For Nishant Mitra, head chef at Bandra's Eddies Bistro, hiring a chef entails more than just finding someone who "can cook". It's also about roping in somebody who can slice, dice, chop and butcher to perfection. So, while assessing apprentices, all he does is provide them with vegetables, meat or seafood along with a knife. The way they go about the task can make or mar their prospects.

"If you want to be a cut above the rest, the knife, then, is your weapon," says Mitra, who started his career in the kitchen of Colaba's Leopold Cafe. Here, he was handed a clunky wooden knife wrapped with a cloth that was more cumbersome than cutting edge. But, the stint taught him how to work with knives, which essentially laid the foundation for all the cooking. "Years later, when I graduated to using more sophisticated makes like the German and Japanese, it felt like homecoming," he gushes.