In the Kitchen: Chef Asif R. Syed, 21 Spices in Naples

It’s been a busy year for Chef Asif Rasheed Syed. In October 2015 he appeared on Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games,” a competitive cooking show where contestants prepare dishes using ingredients found on the supermarket set. Then, in December, he opened his Naples restaurant, 21 Spices by Chef Asif.

Chef Asif has lived in Southwest Florida for over 17 years and currently lives in Naples with his wife and two children. He took a short break from his busy restaurant kitchen to talk about Mughlai Hyderabadi Indian cuisine, dates and the insane number of oysters he once shucked for a banquet.

Aspirations: Grow an international brand of multiple restaurants, food product lines (including spices) not only in Florida, but nationally in all the major US metropolitan areas, and internationally. Then, to mentor young chefs from India and other countries who are working to become successful in the United States.

Favorite cuisine to eat:  Authentic and delicious Mughlai Hyderabadi Indian cuisine

What was the first dish you mastered? Biryani which is traditional Indian rice casserole with spices, meat and yogurt

Celebrity (living or dead) you’d love to have dinner with: Mahatma Gandhi

If I weren’t in this business, I’d be…: I would have been an artist.