A one-day Forever Floyd menu, organised as a cook-off between restaurants in New York and Mumbai, will contribute all proceeds to The Floyd Cardoz Scholarship.
Two years ago, one of the biggest shocks at the onset of the covid-19 pandemic was the untimely demise of the celebrated, beloved chef, Floyd Cardoz. A man at the centre of the Mumbai-based Hunger Inc–the folks behind the much celebrated The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, Cardoz was known for his amicable personality, and his love for mentoring and nurturing talents across the culinary world. Two years since his passing away, the folks at Hunger Inc are teaming up with Unapologetic Foods’ New York outlet, Rowdy Rooster—in a day-long tribute to the chef.
The one-day food festival takes on Cardoz’ all-time favourite–fried chicken, to add a twist to this tale. Based on the fried chicken, three restaurants–The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro in Mumbai, and Rowdy Rooster in New York–will make their versions of fried chicken, as well as fried chicken sandwiches. The highest grossing restaurant will be adjudged the winner of the one-day ‘Big Birthday Cook-off’ festival across the three restaurants.
What’s on the cook-off menu?
At Rowdy Rooster, the fried chicken recipe includes double marinated boneless and skinless pieces of chicken, which are double fried to a deep brown hue. Once fried, the chicken is dipped in spiced, melted butter, and topped with a mint chutney, onions pickled with amchur, and scallion infused yogurt.
In Mumbai, The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro’s fried chicken recipe features chicken brined in buttermilk, and then fried after being marinated in a Goan style garam masala. The restaurant pays homage to Cardoz’s life, and his roots in Goa and Bandra. The fried chicken at these outlets will be dipped in spicy chilli oil, and served with sides of pickles and tamarind aioli. Hussain Shahzad, the executive chef of the outlets, has also stuck to the essential fried chicken recipe–adding a lettuce and crushing the exact chicken formula inside a homemade milk bun to create the sandwich offering.
The one-day menu can be ordered online, and savoured in dine-in. At Rowdy Rooster, the menu, titled ‘Forever Floyd’, will be served between 12 noon to 3PM, and 4PM to 9PM. At The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, Forever Floyd will be served between 12 noon and 1AM.
Contributing to mentoring
Announced in a statement, all proceeds from today will go towards The Floyd Cardoz Scholarship–backed by Hunger Inc in partnership with the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA). The scholarship selects one fellow each year to receive a fully funded, three year scholarship in WGSHA’s Culinary Graduate Programme. The scholarship, started after Cardoz’s demise, looks to hone young, aspiring chefs by giving them the requisite skills in this sector through WGSHA’s programme–incidentally among the reputed culinary courses in India.