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The World's highest pop up restarurant for Etihad
THE WORLD’S HIGHEST POP-UP RESTAURANT FOR ETIHAD
Fine dining on Everest? It’s become a possibility thanks to Etihad, which created the highest pop-up restaurant in the world, located at Everest Advanced High Camp.
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A team of Etihad in-fight Chef, Sanjay Thakur and fellow chef Soundararajan Palaniappan were included in the Guinness Book of Records on June 4th, for setting up Tiryagyoni, a pop up fne dining Indian restaurant at 5,585 metres above sea level.
Etihad’s Sanjay Thakur is a chef who has gained a profile beyond the airline. In 2015 for example he was a finalist in San Pellegrino’s Young Chef 2015 awards.
The whole project took six months to plan. This included acclimatisation and ftness training, and complex logistics to ensure they had the permit, gear and transportation they needed to prepare the meal and welcome guests.
The trip itself took eight days from Luk la, Nepal, with ten diners being served a meal in “Tiryagyoni.”
According to Sanjay Thakur: “Coming from the Himalayas, I’ve grown up in awe of these mountains and it has been a huge personal achievement to combine my love of food and cooking with a remarkable project to promote sustainability and to help protect this unique part of the world,.”
In addition to breaking a world record, the goal of the challenge was to raise awareness of sustainability in the region, with all proceeds being donated to Altruistic Hands, a Nepal-based charity.
The meal itself included ingredients collected from the alpine environment around them on the mountains. Staying true to the theme of sustainability, the team used solar energy to cook the meal, served on lava rock plates.
The aim was to leave no trace of human activity on the Mountain.
On his return, Sanjay Thakur’s achievements were celebrated at Etihad HQ in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of senior executives.
Though the Etihad project was the highest pop-up restaurant on Everest, it wasn’t the first. In 2016, the One Star House Party, featured a group of chefs setting up shop on the mountain for a select group of guests.
