goldmine, by the way. We used to do, like, 2 million RMB revenue in that place. Per month. It was crazy! But that didn't last. We had this neighbor who hated us and got us shut down. So we relocated it to Fenyang Rd. Eventually, I opened another venue with them called Hooked, a fish and chips place down in Found 158.

CNS: So, why did you open Klay?

For me, Klay was a passion project. It was a point to be proved as well. No one here had done Indian food the way we do it here, and quite honestly, I didn't think a lot of the Indian restaurants here were that good. I didn't think the quality of the meat they were using was that great and they weren't very generous with the spices, things like that.

CNS: It seems like most of your career up until now, you were mostly cooking Western food. What made you decide to go back to your roots?

Well, I never did it before. I had never cooked Indian food before. I mean, I'd messed around with it before. I put a butter chicken on the Camel menu, things like that. And I knew that I could do it. But I never did it seriously or professionally. This is all still very much a learning experience for me.

But with Indian food, it's hard, man. There's so much going on. You've got to balance it with ingredients. You've got to balance it with richness – not too light, not too rich, not too spicy. There are so many things you have to balance. And that makes it complicated. And then also on top of it, it's hard work. For these curries, we slice up 30 to 40 kilos of onions per day. To cook curries. You literally need to stand there as well. You can't just walk off. You're stirring and you're making sure it doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pot.

CNS: Where in India did your family emigrate from?

Punjab.

Does that style of cooking inform your menu?

I don't really think about it that way. I think about it more in terms of the kinds of ingredients I can get. What's in season, and then I work from there.

Now, I don't want to say it, but I guess I'll just go ahead and say it. A lot of people will tell you that Indian food in the UK is better than Indian food in India. Now, I don't think that's because of the quality of the cooks in India, or anything like that. Obviously, there is a lot of talent there. They know what they're doing. But we get really quality ingredients in the UK. We share the same water with France, so we get amazing scallops, oysters, lobsters, things like that.

CNS: Give us some dining recs.

Have you been to Mi Thai? It's been open for a while on Anfu Rd. It's excellent! I love Pirata. I love Hai Yaki. Sage. Chef Jun makes that place solid, man. Very simple, but great. Tai'an Table of course with Stefan Stiller. That place is amazing.

CNS: What is your definition of success?

I think the happy customers, the revenue, you're hitting your targets, your food cost is great, your staff is happy, people understand your menu and all that. Loving what you do and loving what you've created.

If you go...

Opening hours: 11:30am-2pm; 5:30pm-10pm

Tel: 021-5278-8175

Address: 1124 Beijing Rd W., near Shaanxi Rd N. 北京西路1124号,近陕西北路

Average price per person: 270 yuan