Chef Ankish Shetty Has A Systematic Approach As He Spices Up Wall Street Cuisine
India-West News Desk
NEW YORK, NY- Last Diwali, while much of Wall Street was winding down for the evening, Ankish Shetty was overseeing a culinary production spread across three New York City locations, serving 2,800 guests with butter chicken bites, gajar ka halwa, and an ambitious vision of what Indian food could look like in corporate America.
By the end of service, not a single dish had missed its mark.
For many South Asian employees at one of New York’s leading financial firms, it was a revelation. Word spread quickly through office chats and conversations in hallways. There was an Indian chef in the building, and he was serving food that tasted unmistakably like home.
For Shetty, that response mattered more than flawless execution.
“People know immediately,” he says. “With Indian food, especially when you’re cooking for the diaspora, they can tell in one bite if it’s right.”
As Corporate Executive Chef with Restaurant Associates, part of Compass Group, Shetty leads the culinary program for one of Wall Street’s most prominent financial institutions. From breakfast through large scale events, his kitchen serves thousands each day. But beyond volume and logistics, Shetty has taken on a quieter mission: bringing Indian food to the corporate dining table without diluting its identity.
Born and raised in Mumbai, Shetty did not begin his career in the kitchen. He trained as a computer science engineer before deciding to pursue cooking professionally, eventually moving to Switzerland to study at BHMS Luzern. His culinary training continued at Rasoi by Vineet in Geneva, the first Indian restaurant in continental Europe to earn a Michelin star, and later at the Kempinski Grand Hotel Des Bains in St. Moritz.
Though he left engineering behind, its influence remains central to how he cooks.
“I’ve never stopped thinking like an engineer,” Shetty says. “Engineering didn’t leave me when I entered the kitchen. It became the foundation of how I approach everything.”
That mindset shows up everywhere. Production schedules are mapped with the precision of workflow systems. Large scale service is treated like a problem of coordination and timing. Recipes are tested not just for flavor but for consistency across hundreds or thousands of plates.
Yet Shetty says the hardest part of his work has little to do with scale.
Cooking Indian food for a South Asian audience, particularly in New York, demands a different kind of discipline. There is little room for approximation. Diners recognize instantly whether spices have been balanced correctly, whether textures feel familiar, whether the food carries the integrity of the original dish.
For Shetty, that expectation is welcome.
“Indian food has often been reduced to a few familiar dishes in this country,” he says. “I want people to experience the depth of it. Not by changing it into something else, but by presenting it in a way that still respects where it comes from.”
His menus often reflect that balance. Traditional flavors remain intact, while presentation becomes contemporary and accessible to diners from many backgrounds. The result appeals both to colleagues tasting Indian food for the first time and to those searching for flavors they grew up with.
For South Asian professionals on Wall Street, that recognition can feel deeply personal.
A dessert like gajar ka halwa or the aroma of cardamom and toasted spices served in the middle of a workday can transport someone far beyond Lower Manhattan. For a moment, the corporate cafeteria becomes something more intimate, a place where memory, identity, and food meet.
Shetty understands that power well.
His own journey from engineering student in Mumbai to executive chef in New York was unconventional, but he sees it as proof that ambition does not need to follow a straight line.
His advice to young Indian Americans considering careers outside expectation is simple.
“No one should have to look back and carry the weight of never having tried.”
