Chef & Culinary Director

Jay
Adams

10 Years in India  ·  Farm to Table  ·  Goa

“Food is not a product. It is a conversation between land, season, and the people who tend both.”

@jayjaychef
Available for consultation
Coromandel Café
Condé Nast Traveller
India’s Top 50 Restaurants
Jay Adams
About

A British chef who found her home in India

I arrived in India 10 years ago and never really left — not because I had nowhere else to go, but because India gave me something I hadn’t found anywhere else: the freedom to cook from the land, honestly and without pretension.

My cooking sits at the intersection of regional Indian tradition and modern European technique — not fusion for its own sake, but a genuine dialogue between two culinary worlds I know deeply and love equally.

“I don’t believe I can flourish creatively if my team is not also expressing themselves and growing.”

I have cycled alone from the UK to Morocco, cooked on the world’s largest sailing superyacht, and sailed remote oceans on a global expedition. These experiences shape everything about how I work and who I am.

The food

What ends up on the plate

Regional Indian meets modern European — seasonal, produce-led, and always an expression of the land it came from.

Beetroot dish
Green ravioli
Edible flower dish
Butterfly pea tortellini
Spiced prawns
Tortellini goat cheese
Turmeric swirl salad
Paneer skewers
Banana leaf parcel
Pork miso
Four pasta dishes
Celebration cake with flowers
Strawberry salad
Pork belly curry leaf
Shakshuka goat cheese
Philosophy

Three things I believe about food

01

The land comes first

A menu should be an honest expression of what is growing and what is in season. The best dish I have ever made was built around something I found in the garden that morning.

02

The team is the food

A kitchen where people are afraid to suggest ideas produces food that is technically correct and emotionally empty. I build kitchens where everyone has a voice — the food is always better for it.

03

Experience over occasion

I want guests to remember how a meal made them feel — the light, the smell of the garden, the conversation it started. That is what I design for.

Proof of concept

What this looks like in practice

The best way to understand what I will bring to a property is to look at what I built at Coromandel Café in Pondicherry — the only place in my career where I chose to stay long enough to build something that truly compounded over time.

5.5
Years committed

In an industry where chefs rarely stay 18 months, I built and stayed. That longevity is what allowed everything else to happen.

7×
Revenue growth

From 1 lakh on a good day to 7 lakhs at peak — monthly revenue reaching 1.2 crore. The food drove the business, not the other way around.

8→30
Team built

Grew the kitchen team from 8 to 30 across every section — hot kitchen, bakery, pizza, desserts, and bar. The team became the restaurant.

Physical expansion

Demand outgrew the original kitchen. A dedicated prep space was opened for the bakery operation, and seating was expanded from 120 to 170 covers — which still wasn’t enough. The food created the problem of too many people wanting to come.

National recognition

Named on the Condé Nast Traveller Hot List of new restaurants in the world, and in India’s Top 50 Restaurants. Recognition followed the work — not the other way around. The food came first. The reputation followed.

“This is what I want to build again — on the right land, with the right partner, and enough time to let it compound.”

Kitchen Garden

Growing what I cook

The garden is not a marketing concept — it is where the cooking actually starts. Heirloom tomatoes, butterfly pea flowers, purple basil, white brinjals, amaranth — these are ingredients I have grown, watched, and harvested myself. That changes how you cook them.

The tomato growing obsession is entirely genuine. For a property with land already producing, this is not a skill I need to learn. It is something I already do deeply.

Jay in the kitchen garden Heirloom tomatoes herbs amaranth Tomatoes brinjal squash harvest
A life in motion

Beyond the kitchen

Before India, and alongside it — a life defined by physical adventure, self-reliance, and a deep connection to the natural world. Jay cycled independently from the UK to Morocco, crossing the Pyrenees, Spain, and reaching the Moroccan desert alone on a loaded touring bike. She has ridden through the Himalayas, worked on farms in New Zealand, and spent years at sea in some of the world’s most remote locations. These are not holidays. They are the experiences that shape how she cooks, how she leads, and how she inhabits a place.

Bike on stone aqueduct Spain Camping under olive trees Morocco Port de la Bonaigua 2072m Jay in the Pyrenees Horse riding New Zealand farm deer Cattle farm New Zealand Jay on motorbike Himalayas Jay on catamaran turquoise sea
UK to Morocco

Solo cycling expedition — over the Pyrenees, through Spain and into the Moroccan desert. Camping alone. Navigating by instinct.

Himalayas

Motorcycle journey through the high passes of Ladakh — some of the most extreme road conditions on earth.

New Zealand

Working on farms — horses, cattle, land. The understanding of working with animals and nature that now informs everything.

Ocean

Years at sea — diving, freediving, paddleboarding, and sailing in some of the world’s most remote waters.

At sea

Cooking at the edge of the world

Maltese Falcon
88m Perini Navi  ·  Largest sailing superyacht in the world at time of sailing  ·  Mediterranean
Maltese Falcon under sail at sunset Maltese Falcon with helicopter Mediterranean Maltese Falcon deck in rough seas
Seared tuna on the Falcon Six plates on the galley pass Jay in the Maltese Falcon galley

Sous chef aboard the world’s most iconic sailing superyacht — 88 metres, three DynaRig masts, 18 international design awards. Cooking for twelve guests and eighteen crew across the Mediterranean in a two-person galley team, producing exceptional food at sea.

Cabrinha Quest
60ft catamaran Discovery  ·  Global ocean expedition  ·  Pacific · Indian Ocean · Remote archipelagos
Cabrinha Quest catamaran with dolphins aerial Catamaran anchored over coral reef aerial
Sushi spread on the Cabrinha Quest Plated dishes galley pass Jay on the Cabrinha Quest

Chef aboard the Cabrinha Quest — a five-year global sailing expedition to the world’s most remote locations. The South Pacific — some of the most remote and pristine waters on earth. Cooking at sea in extreme conditions for a crew of adventurers as far from civilisation as it is possible to get.

Coromandel Cafe team

The team at Coromandel Café, Pondicherry — a kitchen built on trust, creative freedom, and the belief that the people who cook the food should also have a voice in what it becomes.

Coromandel Café
Pondicherry, India
Coromandel full table spread

The full table

A meal at its best tells the story of a place, a season, and the people who made it. This is what I build.

Coromandel Café was named in Condé Nast Traveller India’s Top 50 Restaurants — contemporary cuisine built on Auroville and local Pondicherry produce, expressing a place, not a trend.

Recognition

How others have described the work

Condé Nast Traveller India
Coromandel Café named in India’s Top 50 Restaurants and on the Hot List of new restaurants in the world — during Jay Adams’ 5.5-year tenure as head chef and creative director.
The Hindu
Featured profile — the culinary philosophy and adventures of British chef Jay Adams building a distinct food identity in India.
Food Media
Contemporary cuisine made using the highest quality local produce from Pondicherry and Auroville — smoked fish, artisanal cheese, bean-to-bar chocolate, organic flour.
Guest consensus
Eclectic, honest, always led by what is fresh — green chilli and goat’s cheese tortellini one evening, spicy grilled prawns the next. A menu that trusts the produce.
Career

Where I have cooked

2016 – present

India — Consulting & Long-term Commitments

Andaman Islands · Bombay · Pondicherry · Dehradun · Goa

Working across India in long-term creative partnerships and consulting roles. Building teams, developing menus rooted in regional Indian produce and technique, and establishing the farm-to-table relationships that make the cooking honest.

Signature work

Coromandel Café

Pondicherry, India

Head chef and creative director of what became one of India’s Top 50 restaurants (Condé Nast Traveller). Named on the Condé Nast Traveller Hot List of new restaurants in the world during her tenure as head chef. Built on the right partnership, the right creative freedom, and a team trusted to flourish.

At sea

Sous Chef — Maltese Falcon

Mediterranean · 88m Perini Navi · World’s largest sailing superyacht at time

Sous chef aboard the iconic Maltese Falcon — 18 international design awards, twelve guests, eighteen crew, producing exceptional food at sea as part of a two-person kitchen team.

At sea

Sole Chef — Cabrinha Quest

Global expedition · 60ft catamaran Discovery · Pacific · Indian Ocean

Chef aboard the Cabrinha Quest — a celebrated global sailing expedition reaching the world’s most remote locations. Cooking at sea across the South Pacific in extreme conditions for a crew of adventurers.

First restaurant

Claude’s Kitchen — Grill Chef

Parson’s Green, London · Under Chef Claude Compton (Petersham Nurseries)

Grill chef at Claude’s Kitchen in Parson’s Green, working under Chef Claude Compton who trained at the celebrated Petersham Nurseries. The first restaurant job — and arguably the most formative, setting the standard and philosophy that has carried through everything since.

Events

Wedding & Event Catering

Northamptonshire, UK · With catering chef Sarah Hollowell

Cooking at wedding venues for up to 200 guests alongside catering chef Sarah Hollowell — high-volume, high-pressure event cooking that builds the composure and range no kitchen school can teach.

France

Châtel — Sole Chef, Upscale Ski Chalet

French Alps

Running the kitchen alone for a high-end private chalet in Châtel. The foundation of a philosophy that has never left: work with what exists, not what you wish you had ordered.

Austria

Head Chef — 27-Person Private Chalet

Austria

Head chef for a large-scale upscale chalet operation, cooking for up to 27 guests. High-volume, high-standard private hospitality that built the discipline and range the cooking still carries today.

Let’s build something real

I am not looking for a job. I am looking for the right partnership — land, food, people, and a shared belief that the experience of eating somewhere beautiful should stay with a guest long after they have left.

Jay Adams  ·  @jayjaychef  ·  Goa, India
Jay Adams Catering LLP