About Us

Ela cuisine’s concept is a novel take on Kerala & Mediterranean cuisine with fresh leaves and local New Zealand ingredients developed by chef & owners, George Panicker George & Sowmia Thomas.

Chef George’s orientation to any street or suburb is just on the basis of the availability of food. It is hard to extract a memory from George, where food was not involved. The zeal for food was such that George started managing one of his family business, a restaurant in Coimbatore city, India at the age of 15. After gaining his Bachelors in Hotel Management, he went on to complete his Masters in Business Administration.

George is now a qualified chef who has worked in India, Kuwait and New Zealand for the past 15 years. The creative aspects of Ela cuisine is overseen by George’s wife Sowmia, who is an orthopaedic nurse specialist. The day to day operations are done by restaurant manager Fasil & chef Ninu.