Sid Chopra was always going to end up in the kitchen, he just didn’t know he would travel halfway across the world to get there. Raised in Delhi and arriving in New Zealand at only 21, he found his footing behind the pass at Auckland’s cult-classic restaurant Prego, where years in the pressure of service shaped his identity as a chef.

Today, as co-owner and chef of city-centre restaurant GOAT, the kitchen is no longer just where he works but where he belongs. “You have to love what you do,” he says. “If you love it, everything else falls into place.” It’s an attitude that has shaped his decisions, from backing his own vision to surrounding himself with the right people to bring it to life. Even in moments of pressure he resists dwelling on the negatives. “If there’s a bad day I leave it behind and start fresh the next,” he says.

GOAT was never meant to be just another opening on Auckland’s city-centre scene. For him, it was an opportunity to reclaim the narrative around the food he grew up with. After years in kitchens where Indian cuisine was often flattened into familiar staples, he wanted to show something more expansive and more personal. At GOAT, the menu is a reflection of that intent: dishes move beyond expectation, revealing the depth and regional diversity that is so often overlooked. It gently pushes back the notion of Indian food as ‘cheap eats’, inviting it to be seen in its full richness and complexity.

Across India, cuisine shifts with place, region by region. Travelling between states, he explains, can feel like crossing borders as the language, climate and food all shift entirely. “When you go from one state to another, everything changes,” he says. “You feel like you’re in a completely different country. I thought, ‘Why not show people what real Indian food is all about?’” That sense of contrast became the foundation for GOAT, with many of the dishes on the menu shaped by Sid’s travels and recorded in notes he keeps along the way. The prawn balchão in particular carries a story he returns to often. “I discovered it while travelling,” he says. “We avoided the busy restaurants and found this small place with just one woman doing everything herself. That’s where I tried it. I didn’t even know a dish like that existed.” What stayed with him wasn’t just the flavour, but the possibility within it. At GOAT, he’s adapted the dish to suit a New Zealand palate while retaining its essence, softening its sour notes with a touch of sweetness to bring it into balance.

In the kitchen, the balance between tradition and interpretation comes down to an exacting understanding of spice. Indian cooking, he explains, leaves little room for approximation; even the slightest adjustment can shift a dish entirely. It’s a process that takes time through testing, refining and learning the science behind each combination. Small changes can completely transform a dish, which is both the challenge and the reward. That level of understanding is instinctive to Sid. “This is where I truly belong,” he says. “It’s the food that comes naturally to me, I understand the flavours and it’s something I love to work with.” More than anything, he hopes that connection translates beyond the kitchen, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the range and complexity of Indian cuisine and inviting us to explore it with the same curiosity that continues to shape his own cooking. — MIA BENNETT