Apoorva Kunte is the Executive Chef at The Westin Melbourne. Apoorva loves food and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a chef. He worked in hotels in India and the Middle East before coming to Sydney and now, luckily for us, he is here in Melbourne. Wherever he goes, he likes to discover and then showcase regional local produce. So it is no surprise that he has an extensive knowledge of the world’s finest delicacies and that he and his team have distilled this for us in The Westin’s High SocieTea, an opulent high tea running in the Lobby Lounge until October and inspired by the three C’s – caviar, chocolate and cheese. Apoorva talked to me about his favourite cuisine, how essential wellbeing is for himself and his team and the importance of getting the basics right as a chef, knowing and understanding your ingredients and realising that it’s not at all what you see on television cooking shows.