Share
This is the conclusion to a three-part series that looks at 2022 through the lens of food. In part 3, chefs, restaurateurs and food industry professionals introspect on their learnings this year, and how it impacted what they dished out in 2022.
***
1. POOJA DHINGRA | Pastry chef and founder, Le15 Patisserie, Mumbai
We had many learnings from COVID, and how it impacted the food industry. Since people couldn’t go out to eat, my mission was to create a packaged product which is shelf stable and can be shipped across the country.
We launched our packaged cookies in January of 2022, and it’s been a game changer for us.
Quality and creativity have always been my driving forces and I had to work extremely hard to ensure these cookies were differentiated in taste, ingredients and tasted just as good as a cookie straight out of the oven.
From brown butter pineapple to dark chocolate and hazelnut ~ these cookies are now available online and at a store near you and to me, making that happen, has been the highlight of 2022.
Insta: @poojadhingra
2. GRESHAM FERNANDES | Chef and Culinary Expert, Impresario, Mumbai
One of the dishes that really stood out this year would be the Charcuterie at Smoke House Deli, it is made in-house and they have perfected the recipe for a really good sausage. The second would be the Salsa on the bar nibbles menu at Salt Water Cafe, it has lemons that have been boiled in brine, dried and salted. It really lends itself well to about 5-6 dishes on the menu.
As for the drinks, the SOCIAL Cinema is definitely a standout because of its cold brew and popcorn concoction that is like nostalgia in a glass. The second would be the Basil & Gin Smash at Salt Water Cafe. This started off as a Sage & Gin drink and then evolved over time.
I have been fortunate to have some of the best food and drink experiences this year that have all inspired me. From the cocktails and food at Tesouro in Goa and Slink & Bardot to the Japanese cuisine with a Bandra influence at Misu and the absolutely stellar meal with Chef Himanshu at Tresind, these experiences have all set the tone for 2023. In the year that was 2022, I have absolutely enjoyed collaborating with other chefs who are also dear friends and also farmers who are responsible for the fresh produce that we have. One experience that stood out and helped hone my skills was when I cooked with a tribal community. I look forward to applying all these experiences to my creations in 2023.
Insta: @greshamfernandes
3. GAURI DEVIDAYAL | Co-founder, Magazine Street Kitchen, Mumbai
At Mag St Kitchen, home to our experimental kitchen space, we were always known for the international repertoire of restaurant chefs we brought to the kitchen. But in 2022, after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus, when we were all forced to look in our own backyards, whether it was for travel, ingredients, products, etc. we too did the same when it came to our programing at Mag St Kitchen.
We shifted our focus to Indian regional cuisines and even home chefs in some cases – from Franco Tamilian to Naga, Hakka Chinese to Awadhi, we travelled the length and breadth of the country, deep diving into some of the less frequented cuisines, and I think that journey of discovery has to be, for me, one of the highlights of 2022.
Some of the dishes I experienced for the first time included Galho, a Naga khichdi; Mamsa Pulav and Goli Baje which are staples of the Gowda cuisine and Chai gio, a deep fried pork spring roll which made its way from Vietnam to Pondicherry via the French influence.
Insta: @gauridevidayal
4. SALIL PALKAR | Co-founder, 2 Down Beer Co., Mumbai
Last year we brewed an Indianised version of the German historical sour beer style Gose. We replaced the standard Gose ingredients salt and coriander with our own chaat masala. It was a delicious beer, of course, but chaat masala wasn't the most appealing thing to read in its description for many. It was loved my most who tried it, but most beer drinkers gave it a miss. Sour beer, that too with chaat masala were like 2 filters that narrowed our funnel. We really needed to take our experiment to a wider audience.
For Tapped in April '22, Gaurav, our co-founder and head brewer brewed the beer with exactly the same recipe. But this time he added pineapple puree in the secondary fermentation. The result was mind-blowing. Sour, sweet, fruity, savoury -- it was a uniquely delicious beer. At the fest, it was the first beer to get sold out (with lots of repeat purchases). Pineapple and chaat masala in a beer got people curious and how! Pineapple made the beer more delicious, and more importantly, more approachable.
It was loved by everyone — beer lovers, sour beer lovers and also those who are "not beer persons". It was just a super delicious beverage. Chaat masala was always the bigger deal, because that was the experimental bit, our twist to the traditional methods. Pineapple acted as a great vehicle that took our experiment to a much wider audience.
Insta: @salilpalkar
5. PRITHA SEN | Food historian and consultant, Gurugram
2022 saw me in Singapore with my first overseas assignment with Indian fine dining restaurant Yantra. I took a risk and changed the entire ethos of the restaurant from a typical, stereotyped ‘north Indian’ restaurant to one that, for the first time in the history of Indian cuisine in Singapore, introduced to locals and expats alike, traditional Indian cuisine from the home kitchens of India, covering little-known dishes from north to south and east to west. I cut out all the heavy masala and spicing, use of rich cream and other additives that have shaped commercial cooking and returned to our indigenous styles of light, healthy tasty fare that have always been the hallmark of our mothers and grandmothers. It has been my tribute to all the exceptional women who have ruled the kitchens of India through generations.
In fact my triumph has been in redefining what is viewed as ‘Indian’ cuisine to an international audience and reclaiming the true essence of our food — healthy, restorative, preventive and curative — which had gained a terrible reputation of being oily, unhealthy and very very spicy. Therefore, you find on the menu, dishes that have never before been on Indian restaurant menus. Such as Nimona, Nadru Yakhni, Sutta Gosht (mutton slow cooked for 4 hours in its own juices), Haldi kebab made with fresh, raw turmeric, Maithili Maachh — fish curry from Bihar etc., all with recipes collected from families.
I have also been able to showcase what I call kitchen art by way of the Bengal Goyna Bori (Jewellery Vadi) which has for the first time been showcased abroad to international audiences. In keeping with the South-eastern and Far-eastern tradition of ‘bowl meals’, I have also showcased India’s one pot meals such as Khichdi, Raab, Pokhala Bhaat etc.
Insta: @pritha7406
6. JOEL SCHOLTENS LINDSAY | Liquid Chef and mixologist, The Blue Bar, Taj Palace, New Delhi
Agility and creative thinking have been our biggest growth drivers over the last 12 to 18 months. At The Blue Bar, we’ve been creating seasonal cocktail collections every summer, monsoon and winter. But this time around, our focus was to ensure effective and evocative marketing, social media and PR campaigns around them to ensure that they not just stand out, but also grab the right eyeballs and become conversation points.
Social media has played a critical role this year and while we were always very focused on presentation, we ensured that we upped our game -- a) in terms of visual storytelling, so photography played a key role and b) in terms of ensuring that our cocktails look stunning when captured by our guests from their phone from any direction.
Pecan Pie Old Fashioned is one such collection from the Old Fashioned section of The Blue Bar winter collection. It looks stunning when photographed from any direction.
Insta: @joel_scholtens_lindsay
7. SHIVESH BHATIA | Baker, author and food blogger, New Delhi
In 2022, creating my recipe for 'Eggless Macarons' was one of the most challenging and impactful experiences I had!
This recipe is in my book 'Eggless Baking With Shivesh'. I spent a lot of time making this recipe. It took me many many failed attempts to arrive at the right ingredients and to perfect it.
Macarons are traditionally made with egg whites. So, to come up with a recipe for eliminating eggs was a way to challenge myself and a great way to push the limits.
Working on this recipe, reminded me of the importance of being patient! I did multiple tries with my kitchen team, tried so many substitutes for egg whites and finally, I was able to crack it with Aquafaba! Even after figuring out the ingredient I had to practice the recipe to finally master it and get it right.
This recipe created a long-lasting impression on me and the fact that I was able to include it in my book was the highlight for me.
Insta: @shivesh17
8. ANUJ WADHAWAN | Chef, Ah So Yum, Gurugram
With the advent of 2022 and the recovery of COVID circumstances, we still experienced apprehensiveness when it came to consumers, especially those with elderly parents and young kids which encouraged them to order in more instead of stepping out, where the crowd cannot be controlled.
Cloud kitchens like Ah So Yum benefitted immensely as we got a surge of family-sized orders, especially for large families and get-togethers. As a cloud kitchen, our packaging is impeccable, which also saves the hassle of cleaning up for the customers.
As people started cooking more at home, they also became more experimental while ordering in. We concocted our own Thai BBQ Sauce where we used Thai ingredients like galangal, lemon grass, soy, Bird’s Eye chillies and kaffir lime which went into our game changer dish called Southern Fried Chicken. To complement the flavours and crunchy chicken, we also added some caramelised onions. It was extremely well received as it was familiar enough for the Indian palate but also gave a little freshness and twists compared to classic BBQ sauce.
Insta: @chefanujwadhawan
9. NIYATI RAO | Chef and co-founder, Ekaa, Mumbai
For me to talk about any one dish at Ekaa would be unfair as the entire menu, look-and-feel and everything has been a game-changer for us as it has struck different heart chords for so many different people.
With Ekaa, we have always wanted to make India proud. We were the first restaurant to introduce, or at least bring to the mainstream, Indian sea urchin and Indian trout roe.
We had a dish in the second tasting menu called Chuski that created very nostalgic memories for the guests. It reminded them of happier and lighter times from their school days. Then there was the Rajdhani bread, which was an ode to the iconic tomato soup from Rajdhani Express. We would serve it with a Rajdhani postcard which had the first documented picture of the Rajdhani Express and people would write messages on it. This was in commemoration of the iconic train completing 50 years in service.
Then there was the succulent that took people by surprise they would often say it looked too pretty to eat.
I would like to add here that the third tasting menu, themed "Milestones, Inspirations and Icons of India", is something we are very excited to release soon.
Insta: @chefniyati5
10. SANTOSH KUKRETI | Mixologist and bartender, Slink & Bardot, Mumbai
The pandemic made us sit at our homes for an unexpectedly long duration. The rules when eased out encouraged people to resume their daily normal activities but one thing they surely missed was socialising with their friends, family and loved ones. That created a huge demand and restaurants started getting busy again and the main challenge was serving high volume of people in less amount of time.
I am currently working in a fine dine restaurant named Slink & Bardot in Worli. The menu here is designed taking inspiration from 'Evolution Of Cocktails' showcasing classic cocktails with a modern twist.
The technique of pre-batching cocktails came very handy to cater the demand. Batching ensured the quality and consistency of our dearly crafted cocktails is on point. Preparations are done prior to the operations which helps our staff to engage and interact more with the guests as time taken to make and deliver the drink is very minimal.
Batched cocktails also helps me in managing the space effectively as most of the ingredients occupy space while setting up the bar. Also this technique helps to enhance the shelf life of the ingredients as alcohol preserves it and reduces wastage hence making it cost-effective.
Insta: @indian.bartender
11. SACHIKO SETH | Head Chef, Blue Poppy Thakali, Kolkata
Ever since our kitchen doors have reopened (post pandemic), I think our Chilli butter chicken wings/crispy pork has gained a fresh new lease of life. It has been on our menu since we opened the doors of Blue Poppy Thakali in 2018, and it was lost amongst the crowd favourites like the momo, chilly pork and the usual fare of fried rice/chowmein.
I think the pandemic gave people time to really introspect into the food choices and experiment with food. They have opened up their the palate and become more experimental.
My whole family loves the dish and is a must during our personal gatherings. I am glad our customers have now given this dish the limelight it deserves. It is receiving great reviews and we have added the dish to our cafe The Boma Asian Bakery’s menu too.
One can either have it like a starter or like a main dish with just a hot steaming bowl of rice and ‘makho’ (mix) the rice with the chilli butter sauce.
Insta: @puchuwang
12. PANKIL SHAH | Co-founder and director, Woodside Inn, Mumbai
2022 began with the challenge of Omicron for Woodside Inn and as COVID-19 started receding, we had to work hard on our food and beverage innovation to ensure that our returning guests enjoy our offerings.
If I had to pick one offering that we worked on that has clicked, it would have to be our annual Beer and Burger Festival which celebrated its 15th year in 2022. As the name suggets, every year, we create a menu of exclusive beers paired with unique burgers at the Festival. This year, we had to think hard about how we wanted to present exclusive artisanal craft beers that paired perfectly with our freshly flipped burgers to ensure that guests are awestruck after two years in the pandemic.
Insta: @lifeofpanks
13. RAJDEEP KAPOOR | Area Chef (North), ITC Hotels, New Delhi
In all my years as a chef, I have relentlessly endeavored to be self-effacing, persevering and driven, qualities that are imperative to direct the culinary department of a hotel and pilot its course towards creating food and beverage destinations.
Pandemic has changed how we perceive situations in life, culinary is an art and we face a different working situation every day. As the pandemic got over and we were coming back to business, there was a great challenge to cater to the guests. It was challenging because during pandemic everyone had become chefs and or food critics. The bar of expectation was raised by a notch in terms of food presentation, service style and the most important aspect safety.
Corporate catering was coming back slowly but also faced a lot of challenges in the beginning. Guests were concerned about the safety of food and the environment in which the food was cooked. ITC hotels believe in 'green banqueting' and to responsibly cater to such ethos, we as chefs looked at banqueting with a new perspective. In terms of promoting green banqueting, after a detailed research on the service design we came up with the concept of 'Flying Buffet. We changed our food dispensing style by circulating a smaller portion (two to three bites) of food throughout the event. In order to do so, we got rid of the age-old tradition of serving food in chafing dishes.
The course started with the 'One Bite Wonder' appetisers, that were plated individually, garnished and catered to the purpose of meet and greet. The same was followed by a soup on circulation and the cuisines varied from Rajasthani, Lucknowi, Dehlnavi, South Indian and also international.
Food was pre-portioned with standard accompaniments which could be finished in two to three bites and thus the guest got to explore a variety of options.
We saved our guests from the hassle of carrying plates and socialising in a corporate event. We also executed every event immaculately and also contributed in preventing food getting wasted. There was not a single grain of rice that went to waste as the entire event was engineered keeping minute details in mind.
This year definitely taught us to be thankful and to value the importance of people and the food we eat.
Insta: @chefrajdeep
14. KARL FERNANDES | Bartender and head consultant, Countertop India, Mumbai
The COVID-19 pandemic was really tough for the hospitality industry; while it suffered a huge loss, it also caused a huge reform in the industry. Personally, it gave me some time to ponder upon myself and my habits. It made me look into a healthier lifestyle as opposed to just running in a rat race. At the same time, it also proved that multiple jobs were the only way out for us during such times. That led to developing many new skill sets, social media being the most significant. In fact, at one point, social media was indeed the only source of income for a lot of us in the industry.
During that that time, I worked for a bar that was called Tesouro by Firefly; a brand called Cazulo Premium Feni, and a cocktail bar consultation firm named Countertop that was being formed at that time. Together, all of this always kept me busy and unrestricted. But with gradual pandemic recovery it became rather difficult to keep up with the growth and demand of all three brands. Eventually, I moved under the umbrella of Countertop, India.
The game-changer drink for our firm and team would always be the Mid Night Brekkie, created by Pankaj Balachandran. A drink that initially would take us around 6-8 hours to prep and clarify. Thanks to our young team of skilled minds, at current speed it just takes us about 2 hours to prep a batch of 50 portions of a Gin cocktail containing flavours of peanut butter, strawberry and watermelon that would just remind you of a peanut butter jelly sandwich.
Insta: @the_feni_guy.karl
15. NAVIKA KAPOOR | Chef and co-founder, Zuru Zuru, New Delhi
When it comes to narrowing down one dish that has been the game-changer for me this year, it definitely has to be our Tonkotsu. It’s a true culmination of my ardent desire to marry authentic Japanese process and thought with local Indian ingredients. Not only would that allow me to stay true to what I set out to create but also give it an air of familiarity for the audience it’s created for.
For it to be Ramen, it needs to have five kinds of components namely -- soup, tare (this is where the flavour and salt of the soup comes from), aromatic oil, noodles, and toppings. For our Tonkotsu — each of these have something special going on, which is entirely different from classic renditions.
The soup is porky, yet not gamey, smooth and thick but not too rich, and has a touch of sweetness from the vegetables we add. The tare here is a mix of two different tares — one that gets its goodness from local dehydrated fish, and another which uses dagad phool for it’s smokeyness. The aromatic oil is a classic Mayu (burnt garlic in pork fat) but we also add some chilli and lime to it, that layers in even more complexity. The noodles are a blend of various local wheat flours sourced from TWF, and other grains most visually present of which is the ragi one can see speckled across the noodle. Our ramen noodles may be the only ones in the country at this point that utilise local flours that way and have a distinct flavour of their own. In the toppings there are two components that are distinct to my style — one is the pork chashu and the other is our menma. We don’t make our chashu with pork belly or imported pork (which is the usual offering), but utilise local pork and cure it before braising — a technique I learnt from Hitein and incorporated in my process to elevate the local good quality meat we’re able to procure consistently.
This bowl is very close to my heart, as I think it showcases the most amount of range in my personal skill development as a chef. Being an untrained outsider in an industry of professionals leaves me battling with imposter syndrome a lot of times, despite the fact that I’ve been running and growing a profitable business for the past two years. But this bowl is a culmination of my relationships in the ecosystem, my learnings over the past years and my unending tête-à-tête with my partner in crime, Hitein.
Insta: @gordonaraamse | @thehopelessramentic_
16. DHRUV OBEROI | Executive chef, Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi
During the pandemic a lot of people were eating amla because of its numerous health benefits — it's rich in vitamin C which boosts immunity. At Olive, we took amla and made it a star ingredient.
When we opened Olive post pandemic, we tried this Amla Salad recipe and it became an overnight success. Initially, everybody (at the restaurant) was hesitant. 'Why are we eating this when we eat amla at home?' they would ask. But the kind of treatment we had given to amla was very unique. The pairing was different: We paired amla with green mango chutney. We made a dressing out of this ginger called 'aam aada' - a ginger found in Odisha which has a flavour of raw mango. It is very unique in its own. So, we combined all these three elements and we did a salad which somehow worked and till date it is probably the hottest-selling item at the restaurant.
Taking amla as an inspiration, we have also done a cocktail which is a take on a martini. While martini has an olive brine, we use amla brine. During those experimentation days, we felt that amla brine was quite tasty and we made a martini out of it. And somehow, that also got introduced into our main menu now.
These are two dishes that I am very proud of; they are really inspiring. They represent India in a very international manner. We are not doing any fusion or Indianisaton to the cuisine, we have just used an ingredient and made an international dish and a cocktail out of it.
Insta: @chefdhruvoberoi
17. SOM DASGUPTA | Chef and founder, Cookdom, London
Some of us really work on that summer body so that we can spend a week in the labyrinthine San Sebastian sampling what are some of the finest flavour marriages in this part of western Europe.
This year we did a few popups with 15 pintxos (pin-chos) with a focus on fish and seafood. Using a base of pan con tomate, the humble Catalan tomato-rubbed baguette, and a few umami-packed ingredients, we presented some classic and some modified takes on these Basque skewered goodies that were polished off in minutes. These were our favourites and also the most popular: 1. Manchego, serrano, olive; 2. Tuna mayo, anchovy, aioli; 3. Aioli, Prawn, cockles; 4. Roncal, caramelised onions, olive, and 5. Idiazabal shavings on sobrasada.
Hip, perky and playful, these pintxos can be whipped up at home to create a mini gastro spectacle.
Insta: @chefsomdasgupta
18. VEDANT SHAH | Founder, Plural, Mumbai
The dish that was kind of a game-changer for Plural was our Seared Brussels Sprouts.
Brussels Sprouts are often labelled as the problem child of vegetable aisle because how tricky they are to cook. If you undercook them, they are extremey hard and that does't absorb any flavour. You overcook them and they become mushy. So, the margin for error is very thin and cooking them with utmost perfection is of paramount importance.
I believe people have receved our Seared Brussels Sprouts extremely well. We take Brussels Sprouts, give them a nice sear in the pan and we add a couple of vinaigrettes — Nam Jim and the Nam Phrik — which have chilly, pineapple, soy, a little bit of palm sugar and a bunch of other ingredients that really impart a very sweet, savoury and umam iflavour in the vinaigrette. We then fry the skin of the Brusells Sprouts so as not to waste them, we add them on top and then we garnish it with the medley of fresh herbs including mint, basil and coriander.
A lot of our customer have told us that this is the best Brussels Sprouts they had ever eaten. A lot of them were in fact averse to Brussels Sprouts, and now they have been won over by this dish.
Insta: @vedant.shah07
19. VAIBHAV BHARGAVA | Chef and partner, CHO - Vietnamese Kitchen & Bar, New Delhi
The one lifelong lesson which I follow in my life is: Be patient, and that will drive success. After the stressful time of the pandemic, one important thing that we have learnt is to keep pushing our boundaries and try our best to make our guests happy. That definitely helps in retaining and building stronger relations with the patrons. Following good hygiene practices in daily routine and maintaining the quality of our ingredients and taste — these are some of the things that have given us a boost this entire time and helped us build a loyal customer/guest base at CHO as well.
One item from our menu which is definitely a game-changer and most loved is 'Pho' — both for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. We anyway get a lot of expat crowd including Asian country tourists and they love their healthy food. There's nothing quite like a big, steaming bowl of pho (pronounced 'fuh') — typically made up of a meaty broth, white rice flour noodles, beef or chicken, spices and topped with a medley of herbs, bean sprouts, hot chilies, and a lime — on an icy winter day or night. Pho is a great source of protein (vital for your bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and blood.
After the pandemic, when we reopened in 2022, people became more cautious about their health and food choices. Since then Pho has been a star dish for us.
Insta: @chefvabsy
20. PAUL KINNY | Culinary Director, The St. Regis, Mumbai
The pandemic enabled a lot of us to reconnect and embrace our culinary cultures and heritage. This also enabled us at Seven Kitchen at The St. Regis, Mumbai to explore micro-regional, heritage-based, regional cuisine and I see this trend emerging. I’ve also consciously explored ‘healthy’ plant-based eating and dishes in our menus. Sustainability and plant-based ingredients are some of the most popular food trends which were huge in 2022 and shall continue through 2023 as well.
Apart from these I also see some radical or exotic flavour trends that’s evident in one of my dishes – the Salmon Poke Bowl at Seven Kitchen. It’s a vibrant dish packed with colours and flavours and offers the fifth flavour sensation of umami. This, simple yet innovative dish combines those full-bodied, satisfyingly rich notes of umami with sweet and tangy flavour profiles, it's a wholesome one-bowl meal.
Insta: @paulkinny
21. SOUGATA GHOSH | Chef and food influencer, Mumbai
This year was completely different than any other year in terms of many things. Personally too, this year gave me the opportunity to extend my wing the way I wanted. That includes the kind of exposure I have got, the clientele I cooked for, and even the type of dishes I have prepared — starting from the classics to fusions and so on.
Recently, I made an element-based menu which is doing amazing as people are liking and coming back for those.
For me the freshness of the elements are very important, especially when one is using minimum ingredients for a particular dish. It then becomes all the more essential to get the best out of those ingredients.
I made different textures of different ingredients and assembled them in a way to showcase that one single ingredient can be used in different forms to create a single dish. There are dishes where the textures are broken in different segments and assembled in a single plate.
For instance, a simple carrot. We have braised it, prepared carrot caviar, carrot chips and even carrot oil and then assembled all of it like a garden on a plate. We have also prepared a dish with mushrooms — it included roasted mushroom, mushroom soil, truffle oil powder and even mushroom ragu — and people went crazy about it.
The main motto is to prepare elements out of a single ingredient and taking the whole dish to a new level all together. And I thin we have been able to manage that pretty well so far.
Insta: @chefsougata
22. YANGDUP LAMA | Director and mixologist, Sidecar, New Delhi
I think for us what was really big specially since things opened up after COVID was the fact that we came up with our new menu. I believe what really helped us was the story and the concept which got a lot of attention and got the eyeballs rolling.
It was all about the flavours, history and surroundings of Delhi — we picked up Delhi as the core subject of our cocktail menu. It worked really well in our favour and gave us a lot of mileage. It was really wonderful to work on the project as well because it was close to our heart, it was something we were realy comfortable with. It was something we could present to our guests, our fellow community with a lot of confidence. This cocktail menu named 'Dear Delhi' celebrates the history, culture and heritage of this beautiful city.
Interestingly, this year in October we were in the World's 50 Best Bars and placed at #26 which was quite a surprise. But I think it was the menu which did most of it.
In the last 26 years of my career as a bartender, bar-owner and trainer, one of the things that I learnt was to always keep eyes and ears open; there's never an end to learning. Key learning comes in not just from the elders, but a lot of it comes from the youngsters, the newbies. When I interact with the younger bartenders I see a lot of new ideas coming in, I see a fresher perspective. I think that's really contributed in the success of both the bars, creating their menus, and also making the bar as lively as possible. Young minds work with new enthusiasm, always alert, always happy.
Insta: @thespiritedmonk
