Marigold Kitchen — Local services in Santa Fe

Dhiru is one of the most accommodating people that we had the good fortune to work with, and he is also an exceptional chef. He catered our daughter’s wedding for about 145 guests. We gave Dhiru traditional recipes from a specific region of India. These recipes were not mainstream, and Dhiru had never tasted them before. However, he was willing to work with us to experiment and tweak the recipes to meet our expectations. He worked conscientiously to incorporate the traditional recipes we had given him and created authentic and scrumptious food. He listened to our suggestions and bent backwards to meet our expectations. Making authentic food, especially food that is not familiar is no easy task, but Dhiru took on the challenge and created food that was not only delicious, but also nicely presented. All our guests were very complimentary of the food, especially our mom who is an excellent cook and one who does not give out compliments easily. Dhiru was without any doubt the best vendor we worked with. Thank you, Dhiru, for making our daughter’s wedding a...

Fresh, authentic, and a dream to work with!

Chef Dhiru Paul is such a talented and imaginative chef who brings a unique elegance and joy to South Indian cuisine. We hired Aruna Café to cater our 140-person wedding, and the menu Chef Dhiru served with was just incredible: a thoughtful, flavorful, and authentic spread that folks with all palates and spice tolerances enjoyed.

He took the time to understand what we wanted and was so easy to work with while keeping things real and within our budget. He incorporated our feedback, and when we asked him to make a Sri Lankan specialty he wasn’t as familiar with, he went above and beyond to make sure the recipe was perfect. (It was.)

I can’t believe that we got to offer our friends and family this world-class Tamil cuisine in the middle of New Mexico. Our guests are still talking about the deep fried idlis, chicken appetizers, and mini uttapam as well as the lamb curry and kofta we served at dinner. Thank...

I first met Dhiru when he did a pop-up dinner at a local farm, Reunity Resources. It was one of the post memorable pop-up dinners I had ever been to and we have gone to so many! Dhiru's attention to detail and plating are impeccable. He presents flavors that are hard to find outside of his hometown of Mandapam, India. Additionally, he can make vegan food taste amazing! When he's not catering, he does weekly meal pick-ups from the kitchen he operates out of for a very reasonable price. We aren't vegan, but we don't care because every single thing he makes is divine. If you ever have the chance to try Dhiru's cooking, you will...