Getting candid with Dadar’s Home Chef, Aditi Limaye
- Nandini Rohela
- Jan 28
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
From working in her father's kitchen to establishing her own, Chef Limaye's culinary journey is both heartwarming and exciting.
As I stepped into Home Chef, a cosy corner caught my eye, and I quickly rushed to take the seat. A quirky restaurant that celebrates food in Mumbai; you know how demanding a job it can be for one to launch a food spot that’ll hit in all the right places and tick all of your boxes. Finding one such restaurant in Mumbai is an ordeal in itself.
But tucked away in the heart of Dadar is Aditi Limaye’s Home Chef that makes the task of choosing rather less taxing. Helmed by chef Limaye, this place offers eclectic food choices and experiences. From Ramen Carnivals to Mango festivals, it's a space rooted in memory, invention and intentionality.
A kitchen that never felt intimidating
“I was always surrounded by food, and so liking it came naturally to me," says Aditi. For her, the kitchen had never been a strange or an intimidating place, but a rather familiar one that provided comfort. Thanks to her father, Rahul Limaye–Founder of the iconic Gypsy restaurant in Dadar, who played a key role in grooming her, from dicing onions and tomatoes the right way to making pizza from scratch.
Long before the menus of her very own restaurant showed up, Aditi had been honing her skills as a chef; first at the esteemed hotel conglomerate Oberoi, then at Indigo Delicatessen at Colaba. “That’s where I really learnt the concept of pairing Indian and western foods together,” she explains. Beyond collecting culinary experiences like stones in a bag, Limaye soaked in the lessons along the way and eventually channelled them all into a food joint, which she founded at 23, alongside three school friends.
“It was my very first venture. We were very young, wanting to do business, and had more fun than ever,” she chuckles as she explains. The days were long, margins were thin, but the will to learn remained as strong as a late-night black coffee. After two years, the experimentation came to an end, paving the way for Aditi’s move into professional restaurant kitchens.
Honing the craft at Home Chef
Not every person or restaurant can match the gumption of Chef Limaye and her pursuit of greater food and ventures. It was in 2008 when she got the opportunity to open Home Chef once again, but this time she was wiser. “We had a small cake counter, seating for about eight to ten people. But it started doing really well,” she beamed.
In her new venture, Aditi aspired to pour in every bit of what she had learnt early on in her career as a chef at Olive, Oberoi, etc. Because that’s exactly how one cultivates a fine-dining experience for others, a mix of past learnings with a dash of inspiration from who you’ve looked up to. The chef’s meticulousness led to newfound epiphanies as her journey continued. From feedback via comment cards to realisations of what an Indian’s flavour palate demands, Limaye found the sweet spot right in the middle.
“I learnt the art of tweaking Indian and Western foods together,” she recalls as she tells me about the time a customer confused shredded parmesan cheese on creamy pastas with coconut. “That’s my speciality, and I love doing it”, she says. The art of making Western food using Indian techniques is what Home Chef does best. It induces those smoky flavours that we all know and love. "For instance, we swapped pine nuts for cashews to prepare our pesto sauce, and it tastes just as good as the original, or can I say better?" she laughs.
An essential part of running a restaurant/café successfully is great hospitality. “I always tell my staff to look at who the customer is and then interact,” she quips, emphasising the importance of making customers feel at ease. After all, it is the entirety of the experience that makes one come back for more. “When customers enter and leave, our staff greets them with a warm 'namaskar,' making it a quintessential Dadar experience.
What next?
“Of course, we’re looking for more avenues and opportunities for Home Chef. I’ve recently started my own cooking page on Instagram called Kitchen Stories by Chef Aditi LK,” she says when asked about what lies ahead.
The hunger and curiosity for more led Limaye to become the first female member of AHAR, an Indian Hotel & Restaurant Association, one that's still dominated by men. “While I had to shut down a few restaurants, I made worthy connections with a lot of business owners in the hotel business and more,” she adds. This lesson materialised into her very own consultancy business, where she advised and mentored other restaurants in achieving success. Some Place Nice in Malad and Two Good in Baner, Pune, are just a few of many places whose culinary dreams Aditi has helped curate.
“I never had time to do this earlier, but I’m enjoying the process now.”
It's in the genes!
In many ways, Home Chef mirrors the neighbourhood it sits in– the way chef Aditi Limaye mirrors her art using the many experiences she has lived through. From her father to her culinary ventures in restaurants, she keeps on finding ways to learn more and never stops creating stories through her food.
As Home Chef continues to evolve, the kitchen that once felt familiar–still does feel the same–except now it invites more people to join the table.