FOOD UNITES US ALL... TOP CHEF AWARDS CELEBRATE THAT!!

I strongly believe that chefs and the Hospitality industry are some of the most zealous and compassionate people in the world, so they must be celebrated, it is great to celebrate the chefs that serve so many. Top Chef Awards was created to honour extraordinary culinary talent. The three musketeers aka Sourish Bhattacharya, Rocky Mohan and Atul Sikand yoke the communal power of the ‘Chef’ community to recognize local brilliance and celebrate with an incredible gala. This event exemplifies the spirit of food and the chef community in a way that has never been done.

The Jury L-R, Atul Sikand, Sid Mathur, Manjit Gill, Yangdup Lama, Manish Mehrotra, Manisha Bhasin, Ritu Dalmia, Ravitej Nath, Osama Jalali, Girish Krishnan, Neeraj Tyagi, Rajesh Namby, Sourish Bhattacharyya and Roc ky Mohan

Winners of 18 people’s choice awards and six jury awards ( eminent jury included the likes of Chef Manjit Gill, Chef Ravitej Nath, Chef Manish Mehrotra, Chef Manisha Bhasin to name a few)honoured by industry leaders at this glittering ceremony hosted The Top Chef Awards Season 2 at the Le Meridien Gurgaon, Delhi-NCR

Chef Saurabh Udinia receiving the award from Chef Bakshish Dean 

‘A lot of tough work goes into being a chef, and it’s so nice to get acknowledgment for it – it’s quite overwhelming in fact. It’s also fantastic to get encouraging feedback for something one has always done and believed in, and I’m just ecstatic to win this award’, shares Chef Saurabh Udinia of Farzi Café as he bags the Top Chef Season 2 award for Excellence in Modern Indian Cuisine.

Chef Vikramjit Ray of Tian (ITC) not only won the Top Chef Season 2 award for the Best Asian cuisine in a 5 star hotel category but also bagged the ‘Jiggs Kalra Award for the Young Chef of the Year’. Well, this was no surprise and a well-deserved award at that; At Tian, Vikramjit Roy’s dishes are perceived with acumen and intuition, refinement and artistic spirit, one gets to bouquet the vital delights of a fine unification of Asian culinary elements; both advanced as well as embedded in tradition.

Just last month I had gone to review the new menu at Megu (The Leela Palace) and had a chance to interact with Atul Tiwari, Restaurant Manager and I was thoroughly impressed by his passion and knowledge, in fact we even had an interesting session on identifying various smells of wines. It was nice to see him get the award for the Restaurant Manager of The Year. And I must add the Maître d’ of the Year which went to Jitender Kapoor (West View, ITC Maurya) is the first of its kind in any major food awards. Rahul Dua (Culinary Arts pass out of IHM Aurangabad) & my friend Kainaz Contractor won the Best in Regional cuisine for Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu which also happens to be one of my favourite restaurants.

Delhi Gourmet Club Founder Members’ Award for Culinary Excellence - Vikram Khatri of Guppy by Ai

The Delhi Gourmet Club Founder Members’ Award for Culinary Excellence which went to Chef Vikram Khatri (Guppy by Ai) was another well-deserved award. 

Chef Pablo Morales

The best Pastry / Bakery Chef for me has always been Chef Pablo of The Leela Ambience Gurgaon so I was a wee bit disappointed when he didn’t get the award, but then sometimes you don’t really need awards to prove that you are the best.

THE FOOD SPREAD

In the interest of fairness, Le Meridien Gurgaon, Delhi-NCR, opted out of the awards process, but definitely Chef Tanveer Kwatra and his team of chefs were the top chefs of the evening with their outstanding food spread. Commenting on Le Meridien Gurgaon’s association with the much-anticipated event, the hotel’s General Manager, David Hopcroft, said, ‘We are delighted to once again partner with the Delhi Gourmet Club’s Top Chef Awards Delhi-NCR 2015 Season 2, which is arguably Delhi-NCR’s finest platform to recognise talent in the culinary world. Some of the finest minds have come together for the event and we have put together a food experience befitting for our honourable guests.’

Chef Manjit Gill and Michel Koopman, GM, Leela Gurgaon awarded Chef Arvind Saraswat, The Leela Ambience Gurgaon Lifetime Achievement Award

TOP HONOURS

Chef Arvind Saraswat, formerly of the Taj Group, honoured with The Leela Ambience Gurgaon Lifetime Achievement Award at Delhi Gourmet Club’s Top Chef Awards Delhi-NCR 2015

With the Culinary Maestro Chef Arvind Saraswat

Riyaaz Amlani, Founder-CEO and Managing Director, gets the jury award for Restaurateur of the Year for his benchmark-setting café concept, Social

THE SPONSORS

The Top Chef Awards Delhi-NCR 2015 Season 2 was co-presented by the Delhi Gourmet Club, a Facebook group of 7,500-plus discerning food connoisseurs living in Delhi-NCR, and Le Meridien Gurgaon, Delhi-NCR, in association with Lite Bite Foods, Massive Restaurants, The Leela Ambience Gurgaon and Nestle Professional, and beverage support from Pernod Ricard, Sula Vineyards and Kingfisher.

THE PROCESS

Winners in 18 categories voted for by the more than 3,000 members of the Delhi Gourmet Club, Sikandalous Cuisine and Indian Restaurant Spy Facebook communities who participated in the election, and the eminent recipients of the six jury awards, were honoured by their industry peers. The jury had shortlisted three to five nominees for each of the 18 award categories open for voting. In the interest of fairness, Le Meridien Gurgaon, Delhi-NCR, opted out of the awards process.

With the RockStar Chefs  - Culinary arts student IHM Aurangabad Akanksha Dean, Myself :), Chef Manish Mehrotra & Chef Vikramjit Roy

TOP CHEF SEASON 2 AWARD WINNERS

(1) Excellence in North Indian Cuisine (Five Star):  Ghulam Qureshi, Dum Pukht, ITC Maurya

(2) Excellence in North Indian Cuisine (Standalone): Chiquita Gulati, Gulati’s Spice Market

(3) Nestle Professional Top Chef Season 2 Award for Excellence in South Indian Cuisine: Pavan Jambagi, Carnatic Café

(4) Best Regional Cuisine: Kainaz Contractor & Rahul Dua, Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu

(5) Excellence in Modern Indian Cuisine: Saurabh Udinia, Farzi Café

Chef  Manish Sharma

(6) Lite Bite Foods Top Chef Season 2 Award for Best International Café Cuisine (Five Star): Manish Sharma, THREESIXTYONEo, The Oberoi Gurgaon

(7) Lite Bite Foods Top Chef Season 2 Award for International Café Cuisine (Standalone): Shamsul Wahid, Social, Hauz Khas Village

(8)Excellence in Italian/Modern European Cuisine (Five Star): Diego Martinelli, Le Cirque, The Leela Palace New Delhi

(9)Excellence in Italian/Modern European Cuisine (Standalone): Romina Lugaresi, Artusi (Award will be collected by Oscar Balcon)

(10) Best Chinese Cuisine: Zhang Hongshen, China Kitchen, Hyatt Regency New Delhi

(11) Best Asian Cuisine (Five Star): Vikramjit Roy, Tian, ITC Maurya

(12) Best Asian Cuisine (Standalone): Janti Dugal, Mamagoto

(13) Best Japanese Cuisine: Corey E. Asato, Akira Back, JW Marriott, New Delhi Aerocity

(14) Pastry/Bakery Chef of the Year: Sahil Mehta, The Artful Baker

(15) Mixologist of the Year (Five Star): Joel Scholtens, Blue Bar, Taj Palace

(16) Mixologist of the Year (Standalone): Vijay Prakash, Social

(17) Restaurant Manager of the Year (Five Star): Atul Tiwari, Megu, The Leela Palace

(18) Restaurant Manager of the Year (Standalone): Palki Singh, Indian Accent

Party Fun.!!! Akanksha Dean,Richa sharma, Chef Sujan Sarkar, Me, Anahita Dhody, Chef Bakshish Dean & Ankur Chawla

Chef Saby, Akanksha Dean, Dildeep Kalra, Kavneet Sahni

IHM Aurangabad rocks! Chef Anahita Dhondy & Akanksha Dean