We've heard of bathroom singers, but chef Sanjeev Kapoor is a self-proclaimed kitchen singer. And although the man is used to foodies singing his praises, very soon you will get to hear the song that he's penned and sung on an upcoming food channel. Like a true food connoisseur, he has no favourites where food is concerned.

"Whatever I love has its own special taste. Every dish is unique," he explains. But the chef extraordinaire has a special soft corner for street food. He chats with CS:u00a0

Street smart
You can't live in Mumbai and not be a street food buff! I love the vada pav (especially the one you get near Kirti College, since it isn't dry.) I believe that the chatnis add flavour to the vada, and this guy has all kinds of chatnisu00a0-- sweet, sour, spicy.

There's another small vada pav stall near Mithibhai college that I frequent. But I have to tell the guy there not to put his signature ingredientu00a0-- a half-inch slab of butter on the pav. When it comes to chaat, the aloo ki tikkis that you get in Meerut (Rajasthan) rock.

Their sweet and sour chutney is just perfect and they balance the spices with yellow chilies. It's the crispest and tastiest chaat I have had till date. I was so impressed by their way of using those yellow chilies that I named my chain of restaurants after it.

Paella, ooh la la
One dish that I can never have enough of is the paella, more so, seafood paella. Similar to the risotto, this Spanish dishu00a0 is perfect for the Indian palate. It is made from thick rice that soaks in all the flavours from the ingredients it is cooked in. These ingredients are not the usual sea food, but a variety of the underwater fare like snails, crabs, shrimps, cuttle fish etc. It's a one dish meal. We desis could well call it Spanish style seafood pulao.

Food for fun
I love to experiment with food and invent new recipes. Recently, I surprised some of my Delhi friends with prawn golgappas with sol kadhi. Since I hadn't told them about the latter, they though I was serving them golguppas with strawberry shake and that the combination was rather odd. But they loved the sol kadhi when they tasted it.

A few days later the same set of friends brought some new friends along and demanded the same serving. This time I stuffed golgappa's with gulab jamun and filled the shot glasses with chocolate coffee shake. It was fun to see their reaction, all the time they ate, they kept praising my culinary skills.

I wish I had recorded their reactions on camera. They weren't prepared for the taste, though they did enjoy the combination when they figured out what it was. It is always great fun surprising people with food.

Who: Sanjeev Kapoor
What: Talking about his experiments with food
Where: At Mahalaxmi Race Course