MasterChef winner Sashi Cheliah to open restaurant Gaja by Sashi in Adelaide CBD

We’ve seen him in action on TV, we cheered when he won MasterChef last year. Now we can taste Sashi Cheliah’s food as he opens his first restaurant.

MasterChef winner Sashi Cheliah is opening his own restaurant, Gaja by Sashi, in Pirie St on the corner of Chesser St, Adelaide. Picture: Matt Turner

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We’ve seen him in action on TV and we cheered when he won MasterChef last year. Now we can taste Sashi Cheliah’s food as he opens his first restaurant: Gaja by Sashi in the heart of the CBD.

Sashi, a former prison officer who charmed the nation and impressed the judges with his innovative Malaysian-Indian-Singaporean cuisine, is delighted to be home and can’t wait to get into his new kitchen. He had long wanted to open a cafe.

“That was what really motivated me to enter the competition, to … see where I stand as a chef,” he said.

He has spent a year in Melbourne running pop-ups, which has given him “the confidence to run a proper kitchen,” he said.

Sashi Cheliah inside the under-renovation restaurant Adelaide’s CBD, which will feature an open kitchen. Picture: Matt Turner

Sashi has picked a top flagship site on the corner of Pirie and Chesser streets in the heart of Adelaide’s business district, CBRE agent Julie Thomas said.

“There are some highly regarded and new eateries in the area (Osteria Oggi, Golden Wattle, Fino Vino, Abbots and Kinney) catering for breakfast, lunch, business and dinner meetings,” she said.

The Singaporean-born cook, with a Tamil background, will be conjuring up Asian share plates.

Working with designers Malbarosa & Co, Sashi has insisted on an open kitchen so the cooking is in full view.

Sashi wins MasterChef Australia last year. Picture: Network Ten

The name Gaja was chosen well before MasterChef — it means elephant in Sanskrit, Tamil and Malay, but also connotes prosperity, majesty and loyalty.

“People will be able to experience the whole kitchen-to-table concept,” he said.

Asian-inspired cocktails from the bar will round off the experience.

With the menu pretty much mapped out; Gaja by Sashi is slated to open in late October-early November.