About

My name is Jason Alfred Castelino. I was born and raised in Mangalore, India and currently living in Munich, Germany.

I am a person with multiple interests. I love design and engineering. An automobile surface designer by profession. When at home, I dabble a bit with my guitar. Absolutely love cars and bikes. I am a nature lover and I love to travel and explore new places, cultures and cuisines. And if you are here reading this, you would have guessed by now that I am a total Foodie!

My hometown Mangalore, is a melting pot of various cultures and cuisines. A glimpse into the history books reveals that it was ruled by rulers of various communities, which also included the Portuguese and the British, arguably making it one of the first cosmopolitan cities in India. This confluence of various cultures over the years has resulted in a cuisine which is unique to the region with influence from the Catholic, Protestant, Bunt, Brahman and Beary communities.

Mangaloreans are born foodies and are always hungry for good food. And I am no different. I love good food and I am absolutely open to trying any dish at least once.

Although my tryst with cooking started at a very young age as Mom’s little helper, I never got around to cooking anything much on my own. When living on my own in Bangalore, the first time I tried to cook rice, I burnt it! Fried rice anyone?

But what I did best was to put my bike to good use and explore the food scene, watch a lot of cookery shows, observe others when they are cooking and help out in their cooking. Even now, when I travel to a new place, I primarily want to explore the local cuisine, as food is a direct gateway to the culture and tradition of a community or place.

It’s only when I moved to Germany and started missing my favourite Mangy delicacies, I decided to put my newly furnished IKEA kitchen to good use. After a few google searches for the various Indian stores in the region, calls back and forth to friends and family for cooking tips, picking up some cooking essentials during my trips to India and after setting off a few smoke alarms in my apartment, here I am today with ONE PLATE PLEASE.

ONE PLATE PLEASE is me bringing to you my culinary adventures, One Plate at a time. It is a melting pot of my take on some of the traditional fare I love, and dishes that I have experienced away from home. Head over to the Recipes section to know more.

When you visit a local hotel in Mangalore and place your order, you will invariably hear the waiter shout out your order to the kitchen in Tulu language “Onji plate (name of the dish)!!”.

“ONE PLATE PLEASE” is derived from this line. It is about the joy of experiencing a plate of your favourite dish. It is about reliving your childhood memories in every plate. It is about exploring a place, a culture in every plate and carrying our memories forward on every plate.

I wanted the Logo to resonate this vision and also my design background. I opted to go for the Combination Mark type of logo showcasing the ONE PLATE PLEASE wordmark plated on a abstract PLATE. It is a symbol of simplicity showcased in a modern way.

Over the years, many people have played a role in making me what I am today and I will acknowledge them in subsequent posts. But right here right now, I want to acknowledge three people who have played a big part in shaping my life and my culinary journey. I owe it all to them.

My Mom, Letitia Castelino (D’souza) – like I mentioned earlier, my tryst with cooking started as her little helper in the kitchen. If it wasn’t for those moments, I may never have loved cooking as much as I do now.

My Dad, Vincent Castelino – he isn’t good at cooking. But what he does best is help Mom in the kitchen and showed me and my siblings that cooking isn’t just a woman’s job/responsibility and the least we could do is help out in the kitchen.

My Grand-aunt, Amy Pinto – an incredible cook! I used to love my trips to her place in Mysore. She probably gave me one of the most important cooking tip. Initially I found it funny when I saw her measuring/weighing each and every ingredient. But today I know she was not wrong when she told me “If you measure/weigh the ingredients, you will nail the taste every single time”. I’m sure she is super proud and smiling at me from heaven.