As I don’t have any other Indian Cookbooks, I thought id buy it and try a few of the recipes myself. Being born and brought up in a family of chefs and restaurateurs and of course always being surrounded by so much food could only mean one thing right! At school I was never very academic and more of a vocational skilled type of student. My A* grades were always in sports and food technology so I knew towards the end of school where life was leading me and where my true passion was. I was destined to follow in my grandfathers and father’s footsteps and have no regrets whatsoever. To showcase my talent to the world and write my two cook-books as well as pass by skills and knowledge on through my cookery school and of course the cookery shows on television for which today I am recognised. I feel truly blessed. For such a beautiful and prestigious location, restaurants occupying Somerset House have expectations to fulfill. Chef Dipna Anand's restaurant and bar in the South Wing thus provides interesting colour and flavours to the space currently occupied by coffee shops and dinner spots.

Award winning Celebrity Chef Dipna Anand is cooking up a storm across the nation with her television series "Dip In Kitchen" aired on B4U Music.

Passionate about cooking

Which colleague, mentor or employer has had the biggest influence on your approach to the hospitality business?​ Each recipe clearly marks what ingredients you need and the method is very clear, helping amateurs to Indian cooking like me to make a nice tasting dish with little worries 🙂 The worry of how costs and how they are having such a significant impact on the hospitality and catering industry. The cost of living will continue to challenge us all and staff skill shortages in the catering industry continue to make it a struggle - all these things are worrying, and we need to all plan ahead and make the right decisions based on what’s coming. Despite this we also somehow need to stay positive which is not always easy. Dipna Anand is the second restaurant from the chef of the same name, and it is clear that she has taken this opportunity to incorporate her personality into an environment rooted in tradition. Tech News Today: iOS 17.2 lets users change notification tone, OnePlus 12 rumoured to launch in India on January 23 and more

After interviewing Dipna Anand, I learnt that she had published Beyond Brilliant. A great book that features over 40 recipes from the actual kitchens of The Brilliant Restaurant. Later in the book there is a section on the Brilliant family where Dipna writes about her mother and her brother. Its interesting to read that her mother didn’t know how to cook but with time and practice she now cooks and even says she could teach her husband a few things. Dipna’s brother has been in the restaurant for 10 years as well as working hard in the restaurant he is working on finding new new clients and bringing in new business. Saying no to a restaurant opportunity in India and saying no to being a judge on MasterChef India​ as my diary at those times did not allow me to pursue the opportunities. One thing you can really tell from the book is that the whole Brilliant business is a family business and that family means a great deal to them, which I think its excellent! There is then a final section on the Brilliant Wedding, giving a bit of information on the wedding as well as Dipna’s Involvement in it.

Dipna is also a Guest Chef Lecturer in Catering and Hospitality at The University of West London, a demo Chef and is working on her range of ready meals called DAMM. Her passion and dedication in the food world keeps her striving higher and this enables her to continue her food journey.

We arrived for brunch around 12:30, and the atmosphere was muted but pleasant, eventually getting livelier later. The waitstaff were kind and knowledgeable, and were more than willing to give suggestions for dishes or drinks. Another thing I really like about this book is the focus on healthy options as well. More and more people are looking to go for more healthy options, in my house we tend to replace certain things with others so that it is more slimming and less syns 🙂

The book features a nice mixture of recipes ranging from starters, mains, sides and desserts. I love the fact that it features desserts as I personally haven’t seen many recipes for Indian desserts so it would be nice to try and make some. I had some Indian Desserts when I went in 2014 and they are very nice!I absolutely love the Maroush group of restaurants. Lebanese cuisine is one of my favourites and Maroush has never let me down no matter which branch I visit. I eat Maroush at least once or twice a month, it’s a true favourite of mine. I have never really tried to make any Indian myself, I was always a bit scared to do a curry as I thought they would be very complicated with the wide variety of spices.