Tejas Nikam

Tejas grew up in Mumbai, India and says his interest in food began early by watching his father cooking at home. At the age of 18 he moved to Gujrat and completed three years of culinary school before moving back to Mumbai and working for several airline catering companies.Tejas then moved to London to further his studies and spent the next 18 months working in London restaurants including Carluccio’s and the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow.

A decision to move to the other side of the world proved to be a career-defining moment when he landed a job in 2011 at Sky City working at Bellota, where he first met Peter Gordon. He then spent two and a half years working at Orbit before he was offered a job working alongside Peter Gordon once again, for the opening of The Sugar Club in 2013.

With three years under his belt at The Sugar Club, Tejas moved to the Waikato to take up a new challenge as head chef at the Zealong Tea Estate. Tejas then moved to Christchurch in 2019 where he took up the role as executive chef of Vices & Virtues. Since Covid-19, Tejas has now moved back to the Waikato where he leads the team at the upmarket steakhouse, Paddock to Plate Waikato. In late 2021, Tejas opened his first owner-operator restaurant - Bull & Bear in downtown Hamilton.

Tejas follows in his mentor Peter Gordon’s footsteps as being named a Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chef.