Making delicious Muskoka memories at JW Marriott The Rosseau

A visit with award-winning Chef Saurav Sarkar

By Lorie Steiner

JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka invites you to visit, as Executive Chef Saurav Sarkar turns the menu page on a bold new chapter in the resort’s culinary journey.

Chef Saurav brings over a decade of experience from MICHELIN-starred restaurants and five-star hotels across Canada, Belgium and Australia and was named one of Kostuch Media’s 2023 Top-30-Under-30, a prestigious honour celebrating rising stars in Canada’s hospitality industry.

I spoke remotely with Chef Saurav in the midst of a January snowstorm in Muskoka. He is a great ambassador for the area and the resort, noting, “It is such a beautiful place, just two hours from Toronto. I am embracing it all and looking forward to warmer days when we are able to grow some produce and do some exciting things.”

H: I hear you created some interesting indoor experiences when guests were snowed in. 

Chef: With the crazy winter weather, so many guests from Toronto and the neighbouring areas decided to stay longer and enjoy Muskoka, so we brought the winter inside but in a controlled environment. We had indoor maple taffy stations for the kids, brewed hot chocolate with marshmallow around the cups for the families, made hot toddies to keep the adults warm. We created our own indoor winter wonderland and it was really beautiful because we still had the lights on. 

H: Have you always enjoyed cooking?

Chef: I grew up in a large family in east India, so food was very much a nucleus of our gatherings. If you had a visitor, my grandmother or my mom put out an entire spread. From snacks to meals to different proteins and non-alcoholic refreshing beverages, that was how we welcomed people. My first taste of food and culinary came when I would go to the market with my grandmother. I was not much into cooking but I carried her groceries and that is how I earned pocket money. Seeing her talk to the local vendors and farmers, and appreciate what is in season… looking back, it is almost a full circle because what the farmers had was what she put on the plates for lunch and dinner, and it is what I’m trying to recreate now.

After cooking in high-end restaurants in downtown Toronto for nearly a decade, when the opportunity came up with JW Marriott The Rosseau, I knew this is what I wanted to do. Having the freedom to grow our own ingredients and our own herbs. We have a program called The JW Garden, where we bring in seeds and grow them over a period of months, and that is what I translate to our garnishes or salads or serve in smoothies. This year, I created one indoors for the winter months with hydroponic lights and they are growing now. 

H: How do you blend elevated dishes with comfort foods that guests crave on vacation?

Chef: I am blessed to have different dining outlets on the property: Lakes is an upscale casual Canadian restaurant where you will find French Onion Soup or Chicken Pot Pie or nice roast beef sandwiches – hearty comfort food. Teca is our fine dining Italian restaurant, more elevated dishes with special touches. Guests who stay four of five nights have choices… one night they might want burgers and the kids can have chicken tenders at Lakes. The second night when the kids are out doing activities with our enrichment team, the parents can have a date night at Teca or our Muskoka Chophouse.

Just because it is luxury, it doesn’t mean complex. It is more about caring. We take a lot of care making our burgers in-house and cutting our own salads and our own herbs to maintain that care, even in a relaxed environment. One of our brand values at the JW Marriott is mindfulness. You will see a lot of vegan and vegetarian dishes on the menu – we are making a super vegetarian burger patty right now with red bean, brown rice, avocado. Everything is sourced locally from Indigenous suppliers. We are trying to showcase our culinary talent but also respecting local cultures, as well as trends toward a healthier diet. And we are conscious of sustainability when curating the menus and purchasing, so we have less waste. 

H: When it comes to food, do you have a favourite season?

Chef: I really enjoy winter food because it feels like a big warm hug… red wine braised short ribs, lobster vol-au- vent. I was trained on these classic French dishes that I am putting on the menu. That is why I was excited to come to Muskoka in the winter months because it is cold and you can see the snow out the windows while you are dining. 

Summer also excites me because I can keep it light. I get to see what our local farmers can supply and that challenges me creatively to put different dishes on the menu. I want to offer a light salad grown from our JW Garden with a grilled piece of Milford Bay Trout and then guests can go on a hike right after the meal. The activities and experiences are what ties everything together. That is what it is all about.

I interact with diners as much as I can, to see what their journey is. They may be celebrating their anniversary, or even a proposal. We host weddings with custom menus and tastings beforehand. Showing couples the view over Lake Rosseau and what it will be like on their wedding day is a treat for our team. We love cooking for all generations – the more the merrier. Food is more delicious when it is shared among friends and loved ones. I am looking forward to creating memories for our diners and really putting the local suppliers and farmers in the forefront of what we do. jwrosseau.com