While most of the other seniors at JP Stevens High School are about to graduate, Arnav Kamulkar is experimenting with new recipes for the restaurant menu or thinking about flavors, spices and cuisines from around the world.
At 17, he took up an adult job as creative director at Clove 12 Restobar, an Indian restaurant located on Marconi Avenue in Iselin.
And when he’s not dining out, he could play golf for the high school varsity team.
“Cooking is something I love,” the future high school graduate said. “If I’m not cooking or playing golf, it’s definitely on my mind.”
Clove 12 Restobar challenges the genre of the typical Indian restaurant with innovation and originality. Although there are classic dishes on the menu, Kamulkar has taken many offerings to a new level.
Drawing inspiration from around the world, Clove 12 offers fusion offerings that, according to the teenage chef, “marry the best flavors from all cuisines to deliver a one-of-a-kind dining experience.”
Even its name – Clove 12 – is a fusion.
Clove is the spice in most restaurant dishes and the restaurant offers 12 monthly rotating global menus handcrafted by Kamulkar.
“Clove is actually a spice that we use in a lot of our dishes,” he said. “It’s a very intimate part of cooking and the taste of cloves, that essence almost brings out that kind of nostalgic feeling of home. And then the 12 in the name is actually a little hint on our rotating menu ; since 12 months ago and we have 12 different special menus.”
Without any training except what he found online and through his mother, Aparna, Kamulkar, a self-proclaimed “mommy’s boy”, considers himself self-taught.
He started cooking at the age of 6 with traditional Indian dishes because that’s what his mother did. When she became “a bit of an explorer” and tried other cuisines, Kamulkar, who was her sous chef, found her spark.
LILY:Mussels and Mimosas: These Jersey Shore Restaurants Offer a Seafood Brunch
“She’s a passionate chef,” Kamulkar said. “From there, it snowballed. I started doing my own stuff. Originally, I was just helping my mom cook vegetables and watching her cook, then slowly I got wanted to make my own recipes, do my own stuff. And that kind of led to what I’m doing today.”
“I started wanting to do stuff that wasn’t what I usually would have for dinner,” he said. “So my style has roots at home, but I try to incorporate other cuisines. I’m really an explorer. I’m just kind of creative. I do things that aren’t possible for the average chef.”
Clove 12 customers can follow him on his explorations.
“I’m going to explore gastronomy,” he said. “I will do molecular cuisine. For example, sometimes I will do plant-based caviar. And I will also do fusion foods, like Indian tacos. Clove 12 is definitely a mix of all cuisines. I like to keep a bit of the basics of Indian cuisine because that’s how I learned to cook.”
Every other weekend, Clove 12 offers a special pop-up tasting menu by reservation only.
“Unfortunately, I can’t do it on weekdays during school,” Kamulkar said. “We create this exclusive six-course tasting menu especially for anyone who comes to the table. For each of the dishes I serve, I go in and give a little bit of context behind the dish and what inspired it. So you get really that personal bond.”
Her favorite dish to make is something you wouldn’t expect in an Indian restaurant.
“What I like to cook the most is a very simple answer,” Kamulkar said. “I think a lot of people hear it and laugh a little bit. But to me, it’s guacamole.”
It was the first dish he made with his mother.
“I know it like the back of my hand, and I can do it blindfolded, it really reminds me of my childhood and how I started cooking,” he said. “I do it like my mom did because it’s just the one thing my mom would make sure of and it would be true.”
And his signature dish is Beet Tartare with Jicama Behl, a useful vegetarian dish.
“I grew up with this notation that being vegetarian can’t be sophisticated, and I want to break that barrier,” he said.
The dish is also suitable for Kamulkar as it is “another combination of flavors that we do”.
In the fall, Kamulkar goes to Cornell University to study at its school of hotel administration.
“They have a fantastic hotel management program,” he said. “And I really want to go down a food and business or food and beverage type of route, so it’s more on the business side of cooking. And I believe they have a dual degree program with the Culinary Institute of America . So I would. I still have to think about it, but I’m really looking forward to getting a degree in cooking.”
At home, Kamulkar’s mother hasn’t completely handed over her cooking to him, but he does a lot of the cooking.
His parents, Aparna and Vinay Kamulkar, “just support him”, he said.
“They are incredibly proud of me,” he added. “They always did everything to help me and make it a dream come true.”
Older brother Saahil does not share Kamulkar’s joy of cooking.
“He doesn’t cook at all,” Kamulkar said. “He likes to sit there and enjoy the food that my mom and I make.”
And Kamulkar’s other passion, golf, has been a big part of his life for about four years.
“I started because my dad always wanted to play golf as a kid, and he wanted to make sure at least one of his sons carried on that legacy,” Kamulkar said. “So my brother swims and I play golf.”
Email: [email protected]
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning reporting and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: [email protected] or @CherylMakin.