{"id":5132,"date":"2017-01-10T10:40:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=5132"},"modified":"2017-05-26T10:47:27","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T14:47:27","slug":"one-crabby-chef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/","title":{"rendered":"One Crabby Chef"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dharshan<\/a>When it came to making sure he ate well as a Johns Hopkins undergrad, necessity truly was the mother of invention for Dharshan Munidasa<\/a> \u201994. The Tokyo native, who earned a double bachelor\u2019s degree in computer engineering<\/a> and international relations, taught himself to cook after finding cafeteria food not to his liking.<\/p>\n

He learned how to re-create the homestyle Japanese fare of his childhood, becoming a stickler for quality when it came to the ingredients. By his senior year, his dorm room had become a popular destination for lovers of authentic Asian cuisine.<\/p>\n

Today, Munidasa is one of Asia\u2019s most celebrated chefs and the owner of five restaurants in Sri Lanka that consistently earn critical acclaim. Two of his restaurants, Ministry of Crab<\/a> and Nihonbashi,<\/a> are listed on Asia\u2019s 50 best restaurants<\/a> and have held top spots in the Miele Guide, Asia\u2019s first independent restaurant guide. Ministry of Crab, which opened in 2011, is noted for celebrating the oversized Sri Lankan lagoon crab, sought after by seafood lovers across the globe.<\/p>\n

More than 20 years after those dorm-room experiments, he says, a slow-cooked chicken curry favored by his college roommates appears on the menu at Kaema Sutra<\/a>,\u00a0Munidasa\u2019s street food\u2013inspired restaurant. And the roast chicken dish he labored over as a student has become one of Kaema Sutra\u2019s signature entrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I find most satisfying about being a chef is bringing smiles to those who enjoy what I cook. It is not every day that you get to bring someone an experience that is both unique and memorable,\u201d says Munidasa. \u201cWhat I find most challenging is achieving consistency, especially with crab meat. There never is a fixed recipe to make the crab dishes, as the salinity of each crab varies, and every crab being cooked has to be checked for this. By continuing to perform these checks,\u201d he says, \u201cwe do our best to stay consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he clearly has found his calling as a chef, Munidasa says he learned something in his engineering classes too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I studied at Hopkins, I use every day,\u201d he says. \u201cI am someone who cannot use AutoCAD, but I have continued to design restaurants over the past 21 years. I have designed about eight kitchens to date, and all of them start off as a scale drawing in Excel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it came to making sure he ate well as a Johns Hopkins undergrad, necessity truly was the mother of invention for Dharshan Munidasa \u201994, who taught himself to cook after finding cafeteria food not to his liking. Today, he is one of Asia\u2019s most celebrated chefs and the owner of five restaurants in Sri Lanka that consistently earn critical acclaim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[536,540,544,552,556,1963],"class_list":["post-5132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-dharshan-munidasa","tag-ministry-of-crab","tag-nihonbashi","tag-sri-lankan-food","tag-computer-engineering","tag-kaema-sutra","issue-winter-2017"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOne Crabby Chef - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Crabby Chef - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When it came to making sure he ate well as a Johns Hopkins undergrad, necessity truly was the mother of invention for Dharshan Munidasa \u201994, who taught himself to cook after finding cafeteria food not to his liking. Today, he is one of Asia\u2019s most celebrated chefs and the owner of five restaurants in Sri Lanka that consistently earn critical acclaim.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-10T15:40:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-26T14:47:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"One Crabby Chef\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-10T15:40:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-26T14:47:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":391,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Dharshan Munidasa\",\"Ministry of Crab\",\"Nihonbashi\",\"Sri Lankan food\",\"computer engineering\",\"Kaema Sutra\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/\",\"name\":\"One Crabby Chef - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-10T15:40:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-26T14:47:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/one-crabby-chef\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"One Crabby Chef\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\",\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abby Lattes\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"One Crabby Chef - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"One Crabby Chef - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"When it came to making sure he ate well as a Johns Hopkins undergrad, necessity truly was the mother of invention for Dharshan Munidasa \u201994, who taught himself to cook after finding cafeteria food not to his liking. Today, he is one of Asia\u2019s most celebrated chefs and the owner of five restaurants in Sri Lanka that consistently earn critical acclaim.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2017-01-10T15:40:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-26T14:47:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abby Lattes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abby Lattes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/"},"author":{"name":"Abby Lattes","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"headline":"One Crabby Chef","datePublished":"2017-01-10T15:40:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-26T14:47:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/"},"wordCount":391,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg","keywords":["Dharshan Munidasa","Ministry of Crab","Nihonbashi","Sri Lankan food","computer engineering","Kaema Sutra"],"articleSection":["Alumni"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/","name":"One Crabby Chef - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-10T15:40:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-26T14:47:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/One-Crabby-Chef_THUMB.jpg","width":300,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/one-crabby-chef\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"One Crabby Chef"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742","name":"Abby Lattes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Abby Lattes"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5132"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8231,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5132\/revisions\/8231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}