Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA and Nikhil Sharma, Market Managing Director Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts attended the competition finale in India to support the Wyndham chefs
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,100 hotels in 95 countries around the world, recently concluded a competition, where nine chefs from Wyndham hotels in India competed for the prestigious opportunity to join Wyndham’s food and beverage (F&B) Advisory Council in Eurasia. The advisory council of chefs will play an instrumental role in guiding Wyndham’s franchised hotels in the region to enhance their F&B offerings as well as strategically design and manage F&B operations. The event was held at the Indian School of Hospitality, Gurugram, with prominent personalities of the F&B industry in attendance.
India has always been an iconic destination for food and stands out globally for its diversity and richness of cuisine. The competition was crafted to explore it further by bringing in Wyndham’s top chefs to showcase their skills and talents, whilst also challenging themselves with cuisines, culinary skills and creativity. The first prize was awarded to Yogendra Prasad, Executive Chef at Ramada by Wyndham Dehradun Chakrata Road, the second winning prize was awarded to Executive Chef, Manoj Rawat, Ramada by Wyndham Gurgaon Central and third place was awarded to Akash Bhalla, Chef de partie at Ramada by Wyndham Neemrana.
Dishes were judged based on creativity, taste, texture and appearance by esteemed judges and industry subject matter experts: DilipPuri, Founder & CEO of Indian School of Hospitality and Bikramjit Ray, Editor-In-Chief ET Hospitality. Each Chef was also ranked based on hygiene and cleanliness (uniform, personal, workstation), food wastage, mise en place, culinary skills and visual appeal.
Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said, “India is renowned for its culinary diversity, and a competition like this is a perfect platform to showcase the incredible talent in our Wyndham portfolio. As part of our initiative to empower, ignite and leverage F&B across the region, this competition created opportunities for innovation and creativity. I would like to congratulate all the participants and welcome Yogendra Prasad, Manoj Rawat and Akash Bhalla to the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts F&B Advisory council.”
Nikhil Sharma, Market Managing Director, Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said, “The F&B division contributes almost 50% of revenue for the group and therefore offers immense potential. With more than 50 hotels across India, the competition brought together culinary experts from the subcontinent’s diverse regions, each with their own unique specialties and cooking styles. We look forward to continuing to learn, adapt and improve our F&B offerings with Wyndham’s growing F&B Advisory Council to create dining experiences for guests that make their stay memorable.”
The winners from this event will become part of the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Eurasia F&B Advisory Council for 18 months.
The competitions winner, Yogendra Prasad, Executive Chef at Ramada by Wyndham Dehradun Chakrata Road has 15 years of culinary experience, working with renowned names such as ITC Gardenia, Taj Hotels, Hilton and Radisson in India and around the world. The competitions winning dishes, prepared by Chef Prasad included jambooflavoured, horse gram, stuffed dumplings with stone crackle vegetable consommé’ and mint, hemp chutney to start; home grown mustard leaf vegetable, local black bean curry, ragi millet bread and barnyard rice grain cake for the main and barnyard grain kheer with a hint of hemp oil (sugar free) to finish.
Executive Chef, Manoj Rawat, Ramada by Wyndham Gurgaon Central brings 20 years of experience working with some of the finest global hotel brands including The Oberoi Group, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott, Hilton and Radisson. In second place, Chef Manoj created a smoked ham and cream cheese on salmon toast with kaffir lime aioli to start, followed by braised lamb morsels with jeera vegetables and khichdi parmigiano and for dessert, mewakesargujiya tart.
The third winning prize was awarded to Akash Bhalla, Chef de partie at Ramada by Wyndham Neemrana. Graduated from Institute of Hotel Management Gurdaspur, Akash holds a certification in industrial training from Hilton, Janakpuri. He is a specialist in curating Japanese cuisines and has a creative spark in bringing new ways of presenting dishes. In third place, Chef Bhalla prepared wasabi potato patty with steamed tamarind to start, vegetable katsu curry for the main and halva baozi for dessert.