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<\/p>\nAlthough he feeds us his signature almond croissants, a silken, mousse-like basque cheesecake, mille-feuille and a pistachio tart, what he decides to cook for himself \u2014 and for this piece \u2014 is something that\u2019s miles away from this dessert spread: 100 grams of steamed rice, 200 grams of marinated chicken breast, with veggies like edamame, snow peas and bell peppers.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t live without sugar,\u201d he says, as if confessing. \u201cThe only reason I train so intensely is because I need two cups of coffee every day and with that, something sweet \u2014 a pastry, a cookie.\u201d He follows intermittent fasting, 18 to 20 hours daily, eating within a four- to six-hour window. This is his main meal for the day. day.<\/p>\n Growing up in Delhi<\/p>\n Mehta grew up in Delhi until he was 13, at which point his parents divorced, his mother remarried and moved to Paris. His father stayed. The arrangement was clear: every summer and winter vacation, he came back to visit. And so he grew up between two cities, two kitchens, two entirely different ideas of what eating could mean.<\/p>\n In Delhi, his school canteen sold samosas and aloo patty burgers. In Paris, lunch had the structure of a seven-course meal \u2014 salad, entree, main, cheese, yoghurt, dessert and a break for chocolate or coffee. \u201cIt was a big, big change. That\u2019s where my liking for food really developed.\u201d His mother, a businesswoman, would host regularly \u2014 food nights, ghazal nights, folk nights. There was also a steady rhythm of Delhi\u2019s Indian diplomatic community gathering and eating in Paris. Mehta would manage the bar, set the tables and, most importantly, observe.<\/p>\n When school ended, he saw a notice about culinary training and signed up. At the back of his mind was Bollywood. He had grown up watching Hindi films and he harboured a quiet dream that there was some acting in him. But he never had the courage to say so. So he joined Santos Dumont, a culinary school in France instead, arriving on the first day in a brown leather jacket, torn jeans, long hair, a stud in his ear. His dean looked at him and was surprised he had gotten through. \u201cI told him that I am going to India to meet my father and he said when you return, make sure that the hair is shorter, the earrings are off and we wear trousers here, not jeans,\u201d laughs Mehta.<\/p>\n Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n He became, unexpectedly in his own words, an excellent student. The internships that followed were at Le Bristol, the Ritz, Hotel Baltimore, UNESCO, the Travellers Club at the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es, where members included Jean Paul Gaultier and Dior designers and government ministers. French culinary training in that era, he shares, was unsparing. \u201cInternships were hard. We would be asked to do push-ups for messing up a recipe, not 10 or 15 but till our chest or arms would hurt. Sometimes chefs would literally box us. We would be quizzed, and if we got an answer wrong, a knife might come flying our way or they would kick us with their steel-toe shoes. But I\u2019m glad it happened, that\u2019s what made me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Four years later, in the year 2000, when he graduated, his mother was ready to send him to Cornell or Lausanne for a master\u2019s in hospitality. Instead, he told her he wanted to go to Mumbai<\/a> to be an actor. Her response, delivered before she walked out of the room, was: \u201cIf your nana were alive, he would have shot you.\u201d<\/p>\n A bad French cake that changed his course<\/p>\n He came anyway, on vacation, in 2000. A photographer spotted him in South Extension, offered a photoshoot, and within weeks he had ads for Atlas Cycles, Kama Sutra\u2019s capsule range and Femina. \u201cI thought my life was set, I am the next Shah Rukh Khan.\u201d He refused to go back when the vacation ended. He did an acting course, a Doordarshan series and a Zee TV serial. \u201cThen I started losing my hair, which wasn\u2019t quite the trend.\u201d He never made it to Mumbai.<\/p>\n![\"Sahil](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Sahil-Mehta-1.jpg\")
A mousse-like basque cheesecake, mille-feuille and a pistachio tart (Photo: Gajendra Yadav)<\/p>\n