Floyd Cardoz, the renowned New York City chef and the culinary director of Mumbai’s celebrated Bombay Canteen, died on Wednesday in the United States after he tested positive for coronavirus. He was 59.
A spokesperson for Hunger Inc. Hospitality, the company behind Bombay Canteen, O Pedro and Bombay Sweet Shop, confirmed his death on Wednesday.
“As a precautionary measure, we have informed the Health Department in Mumbai about the same. We are also reaching out personally to people who have interacted with him during his visit to India, so they can take necessary medical advice should they indicate any symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath) and/ or self-quarantine. Mr. Cardoz flew back to New York from Mumbai via Frankfurt on March 8, 2020,” the company said.
Journalist and anchor Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted on Wednesday that Cardoz had succumbed to the disease in New Jersey.
Tragic news. Floyd Cardoz the world renowned chef - with his own Restaurants in New York - Chez Floyd, then lately Bombay Canteen, O Pedro and restaurants in Bombay and Goa has succumbed to the Corona virus in New Jersey RIP
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) March 25, 2020
Cardoz posted on Instagram last week that he was feeling feverish and had admitted himself to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Cardoz grew up in Bandra and attended culinary school in Mumbai. During the course of his career, which took him to the kitchens behind Manhattan’s elite fine dining scene, he was celebrated for bringing a new style of Indian cuisine to the city. He served as chef and partner at Tabla, a contemporary Indian restaurant, which garnered rave critical reviews and shuttered in 2010. He later went on to open the Bombay Bread Bar and Paowalla, both in Manhattan. He also won Top Chef Masters Season 3 in 2011.
He also brought his years of experience as the culinary director of The Bombay Canteen in Mumbai, a restaurant that’s been repeatedly named one of the best in the country. The restaurant posted on Instagram that he is being closely monitored in New York.
Cardoz and Bombay Canteen, as well as executive Thomas Zacharias, were recently featured on season 2 of the Netflix show Ugly Delicious in an episode that explored Indian cuisine.
Cardoz has been nominated for multiple James Beard awards and has written at least two cookbooks, Flavourwalla and One Spice Two Spice.