Madhu Menon is a geek-turned-chef based in Bangalore. Passionate about cooking, Madhu opted to study computer science, and not pursue his passion for cooking. He worked as a techie for seven years and finally in December 2003 Madhu opened Shiok, a Far-Eastern restaurant and cocktail lounge in Bangalore.

Madhu grew up in New Delhi. He got his first wok-set when he was 13 years old, and by the time he was 15 years he had all the makings of a chef. He toyed with the idea of studying Hotel Management, but decided against it and studied Computer Science in Australia instead.

For seven long years Madhu worked as a techie in various companies, including Cyber Media Group and CNET India. He has also worked as Head of User Experience for a Web development company, and sysadmin plus Mr. Fix-it for an engineering company.

But in 2003, Madhu decided to migrate from being a geek to a chef. While not formally trained in cooking, Madhu studied South-East Asian cooking after falling in love with the food during one of his trips to that part of the world. Though opening a restaurant was part of his long-term career plan, he instead put that idea on a fast track and opened Shiok while he was still in his 20s. The thinking behind this move was that he could take this drastic and risky career shift while he was still young and single. He felt that his risk-taking ability was higher when he was still young.

Madhu’s blog, MadMan’s Web, has been online since October 2000. He is one of the early Indian bloggers and says that there was a time when he could count the number of Indian bloggers on his finger tips. He writes mostly about management, libertarianism, design, interfaces and usability, and social issues.

He also run’s a chef’s blog called Chef’s Notes for his restaurant, where he likes to pontificate at length about such seemingly trivial things as how to cook perfect steamed rice, and how long to cook seafood to keep it tender.

Madhu has not completely abandoned his former techie avatar. He helps a handful of Indian bloggers with their websites.