"I just wanted it all to come together somewhere, you know?" she says animatedly, while reaching for a ginormous, yellowing book with an intact spine — it's a 1000-pages fat treatise called The Epicurean. "This was published in 1910 and it's a first edition, but my oldest cookbook dates back to two or three centuries before. It was written by Charles Ranhofer, the head chef at Delmonico's in New York and I just love the detailing. Look, look," she says, pointing to intricate illustrations of ingredients and table layouts.

The culinary studio will host classes, pop-ups and talks

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While a personal library and workspace were always on her mind, with time, it dawned on Deshpande that this city's robust and ever-growing community of foodies needed a comfortable converging point. "I will be hosting cooking classes, but I didn't want to just do demos. I want people to come here and actually cook. We will also have a vintage cookbook club, and how it will work is, we will pick a book each month, discuss it, and then cook from it," she informs, adding that smaller events for four to five people, classes by other foodies and chefs and pop-ups are on the cards, too. "Can you see this divider?" she asks, signalling towards the rear wall of her office and continues, "There's a room behind it, which I am yet to renovate. Once that happens, I will break this wall down so we can have a sprawling room for talks and panel discussions."

The family-owned property that used to be an investment firm — a semblance of which lingers in the office-like studio with a segmented aisle set-up with three rows of cooking stations — however, feels less like an industrial, culinary space and more like a home. "I am not a businesswoman," she concedes. But for someone who has a strong network in this city, thanks to her career in entertainment, and who has successfully helmed a catering business in America for nine years, how can a restaurant, café or F&B establishment not be on the cards? "I am scared," she confides. "You can call me up at 2 am and ask me to start baking cupcakes and I will be game for it; but it takes a very different personality to start a restaurant."

It is probable that unlike the other experimental culinary spaces that have mushroomed in Mumbai of late, you won't receive dedicated reminders or daintily packed gift hampers inviting you for events, because what Deshpande is trying to do is backed less by entrepreneurial goals and more by genuine curiosity. "I wanted a place where everyone could come together. I enjoy posting and engaging [with my followers] on social media, but I like meeting people more because you learn so much from speaking to them. How else will I find out about some random fact about nolen gur?"

Upcoming events
Meal with Masterchef Australia Sandeep Pandit
ON November 21
Christmas cookie decoration for kids
ON December 14
Winter Goan tapas with Avinash Martin
ON December 15

AT Tara Deshpande Culinary Studio, fourth floor, Atlanta Building, Nariman Point.
TIME 9.30 am to 5.30 pm
CALL 9711961446

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