Food & Beverage Business Review (April-May 2018)

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Feb-Mar ’18

Apr-May ’18

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EDIT ORIA L

Publisher cum Editor Rajneesh Sharma rajneeshhammer@gmail.com

Associate Editor Swarnendu Biswas Resident Editor Sharmila Chand (Delhi) Ashok Malkani (Mumbai)

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ndian cuisine is one of the most diversified cuisines across the world, with several diverse culinary traditions and styles within its ambit. Therefore, it would be more apt to say Indian cuisines rather than Indian cuisine. But

there is one common element in the diverse schools of Indian cuisines or cuisine; it is the crucial role of spices. The creative usage of spices can be described as a pivotal element of most schools of Indian cuisine.

It is heartening to see that the appeal of many regional dishes of Indian cuisine is continuing unabated in India’s food service industry, despite our palates being exposed to a great many exotic cuisines during the recent years. What is more heartening is the fact that many dishes of Indian cuisine have gained popularity among our international guests too. For example, chicken tikka and butter chicken are now popular across the world. In our Cover Story, we attempt to briefly cover the awe-inspiring regional flavours of Indian cuisine and also its global popularity, through feedbacks from experts from India’s food service industry.

India’s growing love towards healthy dining is the focus of our Business Story. Various sub-trends of healthy food, such as sustainable eating and small portion sizes are also being covered. The feature also attempts to put forward some market savvy measures for the food service outlets operating in India, which can facilitate them to garner more guests in this health conscious age.

The feature on edible flowers where their health benefits and usage in food service are highlighted and the feature on milk-based beverages are some of the other industry-friendly coverage in this issue. The feature on various facets of food plating also makes for interesting reading as does a feature on a microbrewery where stories play a crucial role in the ambience.

The perceptions and observations through features and Q&As are complemented by the rich information base of our News, Event and Report sections. Overall, we hope our esteemed readers would find value for money in this issue, as we begin the new financial year with new hopes, new dreams and new promises.

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Layout & Design Hari Kumar. V Abhishek Singh Rathore Production Assistant Mamta Sharma Advertising Sales Delhi: Debabrata Nath, Sumesh Sharma Director Sales Sanjay Anand Mobile: +91 9811136837 Director Operations Rajat Taneja Mobile: +91 9810315463 Editorial & Advertising Offices: Delhi: Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 206, Samrat Bhawan, Ranjeet Nagar Commercial Complex, New Delhi-110008 Phone: 91-11-45084903, 45093486, 25704103 Mumbai: Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 105, 1st Floor, Aarpee Centre, Gufic Compound, 11th Road, MIDC, Near Tunga Paradise, Andheri (E), Mumbai-400093 Ph.: 022-28395833

Website: www.fbrmag.com E-mail: info@hammer.co.in © 2018 Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review is a bi-monthly magazine, printed, edited, owned and published by Rajneesh Sharma from 302, Himgiri Apartments, J-Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi. Printed at Print Creations, C-112/3, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase-1, New Delhi.

Editorial Policy: Editorial emphasis in Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review magazine is on educational & informational material specifically designed to assist those responsible for managing institutional food & beverage business. Articles are welcome and will be published on the sole discretion of the editor.

Disclaimer: The editor and publisher believes that all information contained in this publication are correct at the time of publishing.

Content published not necessarily are the opinion or view of the editor and publisher. Editor and publisher declines any responsibility for any action taken based on the information contained in this publication, including liability for error or omission.

Annual subscription rate within India is Rs. 500 and for overseas it is US $110, for surface mail. Single issue is available for Rs. 90 in India and US $25 for overseas. Cheques are payable to Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

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Apr-May ’18

Contents A P R I L- M AY 2 01 8

Cover Story

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Departments

Timeless Tastes of Indian Cuisines Event 04

Business

36 News 10

India is Loving Healthy Dining

FOCUS

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Launches 18

Presenting a Melange of Culinary Delights Appointment 20

Agri

44 Report 24

Flowers in the Dish

OPERATIONS

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Pub 52

Plating the Tastes and Flavours Chef Voice

Beverage

50 Health 64

The Milky Way to Success

Theme cuisine

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Hygiene 66

The Wafting Aroma from Japan Product Preview Cover Pic Courtesy: Karri Murgh Tikka Novotel Imagica Khopoli

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restaurant The Taste of EEST

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58 Interview 72

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event

Showing What’s Shaping the World’s Food Service Landscape From emerging technologies to trending products to culinary inspiration to industry education and expert-led insights, what is new and what is next was showcased at the 2018 National Restaurant Association, Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show

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or four days, thousands of participants coming from all over the world witnessed what is shaping the world’s food service landscape – be it technology, new products, or innovative ingredients — at the 2018 National Restaurant Association, Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show, held in Chicago, Illinois, from 19th-22nd May. There were 22 breakthrough equipment solutions presented at the Kitchen Innovations (KI) Showroom, which showcased solutions that increase efficiencies and productivity for back-of-the-house operations and provide great benefits to restaurant operators.

The solutions included innovative cooktops, safety slicers, new tech displays, etc. Also among them were the Genius Pan, a pan that uses an ingenious, patented threaded system that allows the bottom of the pan to adjust up or down in the well, keeping everything looking fresh, topped off and inviting; cutting waste and saving labour. There was the Markov - Level RF Oven, which is a radio frequency (RF) cooking oven that 'learns' to recognise food items and direct RF energy to cook them to prescribed standards for internal temperature, surface doneness, etc.

And there was more. The Level Oven can identify multiple dissimilar food and cook each of them simultaneously, to its own standards, to finish at the same time.

Besides witnessing advanced equipment, participants could also taste 36 food and beverage products that received the Food and Beverage Innovations Award (FABI).

The tasting event, a new initiative of the Show to enable participants to explore the award-winning products, was bustling at all times with attendees being able to taste from decomposable espresso capsules to

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beer to meat substitutes to spreads made with rare spices.

One example of a great new product available at the tasting was the PRO: Protein + Probiotic Oatmeal. The high-protein oatmeal boasts of more than 15 gms of grass-fed whey that works with one billion heat-activated probiotics to increase protein utilisation and enhance gut digestion.

Besides welcoming the FABI and KI awardwinning products, the Show introduced to market thousands of hot new products and innovative solutions. From smart micro garden to the world's first plant-based alternative to raw tuna to fruit products

made with açai and jackfruit and food products made with achaar and za'atar, the 2018 Show had it all.

A great example of a new innovative launch is the Spokin app, a new-andimproved solution to handle any food allergy – the platform has innovative functions like customising your news feed to match your food allergies, interests, and locations, finding new resources from people who share your allergies, exploring restaurants, food products, hotels, camps, and more.

Other interesting hot new products showcased at the event were the Artic Buzz

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Ice Cream, an ice-cream made with vodka and available in six classic flavours, and the Karma bottle, a bottle that has probiotic vitamins in the top cap that you push down to release them into the water.

Even while watching internationally acclaimed Chefs on stage at World Culinary Showcase, participants could discover new products and get introduced to new ingredients.

The most impressive launch was by Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Morimoto, who stars in the Japanese TV cooking show 'Iron Chef' and 'Iron Chef America' on television, has opened more than 15 restaurants around the globe, earning critical praises that includes a James Beard award and a spot on Food & Wine's 'Best U.S. Restaurant Openings.' At the 2018 Show, Chef Morimoto launched his new line of products; creating a lot of buzz and excitement.

Among the many new features available at the 2018 Show, the Balancing Act and the Water Cooler were crowdpleasers. The Balancing Act enabled participants to hear experts deliver wellness-oriented sessions with take-always to share with staff and colleagues while the Water Cooler provided an intimate space for general networking and brief; facilitated focused conversations. The Show made networking and idea-sharing easy.

Expert-led sessions were also show stoppers in the 2018 edition of the event. The Super Session The Future of Restaurants, addressed the opportunities to transform food service operations and guest experience with new technologies.

And combining equipment innovation and on-floor learning, the new KI Fireside Chats connected exhibitors and other participants in thought provoking conversations.

Apr-May ’18

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event

FHA 2018 Becomes Bigger Than Ever The event saw 81,896 attendees from more than 105 countries/ regions, an increase of 14 percent from 2016

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arking a resounding 40 years of excellence in enabling business transformation, the ruby jubilee edition of Food&HotelAsia (FHA) drew 81,896 attendees from more than 105 countries/ regions, an increase of 14 per cent from 2016.

From first time exhibitors to decades-long partnerships, the four-day business event for Asia’s food and hospitality industries that came to a close in Singapore on 27th April played host to 3,500 exhibitors from 76 countries/regions and 71 international group pavilions, including new entrants Latvia, Tunisia and Qatar.

Recognising and Rewarding Partnerships FHA2018 saw a large number of foreign and local dignitaries attending the four-day event with Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Koh Poh Koon kicking off the opening ceremony.

New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters; Hungarian ministers - Katalin Toth, Deputy State Secretary for International Relations, Ministry of Agriculture; and Ms Pana Petra, Deputy Minister of State for Foreign Economics Affairs; the Polish contingent led by Jacek Bogucki, Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Vietnam Prime Minister, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, also visited their respective country pavilions at FHA2018.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by Geoffrey Keating, Ambassador from the Embassy of Ireland for Irish duck supplier Silver Hill Duck, for two regional distributorship agreements: one with Malaysia’s Food Age Trading, the other with Indonesia’s Indoguna.

“FHA presents a huge opportunity for food exports in Singapore and the wider Asia region. Silver Hill Duck has really taken off in Singapore and we are back again this year. To be able to sign distribution deals with Malaysia and Indonesia is great news for us,” said Keating.

One of the noteworthy success stories in FHA 2018 which scored big was Cretel Food Equipment, a distributer of high quality food

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processing machinery. The company clinched a half million-dollar deal with Chun Hong Enterprise, on the first day of the event.

“This is the very first time that Cretel Food Equipment is exhibiting products from FES (Shanghai) Technologies. We are happy that the FHA platform has enabled us to secure a deal for the self-stacking spiral freezers from FES on our very first day,” said Andrew Khoo Kok Beng, Managing Director of Cretel Food Equipment, Singapore.

Harnessing Opportunities and Growth Several conferences were also held at FHA2018, which served as a thought leadership platform for the robust exchange of ideas about the industry. Spanning across four key tracks – hotels and resorts, food manufacturing, central kitchen, as well as food services, delegates were exposed to gained several insights and were engaged in thoughtful discourse.

“It is a good platform for participants to network and understand what are the current trends in food manufacturing, best practices, etc,” said Bryan Lim, Liquid Project Scientist, Diageo.

Platform for New Innovations From robotics at RESTAURANT 3.0 to a universal plug and play 3D food printing solution, FHA2018 played host to several new innovations and worldwide launches.

It showcased technological innovations as companies looked into digital initiatives to transform consumers’ dining experiences and

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revolutionise businesses.

One of the innovative products on display was the 3D food printing system from Procusini, brought in for the first time

by Continental Equipment. The machine prints designs using chocolate, pasta, cassis, fondant and marzipan.

RESTAURANT 3.0 was a major highlight at FHA2018, where new concepts for enhancing consumers’ dining experiences and improving back-of-the-house processes through technology were showcased.

The exhibit included digital, robotics and technology-enabled modular systems that can improve the overall supply chain – from farm to processing and production to service at the table.

International Culinary Excellence The FHA Culinary Challenge (FCC) served as one of the major highlights where hundreds of culinary talents from around the world flocked in to display their skills and compete at the region’s prestigious international culinary competition. Other competitions included the first Asian Gelato Cup, Barista Super Duo Challenge, Latte Art Showdown and the inaugural SCI Equipment Awards.

The next edition of FHA will return in 2020 as two dedicated shows – FHAHoReCa from 3rd to 6th March 2020 and FHA-Food & Beverage from 31st March to 3rd April 2020. ProWine Asia (Singapore) 2020 will also be co-located with FHA-Food & Beverage.

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event

Introducing the Goodness of Spanish Olives in India

Pic Courtesy: Olives from Spain

One of the innovations introduced this year in the campaign was the production and spread of a promotional spot that has been active in social media such as YouTube and in Indian cinemas in main Indian metros, targeting an audicence of more than 10,000 people in six months.

A spot that highlights the emotional aspect of consuming a product like olives from Spain, which can evoke the sensations and feelings produced when visiting a Mediterranean country like Spain, where olive trees and an intense blue sky mark so profoundly the landscapes observed when being on the road travelling throughout the country.

EVENTS’ CALENDER

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lives from Spain considers India as one of the key markets for Spanish olive producers. In fact, since the launch of its first campaign in 2014, Olives from Spain has been giving impulse to different activities to catch a larger base of potential consumers, highlighting the nutritional, sensorial and emotional aspects of consuming the Spanish olives. It thinks demand for Spanish olives has substantial capacity to grow in India.

Spain is the world leader in table olive production. It exports olives to more than 120 countries, representing 40 percent of the global market. The main markets for Spanish olives are the US, Italy, Germany and France. Since 2007, Olives from Spain has targeted other potential markets, India being one of them, where consumption of olives is steadily increasing.

To celebrate its fourth year of activities in India as well as to celebrate having a new celebrity Chef on board, the promotional campaign by Olives from Spain started hosting kitty parties with a group of ladies, food bloggers and journalists, to show them how olives can play an important role in

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their cooking and snacking.

Olives from Spain has also continued its print media campaign, increasing this year the number of magazines included in the campaign.

Fu r t h e r m o re , t h e c a m p a i g n h a s reconceptualised the way of approaching Indian consumers with messages for young and adult audiences that can recognise themselves in the shown contexts, letting them discover the potential of Spanish olives as a food product.

In the last two editions of the campaign, Olives from Spain has chosen the food festival format to interact directly with consumers and make them taste and enjoy marinated Spanish olives or giving them the chance to attend Masterclasses with the Chef Brand Ambassador, currently Chef Saransh Goila, to learn about Indian inspired recipes that can have a different twist when incorporating Spanish olives.

In this edition, Olives from Spain has participated in the Uppercrust Food and Wine Show in Mumbai, after having participated in the Palate Festival in Delhi in the previous campaign edition.

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Thaifex- World of Food Asia 2018 29 May-02 June 2018 Impact Challenger & Exhibition Center Bangkok, Thailand www.worldoffoodasia.com TRAFS - Thailand Retail, Food & Hospitality Services 2018 12-15 July 2018 Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) Bangkok, Thailand www.thailandhoreca.com India International Hospitality Expo 2018 08-11 August 2018 India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida Expressway, Delhi-NCR www.ihexpo.com SIAL Paris 21-25 October 2018 Paris Nord Villepinte, Paris www.www.sialparis.com HPMF Annual Convention & Awards 2018 25-27 October 2018 Hotel Taj Ganges Varanasi, India http://www.hpmfindia.com

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Laurent Noel Named Divisional MD of Comexposium Laurent Noel will succeed Valérie Lobry when she retires on 11th October as Managing Director of the Agriculture Equipment, Food, Construction and Optics (AFCO) Division of Comexposium, one of the world’s leading event organisers.

Noel is currently serving as the Director of Strategy and Integration for Comexposium, the company said in a statement on 14th May. “Valérie joined Comexposium in 2009 to take on the role of General Manager of the food and agriculture division, as she had extensive experience in these sectors, and with Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL), the international food exhibition” said Renaud Hamaide, Chairman of Comexposium.

“During her tenure, she grew the business exponentially and added more sectors to the portfolio, notably Intermat, a construction and infrastructure event, and the Silmo optical show. In addition, she was a key driver in the international growth of Comexposium, taking several of the brands, such as SIMA and SITEVI, into new geographies, with particular success in building the strong international SIAL network of events,” Hamaide added.

But Lobry will retire just a few days ahead of SIAL Paris 2018, which will be held from 21st-25th October.

“Thanks to Valérie’s tremendous work with the AFCO division, Laurent is well positioned to continue accelerating our growth momentum in these brands, along with the passionate teams that run them,” said Simon Foster, CEO of Comexposium.

Globally, the France-headquartered Comexposium hosts more than 177 B2B (businessto-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) events across many different sectors, including food, agriculture, retail, e-commerce, fashion, security, digital, construction, high-tech, optics and transport.

Bira 91 Raises Another $50 mn in Funding Bira 91, one of the fastest growing domestic craft beer brands, announced in May that it received its third round of funding of 50 million USD, led by Belgian investment firm, Sofina.

This brings the company to over 100 million USD in funding to date, Bira 91 said in a statement.

The company said the latest round will be deployed to expand its India business five-fold over the next three years and establish a leadership position in the Indian premium beer market.

It will also further accelerate Bira 91’s global footprint with expansion in the US market, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam, the statement added.

“Bira 91 aspires to drive the global shift in beer towards more flavour and colour. The new capital allows us to think long-term and establish a leadership position in premium beer in India,” said Ankur Jain, Founder and CEO, Bira 91.

“We also expect to create a meaningful international business in South-East Asia and the United States. We truly believe that Bira 91 is at the ground floor of a massive global opportunity,” Jain added.

Two years ago, Sequoia Capital India marked its first-ever investment in a domestic alcoholic beverage brand by adding Bira 91 to its portfolio of tech investments; signifying a new era in the craft beer market.

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Punjab Grill Singapore Wins ‘Asian Cuisine Restaurant of the Year’ Award Punjab Grill Singapore has received the prestigious 'Asian Cuisine Restaurant of the Year' award, presented by CHOPE - a leading online reservation system.

Punjab Grill Singapore is part of Lite Bite Foods, one of India’s largest F&B retail companies with 14 owned and seven managed brands under its umbrella.

The award, presented at the World Gourmet Summit held in Singapore, in April, seeks to recognise a restaurant that serves Asian cuisine and demonstrates exceptional gastronomic service excellence in Singapore.

“Punjab Grill is about creating experiences and serving stories with an aim to present Indian cuisine to the world,” said Rohit Aggarwal, Director, Lite Bite Foods.

The New York Burrito Company Now in Mumbai Relishing authentic Mexican delicacies in Mumbai has become easier with the launch of a The New York Burrito (NYB) Company, a 100 percent vegetarian eatery in the city.

The highlights of the eatery includes the delectable dishes like the burrito, burrito bowls, salads, pizzas, empanadas, quesadillas, tortilla-flavour chipotle and more – it’s quite authentically diverse menu to choose from.

The New York Burrito Company (NYBC) provides Burrito Bowls with Jain and Non-Jain options.

The mains include tasty options like paneer, mushrooms, soyabean, potatoes and more, with choices of white rice (Jain) or brown wheat rice (Non-Jain).

First-time restaurateur Senil Shah and seasoned hospitality professional Vinglic Rebello are behind this venture, according to a blog.

The LaLiT Rings in Baisakhi With Food Fiesta To mark the buoyancy of the Baisakhi festivities, The LaLiT’s signature pan-Indian restaurant Baluchi prepared an exclusive menu for its guests in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Bengaluru.

The food fiesta from 12th- 22nd April, 2018 primarily celebrated the delicacies from India’s northern regions. But to give this festival an authentic pan-India outlook, Chefs from across Baluchi kitchens added local touch to the recipes.

The special menu was curated under the guidance of Chef Nandita Karan from The LaLiT Chandigarh.

“India is a land of hidden delights when it comes to spices and flavours. Every time I step into the kitchen, the expansive nature of Indian cuisine surprises me. It is my pleasure to share some of the best North Indian delicacies I have created during my career,” said Chef Nandita.

The recipes were created with fresh local produce from the gardens of The LaLiT. This festival provided food connoisseurs the opportunity to sample special recipes crafted with local flavours and season’s specialities.

The Baisakhi food fiesta marked the beginning of a string of national level culinary festivals at Baluchi, which is designed to make the people of India’s northern parts fall in love with Chettinad delights, and surprise those in the southern regions with Mughlai curries.

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Baisakhi Celebration at The ‘Vending Man’ at Mumbai Claridges Airport Offers Quick Refreshments The Dhaba restaurant at The Claridges hotel in New Delhi celebrated the Baisakhi festival by offering the guests a gastronomic experience of the culinary delights from the north-western frontier provinces of India.

During the food fiesta from 9th-22nd April, The guests could partake from choices of the succulent Jalandhari Mutton Seekh, Lawrence Road da Murgh Tikka or Sunehri Seekh at the Dhaba, which recreated a charming Punjabi rural setting with its rustic and yet cheerful interiors.

The vegetarians had the choice of Choliya Aloo Rasedar, a fresh green chick pea and potato preparation flavoured with whole spices or Lahsooni Palak, a garlic flavoured spinach preparation with onion and tomatoes.

The sumptuous meal could be brought to a finish with a choice of luscious desserts, some of which are Gud Ki Kheer, a dish with jaggery and rice cooked together in milk and flavoured with green cardamom, or Pethey Ka Halwa — white ash gourd cooked with white sugar and saffron, topped with a sprinkling of dry nuts and fruits.

Travel Food Services (TFS), an F&B operator in India’s travel and retail segments, recently l a u n c h e d a n ew co n ce pt , ‘Vending Man’, at Terminal 1B and 1C of the Mumbai Airport (Domestic). Reasonably priced, these vending men offer a range of ready-to-eat and drink options with instant billing at the gate.

C u r re nt l y ava i l a b l e at Mumbai Airport (Domestic), TFS plans to soon expand the concept to other cities across India as well.

“We, at Travel Food Services are committed to constantly elevating the travel food and beverage experience in India, and ‘Vending Man’ is an extension of the same,” said Gaurav Dewan, Chief Operating Officer and Business Head, TFS. “Considering the volume of travellers and the rush at terminal gates daily, we wanted to create an option for busy passengers to have an easy access to quality, freshly packaged, to-go food products. While we are currently testing with two vending men, we plan to increase the number to cater to all kinds of F&B needs of travellers,” Dewan added.

The idea behind creating 'Vending Man' was to cater to last minute requirements of the travellers by offering them with its neatly packaged 'grab and go' options.

A typical Vending Man would carry a mobile tray with a limited range of best-selling products, and will keep moving at the gates.

The tray will be equipped with a tab and a bluetooth printer for instant billing and invoicing, TFS said in a statement.

Cornitos Launches Three Variants of Flavourful Veggie Nachos Cornitos, the flagship brand of Greendot Health Foods Pvt Ltd, announced in April the launch of veggie nachos in three new favours — spinach, beetroot and melange.

The crispy nachos are made from natural vegetable extracts blended with corn masala and seasoned with herbs and spices.

“We have come up with the most Innovative product for this season. Vegetable extract blended with corn gives natural colour, health and unique flavour to nachos,” said Vikram Agarwal, Managing Director Greendot Health Foods.

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IIHM Young Chef India Schools 2018 Trophy Guneev Sachdeva, a class 12 student of Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, is among the eight finalists who will battle it out for the Young Chef India Schools 2018 trophy; the eighth edition of the culinary competition for school students conceptualised and executed by the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM).

Guneev, along with Tanya Yadav from DAV Public School Gurugram, will represent the North India zone in the 'Mega Finals.'

The finalists from all the zones were not declared at the time of writing this report.

The winner of the Young Chef India Schools 2018 will be announced in June, in the finale of a five-episode special series that will be aired on popular food lifestyle channel ‘Food Food’.

The eight finalists are being chosen from among 30,000 higher secondary students representing 2,800 schools across India, after four rigorous rounds of zonal cook-off sessions.

The competition was held over the past few months in four zones – North, East, West and South – wherein the first three cook-off sessions were held in the home cities of the participants or at the nearest IIHM campus.

After being chosen as one of the finalists from the North Zone, an elated Guneev said, “My school had made it to the Mega Finals last year, so I had the responsibility on my shoulders of positively representing my school this year. Concurrently, it also made

me confident that if my senior could do it, then I can do it too.”

Young Chef India Schools is a platform that gives an opportunity to highersecondary students to get a glimpse of the workings of the culinary industry and gain global recognition. Since its inception in 2011, thousands of students have participated in this competition and realised their dream and aspiration of displaying their culinary

skills and being recognised for it.

“The IIHM Young Chef India, which started seven years back, is possibly the first serious attempt by any institute in India to unearth the talent of the future Chefs of the nation. It's now grown up into a huge brand and over 30,000 students of Class 11 & 12 participated this year from all over the country. The YCI is now greatly appreciated by the hospitality and culinary industry and is a great contribution from IIHM to create the next-gen Chefs for our industry,” said Suborno Bose, Founder and Chief Mentor of IndiSmart Group and IIHM. The 'Mega Finals' will be a 'Basket and Desert Test' wherein a pre-decided basket of ingredients will be placed on each workstation.

The contents of the basket will be disclosed to the contestants 48 hours before the competition. The participants will be given 120 minutes to prepare two identical plated main course dishes with accompaniments as well as two portions of a pre-decided identical dessert for which the recipe will be provided in advance.

This recipe will also be demonstrated once by a Chef before the cook-off and all finalists will have to try to replicate the demonstrated dish.

MKN Wins ‘North Germany's Export Oscar Award’ For its intensive international activities and outstanding entrepreneurial achievements in foreign trade, professional cooking equipment maker MKN was presented with the Lower Saxony Foreign Trade Award, which is commonly referred to as 'North Germany's Export Oscar.'

The award was presented to MKN on 25th April during the Hannover Fair by Dr. Bernd Althusmann, Minister for Economic Affairs, Employment, Transport and Digitalisation in Lower Saxony, a state in north-west Germany.

The foreign trade award, which is presented annually, recognises outstanding performances in international trade.

The Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony-headquartered MKN has been developing and manufacturing professional cooking technology for more than 70 years.

MKN's domestic sales have more than doubled in the last decade.

Export activities have developed even more dynamically and the intensive strategy of international expansion during the last 15 years has resulted in exports now accounting for 60 percent of total sales, the company said.

MKN said its products are now sold in around 100 countries around the world.

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L A U NC H E S

Interesting Restaurant Launches

By Sharmila Chand

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ndia’s food service industry is not only growing well, but is also evolving fast. The industry is going through many interesting happenings. Here we take a look at some of the recent restaurant launches in Delhi and Mumbai.

A Unique Playground ‘Playground’ at the JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity offers diverse fine dining and entertainment options. It is a design-driven space, with vast expanse of the elegant and chic lounge and a microbrewery.

Playground offers three unforgettable F&B experiences — Brew Bar, Speakeasy, and the quirky Food Truck. Food Truck is replete with an eclectic mix of fusion inspired cuisine.

At Playground, street art deco done by Delhi Street Art, leather loungers designed by Timothy Oulton and a mix of eclectic music will set the right mood.

Nitesh Gandhi, General Manager, JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity said, “At P l ayg ro u n d , t h e aim is to ensure t h at o u r g u es ts ex p e r i e n c e t h e finest ambience coupled with unique experiences and indulge in over 40 brands of special craft beers, signature cocktails and eclectic food.”

Dhadoom!

Yellow Tie Hospitality has launched a new brand – ‘Dhadoom - Fries.

Flavours.Fun.’ Dhadoom is co-owned by celebrity Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi. The superhero inspired comic-theme based casual dining restaurant with bright colours was launched in Pitampura, Delhi.

Restaurant was inaugurated by Harpal Singh Sokhi.

As the name suggests, Dhadoom is a fun brand which means “make some noise – Dhadoom!”

Targeting the youth, the brand has been inspired by loud Indian and international comic bestsellers. As soon as you enter Dhadoom, you will feel like you have entered a world of comic books!

The walls are painted with bright red & yellow colours with a dash of black & lots of comic doodles. The wall near the counter has a fun comic-inspired story depicting how Dhadoom was born; much to the delight of younger customers.

The main cuisine of Dhadoom is Canada’s favourite street food - Poutine! And all the recipes come with Chef Harpal’s culinary magic, with an Indian twist.

The menu comprises of a lot of interesting items like Paneer Makhni fries, Smokin Barbeque fries, Chowpatty Chatpata fries,

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fries served in a mini toy truck called ‘Fries Ok Please,’ etc.

Commenting on how the brand Dhadoom came into being & the seed of thought from where the idea generated, Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi stated, ”I regularly visit Canada and I noticed that Poutine is a very popular street food there. Poutine is basically handmade potato fries & India loves potatoes. Dhadoom is about happiness, flavours, and fun colours where a simple ingredient, potato plays a key role. I thought why not add our Indian desi tadka with lots of interesting Indian & international gravies into fries and why not present those fries in a modern format. I realised that masses will love our food & that was the inspiration behind creating Dhadoom.”

Delectable Fare at Orza Specialising in Indian cuisine, Orza restaurant was recently opened at Ansal Plaza with the aim of widening the perception of a cuisine Delhi already has an appetite for.

With seating capacity of 35 persons, this cosy restaurant has a soothing decor with modern, clean lines. Here the blinds mix with ceramic, and earthenware jars filled with spices enhance the décor.

The menu of Orza borrows from the epicurean offerings of Iran, ‘Oudh’ or Avadh, and Kashmir - the regions whose cuisine has greatly influenced Indian food. Chefs at Orza like to play with the flavours; resetting and redesigning the dishes to offer something new and inspiring to the diners.

At Orza, some of the signature dishes are Chapli Kebab, Kandhari Mutton, Berry Pulao, and Biryani.

The brainchild of Pawan Kochchar, who is known in the food industry for his QSR venture August Moon (a Chinese multi-restaurant chain that grew to three outlets), Orza is an extension of his passion for food.

The menu has been designed under the guidance of Tarun Kumar Lal, Food a n d B eve ra g e Consultant from Dii Consentes Hospitality, who is also the Food Director at Orza.

Lal has more than 18 years of experience as a Senior Consultant in the hospitality industry and is passionately designing food and

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beverage services for hotels and restaurants as well as setting up various hospitality projects across the country. Some of his work can be seen at Amour Bistro, SideWok, Diggin Cafe, The Salad Story, Getafix, etc. to name a few.

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The Tipsy Elephant The Tipsy Elephant, located in the heart of Connaught Place, is a new happening lounge in our capital. The lounge is adorned with elephant graffiti. It also has an eye-popping bar which is huge in size. It is a good sight for tipsy eyes.

The whole place is enveloped in a soothing vibe with euphoric music, sumptuous food and striking interiors being the characteristics of the place. Do not miss shakes and smoothies here. Popular cocktails here are Labrador and Notorious Long Island Tea. Manik and Rajat Kapoor of Gola Sizzlers and Café Hawkers fame are brother duo behind this venture.

Banjara Comes to Mumbai Enjoy the delicacies of Karnataka in Mumbai as the 25-year-old restaurant brand of Bengaluru, ‘Banjara’, has recently opened its doors in Andheri East, in Mumbai. A property of Goldfinch Hotels from MRG Group, the multi-cuisine restaurant offers a delicious spread of Indian, Chinese and Mediterranean fare.

Derived from the Tulu dialect which is widely spoken in south Karnataka, ‘Banjara’ literally means ‘a satiated stomach.’

The fine dining restaurant offers an array of traditionally co o ke d I n d i a n d i s h es with particular emphasis on flavour, along with a selection of beverages.

The restaurant does justice to its name.

The scrumptious menu at Banjara comprises of specialties like Matka Biryani, Crab Malvani Masala, Chicken Pesto Salads, Irish Money Boxteys to name a few.

Elegant décor with soft lightning and relaxing ambience coupled with warm hospitality of Goldfinch, makes dining at Banjara an experience worth savouring.

Speaking on the launch, Gaurav Shetty, MD – Goldfinch Hotels said, “We are extremely excited to launch Banjara in Mumbai. The new launch marks our entry into the western region of India. We are already present in Delhi and Bengaluru.”

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Arif Qureshi Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport, part of the InterContinental Hotel Group, has appointed Arif Qureshi as its Chef De Cuisine.

Known for his expertise in Awadhi, Mughlai and Hyderabadi cuisine, Chef Arif brings with him over 17 years of hospitality experience in serving varieties of Indian cuisines.

In his new role, Chef Arif will oversee all aspects of kitchen management and training activities of the kitchen staff.

Chef Arif’s journey began from the streets of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, where, among other places, he worked with Clarks Avadh Hotel Lucknow. He later worked with the famous Tundey Mian in the city where he learnt the exquisite specialties of the Awadhi cuisine. Thereafter, he got associated with some of the finest hotels in the country, including JW Marriot New Delhi, Mercure Gold Hotel Dubai, Taj Lands Ends in Mumbai, Sheraton Chola Hotel in Chennai, and ITC Sonar Kolkata.

experience, is having a diversified work profile, ranging from setting the menu and mentoring the culinary team to ensuring the customers are served well.

Chef Neeraj has worked with some of the finest hotels in the country and overseas, including The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel & Residences, DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Bangalore, Hilton Chennai, Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and President Park Bangkok, among others. He strongly believes in learning different cuisines and knowing the people and culture of places and creating dishes to suit every guest’s palate.

“Chef Neeraj’s culinary knowledge will enhance the grandeur of Sofitel Mumbai BKC, further adding to our vision to cultivate and maintain the finest of culinary operations,” said Biswajit Chakraborty, General Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC.

Mahesh Padala The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace has appointed Chef Mahesh Padala as the Executive Chef. Prior to joining The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace, he worked as the Executive Chef at Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield.

He has been a part of the Marriott Group since 2005, working at Fairfield by Marriott, Rajajinagar, Bangalore, as the head of the kitchen. Chef Mahesh kicked off his culinary career at the Taj Residency i n Vi s a k h a p at n a m , A n d h ra P ra d es h .

In his several years of experience, he has pioneered numerous culinary concepts. Chef Mahesh is also a celebrated continental Chef with many feathers to his cap.

Neeraj Rawoot Neeraj Rawoot has been appointed as the Executive Chef of Sofitel Mumbai BKC. In his new role, Chef Neeraj, who brings to Sofitel over 21 years of culinary

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over two decades of culinary experience from around the world. In his new role, Chef Vasant is responsible for leading the cooking team in setting the standard for fine dining at The Resort’s various restaurants.

During his 20-year-long career, Chef Vasant has worked with such prominent brands as Hyatt, Le Meridien, Holiday Inn, and Concord Luxury Hotels Carnival Plc, etc. Prior to joining The Resort, Madh-Marve, he had worked at the Concord Hotel & Suites, Nairobi, Kenya.

Vasant Khot The Resort, Madh-Marve in Mumbai has appointed Chef Vasant Khot as its new Executive Chef. A veteran of the hospitality industry, Chef Vasant brings with him

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Shimomura Kazuya Shangri-La Hotel recently appointed Shimomura Kazuya as Japanese Head Chef at its contemporary Japanese restaurant, Yataii. Chef Shimomura brings with him close to two decades of culinary experience from Japan to his new role in Bengaluru.

He specialisations are in making and s e rv i n g Ja p a n es e s p e c i a l ty te m p u ra and curating Kaseiki, a traditional multicourse Japanese dinner. He is also an expert in preparing hot dishes and grilled food items in Robatayaki or Kyoto style.

He is expected to showcase his extensive knowledge of Japanese cuisine while he

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a p p oi n t m e n t leads Yataii’s kitchen with an endeavour to ensure that guests relish an authentic and consistently high-quality culinary experience.

“As a native of Japan, his valuable experience and expertise will further allow us to provide a truly exceptional and exciting culinary experience with lasting memories for our guests,” said Andreas Streiber, General Manager at Shangri-La Hotel, Bengaluru.

Pastry Chef of The Den Bengaluru hotel. In his role as the Pastry Chef of the luxury property, he will oversee the creations and concepts of the hotel’s patisserie boutique, The Deli, and the hotel’s confectionary offerings.

He will be responsible for creating delectable gourmet desserts for the guests and will run the pastry department including t h e c u l i n a ry exe c u t i o n of we d d i n g s , banquets, in-room dining and special events.

Chef Irfan brings with him over 12 years of hospitality experience. He began his career with The Oberoi Bengaluru. He later moved to Ista Hotels Bengaluru followed by stints at the Taj Fort Aguada Resort and Spa, and Vivanta by Taj in Goa. He was a part of the pre-opening team at Taj Bengaluru. Subsequently, he has also been a part of other reputed hospitality brands such as The Movenpick Hotel and Spa Bangalore and Ritz Carlton, where he got an opportunity to enhance his expertise.

Nishendra Kashyap Irfan Ahmed Chef Irfan Ahmed has been appointed as the

The Den Bengaluru recently announced the appointment of Nishendra Kashyap as the Director of Food and Beverage. In this

role, he will provide strategic leadership to the hotel’s food and beverage activities.

Kas h ya p b r i n g s w i t h h i m ove r 1 5 years of experience in handling F&B o p e rat i o n s w i t h s o m e of t h e m o s t re n ow n e d p ro p e rt i es i n I n d i a . P r i o r to joining The Den, he worked at The Ramee Grand Hotel and Spa in Bahrain.

He had also worked with international hotel chains such as the Starwoods H ote l s a n d Res o rts , a n d Ta j H ote l s .

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R e p ort

Tangy Candies Can Mean Sweet Business According to the data and analytics company GlobalData, growing demand for exciting flavours is prompting companies in the Indian hard boiled sweets market to explore new flavour combinations in a single candy and offer a unique consumption experience.

Tapping this trend, DS Group launched Pulse branded hard boiled sweets in the Indian market, in flavours such as raw mango, guava, pineapple and orange, with a tangy core, which became an instant hit as consuming fruits such as raw mango and guava with a spicy accompaniment is a popular practice among Indians.

The company registered 46million USD sales within two years of its launch, which prompted other companies to introduce similar flavour combinations.

In a market dominated by impulse purchase, DS Group launched Pulse candy across the nation, following the successful test launch in three Indian states during 2015. Unlike most mainstream brands, the company banked on word of mouth publicity, which proved to be a key success factor.

Kalyan Rampa, the analyst

for GlobalData commented, “DS Group has managed to successfully break the norm of offering plain flavours with the launch of Pulse candy with a tangy center filling.

As a result, an increasing number of players in the market are expected to follow suit in order to keep up with the competition.”

In 2016, ITC launched Candyman Tadka, which offers raw mango and pineapple flavoured hard boiled sweets, both with a spicy center filling. In the same year, Jerico’s Jumper introduced a range of candies in

flavours such as kachha aam (raw mango), guava, emli (tamarind), pineapple and lemon, all of which offer a spicy center filling.

GlobalData in its Q1 2017 consumer survey in India found that 62 percent re s p o n d e nts p refe r re d fa m i l i a r a n d traditional flavours while choosing food products, and the rest liked to experiment with new and unusual flavours. Probably capitalising on the preferences for both, DS G ro u p i nt ro d u ce d t h e ta n g y raw mango flavoured center filling in Pulse.

Dead Meat Puts Kolkata Consumers in a Spot S

a l e s o f c h i c k e n , m u tt o n a n d m e at - b as e d p re p a rat i o n s h ave reportedly taken a h i t i n Ko l kata eateries following the workings of a dead meat racket that sold their ill gotten products to restaurants across the city came to light in late April.

Th e g ro u p a l l e g e d l y s o l d m e at of d e a d a n i m a l s c o l l e ct e d f ro m va r i o u s d u m p i n g g ro u n d s i n t h e c i ty. Th ey, a cco rd i n g t o re p o rt s , p ro cess e d t h e f l es h of ca rcass es before supplying them to eateries in the city and its neighbouring areas.

The police arrested the alleged kingpin of the racket, Biswanath Garai (52), a resident of Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas, in early May. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested him near Garia railway station in Kolkata.

It was, however, due to the alacrity

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of the locales in the Budge Budge area of South 24 Parganas district that the police first came to know about the illicit trade. After noticing transportation of meat extracted from animal carcasses which had been disposed in a dump yard, they caught hold of two men involved in the act.

Following this, police raided two units used for preserving such meat in Kolkata and seized a whopping 20 tonnes of packed meat from a cold storage in the city's Nakerldanga area.

T h e f i n d i n g s t r i g g e re d p a n i c a m o n g co n s u m e rs , fo rc i n g t h e Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government to set up a special investigation team to probe the racket.

Following the busting of the dead meat racket, sales of chicken, mutton, and pork in the city took a dip, according

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to a report in the Financial Express.

The customers in the city started p re f e r r i n g f i s h a n d p ra w n o v e r meat, the Times of India reported citing prominent restaurant owners.

Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) soon advised owners of the eateries to only purchase meat from registered suppliers.

Meanwhile, according to a report in India Today, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had gone on an overdrive to check the quality of meat being u s e d a c ro ss e ate r i es i n t h e c i ty.

C i t i n g off i ce rs i nvo l ve d i n t h e investigation, the report said that the network of illicit meat traders we re s p re a d a c ro ss m u l t i p l e d i s t r i cts l i ke N a d i a , H ow ra h , N o r t h a n d S o u t h 2 4 Pa rg a n a s .

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Timeless Tastes of

Indian Cuisine Indian cuisine is not a homogenous entity. It has a wide variety of cuisines within its ambit. The wide ranging Indian cuisine, which encompasses a vast range of dishes, largely due to India’s rich history, and awesome geographical and cultural diversity, are marked by creative use of spices and herbs. With every region of India having its own cuisine, our country perhaps serves the most diverse culinary experience in the whole world.

Ashok Malkani finds that some of the Indian dishes have not only acquired nationwide fame but have also become popular with international guests. He examines the wonderful regional dishes of the different regions of India. He also explores some of the popular Indian desserts.

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I

ndian cuisine is not only diverse and exciting, but can be blissful, and at times, intimidating. Indian cuisine uses diverse flavours – spicy, sour, sweet and hot – often all at the same time, making it an exhilarating experience for the diners.

Every region in India has a different an array of dishes. But there are some Indian dishes which are popular throughout the country. Almost most of us however, would be of the opinion that north Indian cuisine tops the popularity chart in the country among different types of Indian dishes.

Chef Sidney Dcunha, Executive Sous Chef, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar, declared, “Indian cuisine reflects great diversity. The different regions of India have often have significantly different cuisines a n d t h ey u s e l o ca l l y

Apr-May ’18

available spices, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. World over, North Indian dishes like butter chicken, dal makhni, naan, rogan josh have been popular.”

“For most Indians, the preferred food is a nice home cooked meal. And if it is a meal cooked by their mother, it is even better! Home cooked meal, “Ma ke haath ka khana” is still the preferred choice,” Sidney Dcunha proffered.

“Indian cuisine is favourite among most Indians. In modern times Indian palates have undergone lots of changes. In the last decade, as a result of maturation of globalisation, a lot of Indians have travelled to different parts of the world and people from foreign nationalities have come to India in huge numbers. This has resulted in Indianisation of various international cuisines,” asserted Sanket Thakur, Food and Beverage Manager, The Resort, Mumbai.

“Having worked across the country for the past two decades, I believe I can comfortably say that Indians always like to go back to their comfort food; that

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is the food of the region that they belong to, though many of them are willing to try everything,” averred Chef Anthony Huang, Executive Chef, Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway.

“Every Indian state is known for its own specialty food. However, the preferred choice among the Indian dishes among Indians is Punjabi cuisine, with its smooth textured and creamy gravies. The Punjabi cuisine is also known for its trademark dish tandoori chicken and naan,” pointed out Kamlesh Salve, Executive Chef, The Mirador Hotel Mumbai. “ P u n j a b i , o r n o rt h I n d i a n c u i s i n e, according to me, presents a wholesome and balanced meal right from fiery spices to desserts like gajjar ka halwa. They make extensive use of milk products from ghee to paneer and whole dry fruits i.e almonds, walnuts and cashew nuts,” he added.

“India has a specific cuisine in every region of the country. There are lots of spices used in India and lots of methods of cooking. Every Indian curry has an average of 8-10 different recipes. It is very difficult to access the preferred culinary choice of Indians in general. But if we have to pick one word then it would be ‘chatpata.’

Usually across India – north to south,

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Karan Tanna east to west – people like ‘chatpata’ and majority of Indian people like flavourful spicy food. Of course, carbs with protein that is rice with dal or roti with curry is the ideal combination, which is again very common across the entire country,” expressed Karan Tanna, Founder & CEO, Yellow Tie Hospitality.

Regional Flavours The regional diversity of Indian cuisines deserves a life time of research and exploration. “Punjab, the land of five rivers, has very fertile soil. The quality of water of Punjab plays an important role in the food of Punjab. The breakfast specialty of the state is parathas, and in the winter months the favourite among the people of Punjab is sarson ka saag and makki ki roti. One of my favourites here is the peepewale chole & kulcha,” affirmed Sidney.

“Down south, the use of coconut and rice plays a major role in the cuisine due to their abundance in the south. Also since Karnataka and Kerala are coastal states, ample use of seafood marks the cuisine of these two states. The Kerala fish curry, the chicken chettinad, appam & stew

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are some of the signature dishes from the southern region, which are popular. The staple breakfast dishes from south – dosa and idli – are now common breakfast dishes in many hotels across the country,” he stated.

“If you look towards the east, where lies the most untapped cuisines of India, we find that apart from the Bengali cuisine, the cuisines of the North-east states are not that well-known in the food world. The famous Bengali dishes include chingri malai curry, shorshe illish, shukto, cholar dal and luchi,” he observed.

“A special mention may be made of the famous spicy chili Bhut Jolokia from Nagaland. Cuisine from Garhwal is also delectable and our hotel, Marriott Mumbai Sahar, had done a festival of this cuisine last year, which proved to be quite popular,” Sidney disclosed.

“Coming to the west India, Maharashtrian, Malvani or Goan food is very popular in India. In this part of India too, rice plays an important role. And as we go close to the coast, the coconut gets factored into most dishes,” Sidney pointed out.

“In north India, Kashmiri cuisine reflects strong central Asian influences. In Kashmir, most of the dishes are prepared around rice; found abundantly in the beautiful valley. Another delicious item cooked here is the saag that is prepared with a green leafy vegetable known as the hak,” informed Sanket.

“However, states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh show high consumption of chapattis, which are prepared with a variety of flours such as wheat, maida, besan, etc. Besides chapattis, other closely related breads baked in these regions include tandoori, rumaali and naan, etc.

However, in the northern region of the country, impact of Mughlai food is quite

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Anthony Huang obvious,” informed Sanket.

“In south there is liberal use of spices and coconut. Rice is a staple diet there.

In coastal areas of the southern states, fish is quite popular. In north, ghee, nuts and cream are used freely,” said Pawan Sharma, F&B Manager, The Mirador Hotel Mumbai.

“In the eastern part of the country spices are used sparsely. Here mustard oil is mostly used for cooking. In the western region of the country ground nuts and kokum are extensively used in preparing the meals. Sugarcane juice, poha and shrikhand are some of the popular dishes from western India,” Pawan added.

“In eastern India, the preparation of food is less spicy as compared to its neighbouring regions, allowing the main ingredients to really shine through. Because of the climate, people in this region eat a lot of rice. Some popular dishes in the eastern India are momos (steamed, meator vegetable-filled wontons) and thukpa ( a clear soup). Tomato achaar (tomato pickle), machcher jhol (fish curry), and jhaal-muri (a spicy snack made with puffed rice and mustard oil) are popular food items from eastern India,” Sanket elaborated.

“In western India, one can find the desert cuisine. Rajasthan and Gujarat are the states which represent the desert cuisine. Here an immense variety of dals and achars (pickles/preserves) is used that are substitutes for the relative paucity of fresh vegetables in these areas. In Maharashtra, the food is usually a mix of both north and south cooking styles. Here people consume both rice and the wheat with same interest,” Sanket disclosed.

“One can find a wide variety of fish on the coastline of Mumbai. In Goa, that is further down towards south, one can ascertain Portuguese influence in the

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cooking style as well as in the dishes.

Some of the major dishes of Goa are t h e s we et a n d s o u r v i n d a l o o, d u c k baffad, sorpotel and egg molie among others,” he pointed out.

“The cuisines of South Indian states have extensive use of spices, fish and coconuts. In the food of Tamil Nadu, the frequent use of tamarind is there, which imparts sourness to the dishes. The cooking style of Andhra Pradesh is supposed to involve the excessive use of chilies.

In Kerala, some of the delicious dishes are the lamb stew and appam, Malabar fried prawns, idli, dosa, fish molie and rice puttu. Another famous item of this region is the sweetened coconut milk,” Sanket articulated.

“South of India is the rice bowl of the country. People from these regions consume rice in various forms, from boiled rice to idli and dosas. Here rice is usually consumed for all three meals of the day,” said Anthony. “An abundance of vegetables grow in South India and they also form a major part of the diet of the South Indians,” he added.

“The diet in East India consists of generous quantities of seafood and rice.

Proximity to the Bay of Bengal has largely influenced their diet. Whereas, west of India has a primarily vegetarian population with preferences of bread and pulses in their diet,” Anthony pointed out.

“It is very difficult to specify the specialty of each region in India, but the unique thing about each cuisine of India

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is that it has huge impact of culture and history. All regions of India have a specialty cuisine which has originated from that region’s climatic condition, its history and the availability of various spices or ingredients of that particular region. For e.g: in the states of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh, there is a huge influence of Mediterranean & Nizami cuisine because of their history,” conveyed Karan.

“South is known for spices, coconut, rice and fish, while the north for spices, nuts, and meats. The specialty of west is poranpoli, vada pao, undhiyo, amti, bhakri, bharle livangi, kombdi vade, etc. while those of the east are milkbased sweets like rasgulla, rasmalai, and sandesh, besides, of course, the fish

Kamlesh Salve

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preparations,” said Kamlesh tersely.

Use of Spices Spices are the backbone of Indian cuisine.

Without them, the dishes would, to Indian tastes, seem bland and insipid. In short, spices are considered as the essence of Indian food. Kamlesh states that spices are used to infuse aroma as well as pungency in the dishes. “Flavoured spices are pepper, clove, cinnamon, green and black cardamom, nutmeg, cumin. While cooking I make a blend of almost all garam masala,” he said.

“Indian cuisine has extensive use of a wide variety of spices from different regions of the country. Different spices are used differently in various Indian recipes; even a small shift in cooking technique can make the same spice taste entirely distinct.

Speaking about different spices, I would say that cardamom is commonly used to enhance the flavour of tea and puddings.

Turmeric is mainly used for its flavour and colour. Turmeric is also endowed with antiseptic qualities. Similarly, the red chilli powder was introduced to India by the Portuguese and has since become an integral part of Indian culinary traditions.

The chili is also used in its whole form in various South Indian curries,’ elaborated Karan.

“Ideally, buying the spices from the region of origin will give the best and most authentic flavours. For eg: red chili which is low on taste & high on colour should be sourced from Kashmir, cardamom should be

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C OV E R S TO R Y sourced from Kerala, turmeric from Tamil Nadu and so on,” aired Karan.

“Spices are popular for infusing aroma in the food. The two most popular spices, for this purpose, are cardamom and cinnamon.

Cardamom belongs to the ginger family of spices and is the third most expensive spice in the world, mainly because it is handharvested and requires a lot of manual work. While the green cardamom has a mild and light eucalyptus tone to it, the black cardamom is spicy, smoky and generally used only for its seeds,” informed Sanket.

“Cinnamon has wide usage in Hyderabadi Biryani. It is a sweet-tasting spice with a warm and woody aroma. These properties make it an apt application for cakes and desserts. Apart from adding flavour to food, cinnamon also has various health benefits.

Thought to help prevent cancer and lower blood pressure, it is predominantly grown along the Western Ghats of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. While the origins of this spice can be traced back to India, it is also native to Sri Lanka,” he articulated further.

And how to gauge the purity of spices in kitchens? “The purity of each ingredient is gauged by different means. For garam m a s a l a we ca n c h e c k i ts p u r i ty by checking its strong aroma, and by its uniform particle size. For black pepper, we have to check to see that papaya seeds are not mixed with it. Turmeric powder is often adulterated with fake colouring and with fillers like corn flour, yellow coloured chalk or sawdust, melanil yellow and lead chromite. If mustard seeds are adulterated with agrimony seeds then they will have a sandy and uneven surface. If pressed, the inner part of the agrimony seed will be white whereas mustard will be yellow. Asafoetida is adulterated with soap stone or other earthy material which can adversely affect one’s health. Cloves are adulterated with cloves stem, mother cloves, dust, dirt, stones and pieces of wood,” Sanket continued.

“The most common spices in the Indian kitchen would be turmeric, chili, cumin, mustard and coriander. These form the basics of Indian food. Then, depending on the region and cuisine, they are used in whole or grounded form. In Lucknow or Awadhi cuisine, use of more aromatic spices such as mace & cardamom is being made, while down south more pepper and curry leaves are used,” conveyed Sidney while adding, “We at JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar tie up with suppliers who source the best quality of spices for us.”

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Sidney Dcunha “I love to use cardamom and chili in my cooking. For me the spices play a key role in ensuring you get a great burst of flavours.

The stringent quality checks by Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway, at the time of receiving, consistently helps us to drive quality,” disclosed Anthony.

Pawan is of the view that “Cumin seeds, black pepper, clove, turmeric, curry leaves, coriander, and ginger are the most commonly used spices in Indian cuisine.”

Global Popularity Indian cuisine is not only popular with Indians but also globally. “The international guests are now seemingly getting inclined towards Indian food. Specially at breakfast, when the international guests are looking for gluten-free options which is more of a diet trend. For this purpose they now have the option of dosa, idli etc. made of rice, while they are in India,” informed Sidney.

“The all-time favourite with international

guests at J.W Marriott Mumbai Sahar still remains ‘butter chicken’ though. A trend now is also of having bread bars that serve naan and its variants. Over the years, I have noticed that the tolerance towards the spice level among the international guests has increased, as far as Indian food is concerned. The spices are now much appreciated & enjoyed by them,” observed Sidney.

“In my experience most international clients love to try out the local cuisine at our hotel Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway, and are very open to experimentation. With regard to usage of spices, I feel that it is just a myth that international clients prefer less of spices. I have noticed that a large number of them actually enjoy the flavours that Indian spices bring to the food,” asserted Anthony.

“International clients like experimenting with Indian food. They have heard of various Indian spices and variety of different cooking methods and cuisines available in India and hence they are open to try Indian cuisine. However their palate is not used to so many spices, garam masalas, chilies, etc. They prefer food with relatively much lesser spices,” Karan voiced.

However, he maintained that “We have seen the evolution and acceptance of butter chicken & chicken tikka across the world.” He believes that if the Indian food is not excessively spicy, then it “comes across as very flavourful & versatile to international guests.”

Sanket concurs with the view that international clients love Indian food.

“Indian cuisine is gaining huge popularity worldwide for its rich taste and flavour.

There are several reasons for the immense popularity of Indian food and the love it has received from all around the world, which are accounted by its usage of spices, nutritional value, and flavour, varieties. Foreign tourists prefer Indian food especially when they travel in India. All foreign guests at the Resort Mumbai Madh like to try chicken & lamb preparations,” he elaborated.

Just Desserts

Sanket Thakur

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Indian cuisine is not only globally renowned for its spices but also for its sweets.

Desserts find a place of pride on the Indian menu. So which are the preferred Indian desserts across India’s food service industry?

“The list in unending, but to name a few, they are gulab jamun, gajjar ka and

Apr-May ’18

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

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C OV E R S TO R Y moong ka halwa, a gamut of Bengali sweets, jalebi and rabdi, balushahi, shahi tukda, malpua, and shrikhand, ” Kamlesh elaborated. “They are rasgulla, and jalebi with rabdi,” felt Sanket.

Pawan too believes that gulab jamun is an all time favourite. Anthony, however, is of the opinion that rasmalai is an all time favourite.

“Preferred Indian desserts by Indian and international guests alike are, gulab j am un, rasm al a i a n d j al eb i . At J W Marriott Mumbai Sahar, we also play with the chenna derivatives to come up with delectable offerings like rasgullas, chum chums, and rajbhogs. Also in India, the desserts change and vary as per the seasonal festivals that we have and celebrate. Certain desserts are more popular during certain festivals. For example, one has to have jalebi with rabdi, & masala milk on Holi. The mithai (made

Pawan Sharma with dry fruits) is very popular during Diwali,” pointed out Sidney.

“Indians enjoy a lot of desi desserts, ranging from gulab jamun & rasgulla which are very popular across the country.

There are also a lot of regional dessert d e l i ca c i es l i ke k u b a a n i k a m e e t h a from Hyderabad, aam ras from Gujarat.

International guests find Indian desserts too sweet. However, they do enjoy gulab jamun, shahi tukda (which is like a bread-based pudding) and they also enjoy dry Indian sweets which are very popular as far as gifting & festivities in India are concerned,” iterated Karan.

Truly, many of the dishes of Indian cuisine, including its desserts, have not only attained national recognition, but are also loved by our foreign guests. Indian cuisine is fast gaining global acceptance.

Many of the exotic cuisines may be part of the hot trend of India's fast evolving food service industry, but the appeal of Indian cuisine, or rather Indian cuisines, with its/ their awesome regional varieties, seems to be timeless among our global but yet still very much Indian palates. n

Recipes Appam Ingredients Raw rice: 2 cups Cooked rice: 1 cup Coconut milk: ½ cup Salt to taste For Yeast Solution: Sugar: 1 tsp Dry yeast fresh : 1 tsp Warm water: ¼ cup Procedure 1. Mix sugar with warm water.

2. Add yeast and keep aside for 10-15 minutes or until froth appears on the surface. Stir till it dissolves.

3. Soak raw rice for about 2 hours and drain.

4. Blend with cooked rice and coconut milk in a blender to get a smooth batter 5. Mix sugar, yeast solution and salt.

Leave the mixture for fermentation for six hours or overnight.

6. Heat non stick appachatty (pan) on a medium flame. Grease the appachatty with little oil.

7. Pour one ladleful of appam batter on the appachatty. Lift the pan from the stove and slightly twist around to spread the batter in the pan to make circular shape.

8. Close it with a lid and cook on low heat till the edges are golden brown.

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9. When the Appam is ready, the edges resemble crisp lace and centre is soft.

Serve with chicken stew or mutton stew or veg stew or with any spicy curry or even with coconut milk and enjoy!

SidneyDcunha, Executive Sous Chef, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar

Gulab Jamun Ingredients 300 gm khoya 3 tbsp flour 3 tbsp sugar 1/2 liter water A pinch of saffron 200 gm refined oil Procedure 1. In a bowl, add khoya and flour; mix them together.

2. Make a round ball shape gulab jamun out of it.

3. Make sugar syrup with 3 table spoons of sugar and 1/2 liter water. Add little saffron to it.

4. Deep fry the gulab jamun in pan with oil.

5. Add the fried gulab jamun into the sugar syrup.

6. Serve hot.

Sanket Thakur, Food and Beverage Manager, The Resort, Mumbai

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Sorse Hilsa Ingredients: Hilsa fish- 300 gm Mustard seeds -40gm Salt - To taste Turmeric powder-2 Teaspoon Green chilli– 5 nos.

Mustard oil-50 gm Onion seeds-12 gm Garlic whole- 1 Procedure: 1. Clean and marinade the hilsa, with turmeric and salt, then keep aside for 20 minutes.

2. Grind mustard seed, green chili, and garlic together. Add a little water if required.

3. Put mustard oil in a kadai. Fry the fish and keep aside.

4. Heat mustard oil in a kadai and temper the onion seeds and ground masala.

5. Saute the masala in slow fire for 8 to10 minutes, then add some water and salt to taste.

6. When the masala has cooked and leaves oil, add the fried hilsa and leave it to simmer for 5 to 6 minutes on slow fire.

Anthony Huang, Executive Chef, Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway

Apr-May ’18

Apr-May ’18

Winterhalter India Pvt Limited Plot No. 269, Sector 7, IMT Manesar 122050, Haryana.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review Toll Free 18001035913 www.winterhalter.in info@winterhalter.in

35

BUSINESS

India is Loving

Healthy Dining

Nowadays, it seems that to make any business to succeed one must be aware of the trends surrounding its realm. This is more crucial for the F&B industry. One has to be constantly on one’s toes to know about the diners’ evolving needs.

Today, in the Indian food service industry we are experiencing a constant evolution in the diners’ preferences and it seems that to have enduring success in this highly competitive business one has to not only keep abreast of consumers’ present dining preferences but probably be able to foretell their future yearnings and cravings related to their dining choices as well.

Ashok Malkani takes a look at some of the prevailing healthy food trends taking place in the Indian food service industry. He finds that health consciousness is topmost in the minds of the millenials who form a major chunk of the dining out segment in urban India.

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Apr-May ’18

BUSINESS

F

ood trends keep on changing around the globe and in India, a country which has perhaps the most diverse cuisine in the world, it can be no different. The country’s changing demographics, coupled with the influx of quality international and domestic operators, and several other reasons have contributed towards metamorphosis in our eating out culture. Today Indians do not eat out only on occasions; eating out has become an integral part of lifestyle of a great multitude of urban Indians during the last decade or so.

The recent report by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) says that the size of the Indian food services industry is estimated to reach Rs. 408,040 crore in 2018.

The report states that Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and casual dine-in formats account for 74 percent of the total chain market, while cafés make up for 12 percent with fine dining and Pub Bars Club & Lounges (PBCL) comprising the rest.

Reasons and Influences The reasons for the increase in the rate of eating out in India are wide and varied. They could be summed up as: • Rise in disposable incomes, increasing consumerism • Longer opening hours of restaurants • Increasing influence of globalisation • Increasing influence of media and technology on our lives These factors in turn have given rise to various eating out trends in India.

All-day dining emerging as a popular category, rising presence of organised domestic food chains, increased investment in the Indian food service industry, increasing acceptance of global food and beverage trends on our taste palates are some of the trends influencing India’s food service industry.

Over the last decade, the dining out culture in India has passed through marked changes, and the changing food habits of the millennial generation as a result of globalisation have significantly contributed to this trend. About 65 percent of India’s population belongs to the age group 18-35. They are fostering the food service business in India.

Millennials in India are mostly tech-savvy. Many of them are extensively exposed to the global trends and lifestyles. Moreover, nowadays much more number of young people in India has extensively travelled and has a high spending power as compared to any other age.

In this promising scenario for India’s restaurant business, it only makes sense for food service outlets operating in India to offer more and better of what their customers want. It may be mentioned that for keeping track of what diners prefer,

Apr-May ’18

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

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BUSINESS

hotel chains like Marriott has launched restaurants such as Redzon, Shakahari, Momo Café to tap into the F&B market.

Healthy Food Trend But to make their business a success, and to attract more clientele there are several factors that the F&B outlets operating in India need to adhere. One of the factors that the restaurateurs in India will have to keep in mind is that the trend now is towards healthy food.

Today, probably more young people in India than before prefer places with strong food ethics. They want to know how fresh or organic their food is, from where their food is coming from, and if it is ethically sourced.

This is pushing restaurants and Chefs to play on healthy or healthier ingredients. From popular burger chains bringing in healthy and green ingredients in their menu to celebrity Chefs promoting healthy and safe food on TV, healthy things are happening in the industry… Gone are the days when Butter Chicken or Paneer Tikka were the top ordered dishes of the menu, across restaurants in the country.

A study conducted by CBD Marketing shows that millennials prefer healthy and natural food. Another study, conducted by Nielsen, avers that millennials pay greater attention to healthy food than other generations.

No wonder, a great many restaurants in India are focusing on catering to a menu where health has been taken care of.

Bengaluru-based diet coach Anirudha Shankar states that with online and offline platforms helping by adding quality diet

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food to their menus, the diet conscious generation is able to consume healthy food when and where they prefer.

The diners in India now want to be aware of what they are eating. They are also more calorie conscious than say ten years ago.

The health fad has gripped the millenials – and others – in the country to such an extent that even QSR establishments are taking cognisance of this trend. So far convenience, cost and taste were the key factors pushing customers to one QSR or another, now millenials in urban India are adding ‘healthier’ to this list. Nowadays, from buffets to prix fixe meals to curated menus, food and wine pairings, bento boxes and even the street food, just about everything in the Indian food service industry is being increasingly looked at from the health point of view.

And one may point out that it is not merely obesity, diabetes or heart disease which are driving the younger generation in India towards healthier food options.

Today ‘clean’ eating which advocates the elimination of chemicals, GMO (genetically modified organism) ingredients, antibiotics and harmful hormones, has taken hold and the prediction is that this trend will grow.

Sustainable Eating And, gradually, for healthy food, we are all turning to ingredients that our grandmothers used. At the same time, newage healthy ingredients too are coming into play. If you look at the ingredients on most food packages these days, you may see hydrogenated oils, Monosodium Glutamate, high fructose corn syrup, Sodium Benzoate,

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Potassium Benzoate, Sodium Nitrates, blue 1 and 2, green 3, red 3, and yellow 6. What are these things? What are they doing in our food? Are they going to benefit your body?

As diners are now looking for fresh produce the trend has now become from farm to fork – literally. Gaytri Bhatia transfers a harvest of seasonal fruits and greens from her Vrindavan farm in Palghar – a couple of hours from Mumbai – to her home in Churchgate, Mumbai. From there it is distributed to restaurants and bakeries.

Today, Chefs and restaurateurs in India are working with producers such as Gayatri to further the cause of sustainable dining — a movement which started in the country haltingly a couple of years ago, but is slowly gathering pace in India. Today, you find artisanal salts being sourced from Himalayan villages, tree-to-bar chocolates, honey produced by the Apis cerana; a bee species native to Uttarakhand, and farmer groups in West Bengal being tapped for black rice.

Small Portions One trend that has been noticed in Indian restaurants – and one which has been in fashion abroad for quite some time – is controlling portion size. Smaller portions, which are in vogue in the US, Canada and some other countries, is becoming a healthy trend across India’s food service industry.

However, it must be remembered that eating to keep fit is not merely about cutting down the quantity of food you consume or even about cutting down the calories in your food intake. It is also about eating more items that are higher in protein and fibre and lower in fat and calories.

Other Emerging Trends We can see that within the health food trend there are various sub-trends, which too need focus.

According to food experts and critics, the new emerging trend is to be more organic and less artificial. For instance, refined Indian cuisine with the richness of pulses is going to be the hot trend. Veganism is another trend that is now more noticeable.

It is also believed that the millenials in India are now consuming less alcoholic drinks which has given a boost to boozefree beverages. Premium tonic waters with interesting flavours, non-alcoholic 'spirits' and botanical mixes are now filling the gap in the market.

Apr-May ’18

Enquiry on Visiting: Ms. Komal Sanghvi, Promosalons India, T: +91 22 6610 0401 E: ksanghvi@promosalons.com Apr-May ’18

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39

BUSINESS The Chefs are now concocting roots to stem recipes, using broccoli stems and watermelon rinds; giving rise to less wastage on the kitchen table.

Mushrooms are becoming popular not just as a food item but also in beverages.

People are now experimenting from mocha frapps to mushroom coffee.

Savoury desserts are now becoming the ‘in’ thing in India’s food service industry.

One more trend that is fast making inroads among the millenials in urban India is the fusion food.

Few Essentials for F&B Outlets Some of the essentials that the QSRs as well as the casual dining and fine dining outlets operating in India, especially across the metros and other tier-I cities of the country, need to adhere to in this health conscious age are: Offering Food Transparency: A concept that would prove beneficial to the F&B outlets operating in India would be to list the calorie count of each item on their menu. They must remember that serving lower-calorie food and beverages is not only good for guests; it also facilitates a healthier bottom line for restaurants. As one restaurateur commented, “Consumers are hungry for restaurant meals that won’t expand their waist lines, and the chains that recognise this will do better than those that don’t.”

Many among the young generation which flock to restaurants these days, want to know what they are eating. So as a restaurateur, display everything from ingredient sourcing lists to calorie counts.

Make their philosophy the cornerstone of your brand. Millennials are more likely to eat whole foods that are locally and/or ethically sourced and are without additives.

Non-GMO foods are poised to become the next clean item in demand, in the India’s food service industry.

Highlighting Fresh: The restaurateur

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Some Tips on Healthy Eating Enjoy a little of the poppadum and chutney appetisers but avoid deep-fried snacks • • • • •

Ask for food that are grilled or baked instead of fried Go for chicken, seafood or vegetarian dishes instead of lamb, which can be very fatty Enjoy the variety of vegetarian, bean and lentil dishes available Go for tomato or yoghurt based sauces instead of rich creamy or nut sauces ; ask if you are not sure Main course portions are often quite big. Why not share a main course meat dish and order an extra portion of vegetables?

Ideal Choices for Different Courses Starters • Lentil, mulligatawny or tomato soups • Grilled kebabs • Poppadums or bread with chutney and relishes (like aloo papri chaat) Main Courses • Yoghurt or tomato based sauces • Chicken or prawn dishes • Dishes flavoured with ginger, garlic, chilli or coriander • Vegetarian dishes such as aloo channa, gobi aloo, dal and bhaingan bharta • Tandoori dishes (baked in a tandoor) Side Dishes • Boiled rice • Chapati and/or plain naan bread • Raita (yoghurt and cucumber dip) with poppadums • Chutneys • Onion and chilli salads Desserts • Fruit sorbet • Kheer (rice pudding with fruit) should not only use fresh ingredients, but these days, should highlight them too.

Leverage your interior design to highlight the freshness of ingredients used. One of the suggestions would be to creatively showcase the ingredients, wherein the customers would be assured of the quality and freshness of ingredients used. The nutritional information about the food served can also be provided on the

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

restaurant’s website.

Delivering on Taste: In this age, Chefs have to learn to make the food tasty, with bare minimum fat, salt and sugar. Many have already learnt and many are learning fast.

Sourcing Ingredients Locally: This may be challenging for larger networks, but it is not impossible. Local ingredients mean fresher ingredients.

Creating Seasonal Specials: Chefs should emphasise on coming up with seasonal produce and/or seasonal ingredients in their menu.

We can find that new trends in the F&B industry keep emerging over time and the food outlets have to be abreast of the latest developments if they want to thrive in business. Healthy food trend is just one of them. Of course, besides healthy food & beverages there are a few other elements too which you need to know and adhere to for facilitating success in India’s evolving food service industry. But then that is another story… n

Apr-May ’18

Apr-May ’18

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

41

FOCUS

Presenting a Melange of Culinary Delights

By Swarnendu Biswas

T

rue to its name, Melange, the multicuisine restaurant at The Plazzio Hotel in Gurgaon presents a mélange of diverse tastes and flavours, across 24 hours of the day and night. Melange offers a selection of sumptuous offerings from Mediterranean, Continental, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Chinese and other exotic cuisines. Of course, if you are a lover of regional Indian food, you would simply love your date with Melange.

Though the 102-cover restaurant with live cooking stations and a sophisticated ambience can cater to a variety of culinary preferences, but its main culinary focus, according to Uday Barua, the F&B Manager of The Plazzio Hotel, Gurgaon, are the regional Indian cuisines. And among regional Indian cuisines, we found that north Indian cuisine happens to be the main strength of the outlet.

“Recently, we have introduced Japanese cuisine in our already diversified culinary repertoire, because the hotel is paying host to lots of Japanese guests,” asserted Uday.

Located in the business hub of Gurgaon, the hotel is frequented by the high-end business travellers, both from India and abroad. That doesn’t of course mean that the hotel doesn’t get its fair share of leisure travellers.

Frequented by Corporate Crowd “Lavish spreads combined with good value buffets make all three meals at Melange very gratifying,” asserted Uday. Buffet Breakfast at Melange is served during 06:30 am to 10:30 am. “On weekdays, we are targeting mostly corporate clientele & kitties, and in the weekends our guests mostly comprise the family crowd and corporate clientele,” expressed Uday. He informed that Melange also has a special children’s menu.

Due to the position of the hotel in Gurgaon’s corporate hub, corporates comprise the major chunk of the clientele of Melange. Thus surprisingly, the restaurant gets more crowd on weekdays than on weekends. I was quite taken aback when Uday told me that “Melange garners 80 percent occupancy on an average during the weekdays, and 60 percent occupancy on an average during weekends.” Uday informed that the restaurant, which was opened in 2011, was sailing through profit.

assortment of dishes. We found the Mutton Galouti, Chicken Tikka, Mutton Rara, Thai Rock Fish and Indonesian Chicken Satay served with prawn crackers at Melange truly delicious. Home Style Punjabi Chicken Curry, Diced Chicken in Kung Pao Sauce are some of the many other popular items for the non-vegetarian guests. The vegetarians shouldn’t miss out on Gobhi Musslam, Dahi ke Kebab, Dal Makhani and the Khasta Paneer.

Th e d e l e ct a b l e of fe r i n g s ca n b e wonderfully complemented by the choice selection of wines to undertake a memorable gastronomic journey. For lovers of fast food, lamb burger, and chicken tikka sandwich can be some of the delectable options on offer at Melange.

“For desserts, you must try Gurrer Payesh, Chakunder Ka Halwa, and Apple Jalebi,” advised the Head Chef of The

Assortment of Flavours Varinder Sahni

42

Me and my colleague got to taste an

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Uday Barua

Apr-May ’18

FOCUS Plazzio Hotel, Gurgaon, Dinesh Kumar Sharma. We tried those and felt sheer delight. According to Dinesh, Khasta Paneer, Gilafi Kebab, Apple Jalebi and Teriyaki Fish are some of the recent additions to the Melange’s menu.

“The USP of Melange is our food, service and alfresco lawn. If guests like to have their food in the open air, the verdant lawn presents a wonderful option,” articulated Uday.

“Melange, our all day dining restaurant, comes across as a one-stop shop for guests with varied palates. Also the fact that the restaurant is spread over such a sprawling space, gives us opportunity to do a lot of food promotions. We have also added many cuisines over the years to Melange’s evolving menu,” affirmed Varinder Sahni, the Managing Director, The Pllazio Hotel, Gurgaon.

“The outlet has there show kitchens —the Italian show kitchen, the Oriental show kitchen and the Indian show kitchen,” informed Sahni. According to him, the 102-cover restaurant can easily take the role of 2-3 different restaurants within its ambit through its diversified culinary offerings, “which never gave us the need to come

Dinesh Kumar Sharma up with a second restaurant for the hotel.”

For Weddings and Food Festivals However, Melange’s business is not only driven by corporate clientele. Weddings and food promotions are two of the other lucrative revenue earning opportunities for Melange.

According to Sahni, Melange can offer 22 types of regional cuisines of India, which is extremely advantageous for

people thinking of hosting region-specific wedding parties. “For example, we can offer authentic dishes tailored to a Jain wedding, or a Bengali wedding, or a Rajasthani wedding for that matter, while keeping the religious and cultural sentiments of those communities intact,” stated a confident Sahni.

Recently, Melange did a Bengali food festival. “Response was very good as Gurgaon has lots of Bengali population,” explained Uday. “We are planning to do a National Street Food Festival where famous street food of different states of India would be showcased,” he articulated.

For this envisaged festival, the menu would comprise of pav bhaji, Bombay chatpati sandwich, ragda samosa, aloo chaat, Ram ladoo, mawa kachori, dosa, uttapam, dhokla, egg roll, gughni, gurer payesh, gurer rasgulla and many other famed regional delicacies of India, whose appeal couldn’t be waned even by the invasion of so many exotic flavours on the Indian palates during the recent years.

Gurgaon to GT Karnal Road Food Festival is another interesting food festival in the pipeline that the restaurant is expected to host in the near future. n

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AGRI

Flowers in the Dish

By Swarnendu Biswas

E

dible flowers can be described as the flowers which can be consumed by human beings safely. Some examples of edible flowers are rose, pansy, banana flower, thyme, violet and sunflower. Edible flowers are gaining currency in India’s food service industry. However, though their usage in culinary applications across restaurants in India is a recent trend, but some of these edible flowers have been traditionally in use across Indian households.

Part of Culinary Traditions For example, the use of banana flowers is much common in Bengali households.

Mochar ghonto is a traditional delicacy of Bengal. Similarly pansy flavoured jams were the feature of dining tables in Victorian England and squash blossoms are part of traditional Mediterranean cuisine. The use of rose petals on beverages and desserts, and cocktails with lavender syrup are apt examples of flowers with F&B applications.

Rose petal sorbet can be a refreshing delicacy during summers.

“India’s food service industry might have embraced the use of edible flowers recently but they have been a part of Indian traditional food. For example, gulkand made of rose petals, or drumstick flower for curries is part of our culinary culture,” affirmed Varun Sharma, Director — Food & Beverage, Clarks Exotica Convention Resort & Spa, Bengaluru.

The edible flowers have a rich history of usage. The flowers were used as part of food by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Persians and also in ancient India. Their use in dishes has been revived again in this post-modern age.

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Endowed with Health Edible flowers add value to the dish in terms of aesthetic appeal, flavour and taste, and also in terms of health quotient. “The edible flowers not only add aromatic value to your meal, but also endow the plate with visual delight and health. In earlier times, Roman people cultivated roses, violets, and borage for culinary use. Today, edible flowers are a popular way to add colour, texture, scent, flavour, and health benefits to food,” informed Shailendra Bhandari, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, New Delhi.

“These days Chefs are widely making the use of edible flowers in their daily cooking not just because they add aesthetic appeal and infusion of flavour to the dish but also due to the wide range of medicinal properties which many edible flowers harness,” explained Lokesh Jarodia, Executive Sous Chef at Novotel Imagica Khopoli.

There are edible flowers which are spruced with several health benefits. “For example, dandelion is anti-flammatory and diuretic; it can help in recovering appetite and facilitates digestion. Similarly, rose can help smoothen skin, helps gums, can dry out mucus, and facilitates in getting relief from indigestion, and elder flower can facilitate in boosting the immune system and can help in treating cold and constipation,” elaborated Varun.

Nasturtium, according to him, is a “Great source of potassium, calcium, phosphorus and have anti-bacterial properties.”

There are many other edible flowers with impressive health quotients. “Bee balm, whose taste is similar to that of oregano and mint, with slight citrus undertones, has antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties,” asserted Shailendra. And what is more, the eating out crowd in India is fast realising the myriad health benefits of edible flowers, which give them a bright prospect in India’s fast evolving restaurant business.

Shailendra also pointed out the health benefits of hibiscus. “The hibiscus flower can be used in salads or boiled to make

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

tea. This flower is very good for digestion, helps in maintaining blood pressure and can lower cholesterol also,” he affirmed. Hibiscus tea wafts a cranberry like flavour. However, hibiscus flowers from all types of hibiscus plants are not suitable for making tea. One needs to check with the florist or herbalist to ensure that the right variety of hibiscus flower is being used to brew tea.

“Carnation can be steeped in wine or candy, or used to decorate baked goods. It also helps in alleviating stress and nervousness,” added Shailendra.

He also talked about radish flowers, which waft a spicy, radish-like flavour. “These are excellent salad topper and they can increase immunity and can reduce fatigue,” Shailendra pointed out.

Usage in Food Service Varun informed that in Clarks Exotica Convention Resort & Spa, Bengaluru, edible flowers are being used. “We use gulkand, lotus steam, lotus seeds, banana flower and drumstick flower to cook certain dishes,” he informed, while talking of the usage of edible flowers in the property where he is working at present.

Jasmine flower can be used in cocktail preparation and thus its role among the bartenders deserves more exploration.

“There are many flowers which are edible and provide an array of health benefits but some of the flowers I use a lot are dandelion, violet, gardenia, hibiscus & daisy. These flowers are packed with lots of vitamins,” conveyed Lokesh, while

Apr-May ’18

AGRI

Shailendra Bhandari adding, “We incorporate edible flowers like rose & lavender in many of our bakery & confectionery products like cakes, macrons, pastries & even ice-cream; we incorporate a lot of hibiscus & calendula in our iced teas as well.”

According to Lokesh, “Many restaurants & cafes are using edible flowers in their daily cooking; many packaged food companies are increasingly using edible flowers in their products such as jams & jellies. Many patisseries are using edible flowers while

Lokesh Jarodia preparing cakes, pastries, macrons, etc.”

Promising Future It seems that in this health conscious age, the role of edible flowers is expected to spread like fragrance. “This trend of edible flowers has been around for quite some time now and it is sure to stay in India’s food service industry as people have become more aware of the unique medicinal and healing benefits of edible flowers. Moreover, they are also great garnish to any dish,” explained Lokesh.

Varun Sharma “Seeing the increasing popularity of edible flowers and micro greens it can be easily predicted that these little giants will soon become an integral part of Indian food industry,” articulated Shailendra.

So going by the growing tendency among our restaurant goers to try new tastes and flavours, and by the growing health consciousness in the Indian society, it can be safely assumed that edible flowers would continue to have their bright presence on our plates, in the years to come. n

We supply wide varieties of Imported and Indian Dairy products like Grana Padano, Parmigiano, Gouda, Edam, Feta, Brie, Camembert, Cheddar, Emmental, Mozzarella, Whipping Cream and all type of Italian and French Cheeses.

We also offer varieties of Frozen Meat products.

uesobest

K-316/8, Lado Sarai, New Delhi - 110030 Phone: 011-41771687, Mobile: 8512834040, 8826368992 Email: sales.quesobest@gmail.com Web.: www.quesobest.com

Apr-May ’18

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o p erations

Plating the Tastes and Flavours

By Sharmila Chand

I

t is being widely believed that people eat with their eyes first. Unlike most popular notions, this actually may be true! We know for sure that if a dish is not appealing to eyes, in many cases it would not induce us to partake that dish.

This makes food plating and presentation a crucial aspect of the food service industry, especially in this age of increasing numbers of discerning consumers in the industry.

C re at i ve a n d t h o u g h t f u l p l at i n g , undoubtedly, enhances the appeal of the food. Focusing on presentation also gives ample opportunity to Chefs to showcase their artistic side and play around with elements beyond the usual ingredients.

While there aren't any fixed rules or conventions when it comes to ‘correct’ plating, in fact there is no ‘correct’ plating as such, there are several important concepts and ideas which the Chefs should ideally keep in mind while presenting their dishes for their guests.

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They say colours, material and texture of tableware, edible flowers…in fact every single detail matters in making an impressive presentation of dishes. One needs to take into consideration the balance and texture of each ingredient and how it plays into the composition of the plate, in order to make a memorable presentation.

Here we talk to some outstanding Chefs across the country and find out how they have mastered the art of food plating.

The Role of Food Plating “In today’s fast-paced world where people are having less and lesser time, pictures have become a popular mode of communication.

This means we as Chefs need to give them something on plate which is not only delectable for their palates but is Instagram worthy as well,” observed Chef Sahil Arora, Executive Chef, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel & Lakeside Chalet, Mumbai — Marriott Executive Apartments.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

“Food not only has to taste good but also has to look good. The artistry of presentation of food is not merely in the flavour or content but also in how it appeals to the eye,” opined Chef Binoy Xavier, the Executive Chef, The Malabar House, Kochi.

“A plate can drastically influence the way the food looks as it is like a canvas for the food you are about to present. Extrinsic visual properties of the dinnerware like colour, shape and finish greatly influence the diner’s eating behaviour and experience,” observed Chef Prakash Nayak — Executive Chef at Niraamaya Retreats Surya Samudra.

"At Niraamaya Retreats, we believe in mindful eating and enjoying food with all your senses. It is essential that the food must be visually appealing and the visual composition of food must reflect the quality of food presented,” affirmed Prakash.

“As a Chef, it is extremely important to put in equal effort in preparing as well as plating a dish, as plating in food service

Apr-May ’18

o p erations industry expresses the vision of the outlet, the personality of the Chef as well as his/her creativity,” affirmed Chef Pavan Chennam Executive Chef, Conrad Pune.

“Tasteful food is a part of the entire dining experience and comprises 60 percent of the dining experience but the remaining 40 percent comprises of the ambience, mood, setting, design and feel of the experience,” conveyed Pavan.

“Harmony between what is on the plate and the experience surrounding the plate is important to create an innovative experience,” he maintained.

Food Plating Principles “While there are no hard and fast rule for plating but a creative and thoughtful plating enhances both the look and taste of your food. When I think of presenting a dish, I would first choose my ingredients and ensure they are of great quality and then comes the canvas or plate on which the dish needs to be plated. I would prepare the dish and then carefully look at all the colours I have in hand; here the colours would mean green as in samphire, red as in vine cherry tomatoes, white as in celeriac mash and so on,” elaborated Sahil.

Sahil however doesn’t believe in using too many ingredients in the dish. “I am a strong believer in that lesser the ingredients used in the dish the healthier it is,” he affirmed.

“One of my personal favourites is Triology of Lamb, where in we put together three different joints of Spring Lamb, marinated and cooked in different ways, on one plate, and garnished with edible flowers,” disclosed Chef Ajay Anand, Director of Culinary, Pullman and Novotel New Delhi Aerocity, while discussing food presentation.

“The use of locally available and seasonal ingredients facilitates to make an ordinary dish into an astonishing one. We like to keep

the dishes simple yet aesthetically appealing.

Use of the ingredients in most precise manner greatly facilitates to make the plate more alluring to the eye,” asserted Ajay.

“Before you begin preparing your dish, you should consider the kind of cuisine you are serving. Are you making a hearty steak dinner, or are you preparing a delicate side dish, or an appetizer. You can't start building your plate until all of your flavours are finalised; so it is wise to have your ingredients before you begin the actual plating process,” advised Ajay.

“The basic elements of plating food, which I normally practice, remain common

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o p erations

Sahil Arora

Ajay Anand

whether a soup, main course or a dessert is being plated. It revolves around choosing the right plate so that it does not overpower the food that is on it. The food needs to be carefully placed on the dish so that it radiates elegance and beauty,” pointed out Sahil.

“I take some time to prepare a framework as to how the final dish would appear. I often sketch the dish as well to see if there are any doubts,” he added.

“I always keep five basic elements in mind while plating. They are creating a framework, keeping it simple, balancing the dish, getting the right portion size, and highlighting the key ingredient,” explained Ajay.

“Using the plate as a canvas is the key towards mastering the art of plating. I like using sauces, sprouts and other garnishes to frame the focal point,” he said.

There are ways to bring a plate to life. “A plate should reflect the ideas put together to make it extraordinary. It should speak about itself. Using the fresh flowers, herbs and other ingredients and putting them together in a concept is what brings a plate to life,” proffered Ajay.

“While plating of food it should be kept in mind that hot food should be served hot and cold food should be served cold. This implies that if one puts a lot of time in plating a hot dish the chances are the guest would get a beautiful plate with cold food which would be a big miss,” pointed out Sahil.

“The entire idea of food plating is striving to achieve a perfect balance in the dish to make it look appetising, visually appealing and creative. In reality, plating a dish is all about imbibing different ingredients on the plate to create an appealing look and feel to the dish,” elaborated Pavan.

too. How you would plate for Thanksgiving would be different than plating for a birthday celebration,” explained Ajay.

Binoy too suggested adapting the presentation of the plate to the occasion.

“For example, if you are preparing a kids’ party, choose fun food presentations that will encourage them to eat. Kids prefer ‘fun’ designs rather than serious and traditional ones,” he added further.

Prakash also believes that plating of dishes should suit the occasion. “For example, if it is an anniversary dinner it will have an elegant presentation with hues of romance in it. But if it is a kids’ party, we would choose fun food presentations,” he explained.

“Plating a dish creatively to suit the theme or occasion is extremely important to allow guests to connect the food to the theme & occasion,” Pavan opined.

“A well plated and visually appealing dish immediately arouses curiosity of the guests/patrons as it is an interesting experience for them to connect to the theme or mood of the occasion with different ingredients and arrangements of

Occasion Wise “Plating really depends on the occasion

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Pavan Chennam the dishes,” Pavan maintained.

White or Coloured?

There is a confusion on whether to serve the food in white plates or in coloured plates. “We at The Malabar House use the white plates to present the food.

White plate makes everything on it look greatly better,” aired Binoy.

“The food textures and colours stand out more when placed on a pure white plate, making the dish extremely visually appealing to diners,” he elaborated.

“The plate could be a simple white, flat chinaware or pastel coloured handmade pottery. This could ideally be coupe plate/ flat plate/deep coupe depending on what is being plated,” Sahil pointed out.

“When you use a bright white plate, the food really stands out, food’s colours seem more vibrant, and it makes the food more appealing,” conveyed Ajay.

“Personally, I love the whiteness of a plate,” Prakash expressed.

“I personally like white plates with trendy looks. White plates also bring out the colours of the food and make the elements stand out,” Pavan aired.

However, he is not averse to coloured plates either. “On the other hand, it is always better to keep on experimenting with new plates in different colours in order to play with different trends,” Pavan suggested.

“The shape of the plate also plays a vital role in bringing out the food right to make it more appealing,” Pavan concluded.

Portion Size, Plate Size

Binoy Xavier

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

“I believe in matching the portion size with plate size, which is another important aspect of food presentation. A plate that is too small for the food portion it offers will look messy and overcrowded. On the other

Apr-May ’18

o p erations

Pragmatic Tips for Food Plating Strive to present the perfect plate where there is perfect balance of size, colour, shape and texture.

Moist ingredients should be placed at the base as they tend to move during delivery if they aren't held down by other food items.

Odd numbers of food items make for better visual appeal.

For example, food items like shrimp, scallops, or bite-sized appetisers look better when served in odd quantities.

Overcrowding the plate is a big NO. Never overcrowd your canvas, and keep it simple by focusing only on the essential ingredient/s.

Create a beautiful background for your plate by adding green vegetables or brightly coloured fruits as accent points.

Once you have plated your main ingredients, think of your squeeze bottle or spoon as a paintbrush, and your sauce as a medium. Then, use them to enhance your plate wherever suitable or feasible.

Choose edible garnishes and place them purposefully. hand, a small portion on too large a plate will look sparse,” Binoy pointed out.

Following Your Instinct I asked Sahil whether he follows instinct while making the final presentation of the dish. “This largely depends on the mood and time in hand.

If a request comes from a customer to quickly deliver a dish out of menu then it would be purely instincts. However, if Prakash Nayak a new menu is to be launched and it would be associates down the line who would be cooking the dish, then a framework has to be planned which would clearly outline time taken to prepare and plate the dish,” he articulated.

Sahil also rightly pointed out that ‘once you know the needs of your guest you would be able to justify what you put on plate for them.” For that he believes staying connected to the guests and understanding their lifestyles is important.

“Yes, I do follow my instinct in making the final presentation of my plates. I treat my plates as canvases, and these canvases reflect instinct with passion,” expressed Ajay while adding, “I fill these canvases with ingredients and garnish, and flowers, and serve them with pride.”

Binoy also believes in relying on his instincts while plating of dish, while at the same time taking into account of the guests’ request and occasion, and other pragmatic factors too at the same time.

“Texturally balanced portion sizes and carefully placed ingredients until the composition feels ‘just right’ is characteristic of my food plating. It is not just about asymmetry or symmetry but also a balance in flavour, texture, colour and space,” asserted Prakash. Of course, his natural instincts on plating also plays role in the presentation of the dishes.

“Following one’s instinct while plating always works well for Chefs as perfect plating is subjective to an individual’s idea and her/his creativity,” Pavan proffered. n

Apr-May ’18

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

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bEVERAGE

The Milky Way to Success

By Swarnendu Biswas

I

ndia is not only the largest milk producing country in the world but also happens to be the largest producer and consumer of dairy. According to a report from Research and Markets, titled ‘A Study of India’s Dairy Sector 2017,’ the dairy industry in India was worth Rs.5000 billion in 2016. However, the organised sector accounts for only 20 percent of dairy sales in the country.

“By 2020, Indian dairy will see estimated supply chain investments of 2 billion USD, with a focus on the upstream link. Strong growth prospects, driven by formalisation of the market and growth of value-added dairy products, will drive these investments,” Rabobank noted in 2016.

Lucrative Business Opportunity The market for dairy-based beverages in India is a market worth exploring. For it is a happening market with lots of growth potential. Especially, in the scorching Indian summers like these, players operating in the realm of dairy-based beverages can have a huge market, a market which can yield lucrative returns to the manufacturers.

Among the value added dairy products in India, the milk-based beverages have a very lucrative margin.

According to a report by the Tata S t rate g i c M a n a g e m e nt G ro u p, d a i ry beverages as a segment was estimated to post sales of Rs 6,400 crore in India by fiscal 2021, as compared with Rs 1,280 crore during fiscal 2015.

The stupendous growth in the dairy -based beverages market in post-modern India with its discerning consumers could be attributed to the growing health consciousness in the urban Indian society,

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dairy business of the conglomerate.

Drinks from Dairy

along with less time to concoct healthy beverages at homes. The marked increase in disposable incomes in India during the last decade-and-a-half can also be regarded as a contributing factor towards the growth of India’s dairy-based beverages market.

The health conscious and time-starved segment of the young generation of India, who are frequently on the go, are especially likely to love these dairy-based beverages.

Rabobank’s analyst Shiva Mudgil said sometime back that “The growing demand for milk-based beverages indicates a shift in consumer demand with rising purchasing power ... The market is still at a nascent stage in India, but is growing rapidly with newer players entering the fold and expanding rapidly.”

It is expected that more players from dairy segment and even from aerated drinks and FMCG segment would enter the milkbased beverages market of India in the near future. For example, ITC is envisaging to come up with a range of ready-to-drink milk-based beverages and frozen desserts from its new plant in Punjab’s Kapurthala district, which can give an impetus to the

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Over the years, the market of milk-based beverages in India has undergone significant changes. It is no longer limited to lassi, chach and flavoured milk. Gone are the days when lassi in India was associated with homes and dhaba, and chach was a home-made drink. Now the milk-based beverages market is not only crowded by packaged varieties of lassi and chach (buttermilk) options, but there are oats milk, coffee milk and juice mixed with milk adorning the shelves. There is far too much variety in the market than it was there a decade earlier.

From jeera chach to probiotic drinks…the segment is encompassing an awesome range. In the background of growing health consciousness in the urban Indian society, dairy-based probiotic beverages are not likely to remain uncommon in the evolving Indian food & beverage market.

Take the case of Amul Prolife Probiotic Lassee, which is presently available in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The beverage comprises toned milk, sugar/salt, fruit pulp compound, stabiliser, and an active probiotic culture. What is more, this beverage is available in four flavours namely rose, jeera (cumin), mango, and pineapple.

Milk-based beverages with infusion of fruit and nuts would gain currency in the Indian market. One can find Amul Kool Shakers, which are fun, nourishing drinks with fruit/nuts blended with milk. According to the Amul’s website, “Kool Shakers are refreshing, fun milk-based drinks with 100 percent natural, delicious fruits or almond

Apr-May ’18

bEVERAGE pieces that combine great taste and enjoyment with health & nutrition.”

Another of the new-age milk-based beverage is NESTLÉ Bhuna Jeera Raita.

This unique proprietary product from Nestle offers the innate goodness of curd with cumin, making it a delicious meal accompaniment. The beverage facilitates in digestion and is low in fat.

Parag Milk Foods, another important player in India's dairy segment, has a milkbased energy drink named Topp Up within its portfolio. Topp Up is a flavoured milk with extra proteins. The protein gives you extra energy & strength. Topp Up is available in six distinct flavours i.e. elaichi, mango, rose, strawberry, pista & butterscotch. According to the company’s website, the product has a long shelf life at room temperature.

Last year, Parag Milk Foods came up with a new brand named Slurp, which is an amalgamation of mango juice and milk.

Milk-based beverages with the influence of coffee can also be a market worth exploring. For example, Amul Kool Cafe is refreshing milk-based drink with coffee.

According to Amul’s website, the beverage is tailored to suit Indian taste.

Among the important new entrants in India’s thriving milk-based beverages

Apr-May ’18

market, there is Coca-Cola, which entered the market in 2016 with VIO. Recognising India’s taste appeal, VIO was launched with the kesar (saffron) and badaam (almond) flavours. According to Coca-Cola India, “All VIO drinks use milk and other ingredients sourced from local dairy farmers and vendors in the country.”

Another aerated drinks giant, PepsiCo India has also made its entry into the dairy sector in 2017 with the launch of Quaker Oats+Milk, a ready-to-drink beverage that combines milk and oats.

Need of the Hour So we can see there are now various segments within the milk-based beverages

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

which the entrepreneurs or would be entrepreneurs operating in India could explore upon to cater to the growing number of experimental consumers across the country. However, the segment of milk-based beverages in India has a market need for more innovative flavours and more numbers of cost-friendly packaging options.

The second route can help milk-based beverages to make deeper inroads into India’s huge but less tapped rural market.

Presently, milk-based beverages are being sold in metal cans, glass bottles, tetrapaks, pet bottles and pouches.

A great many of the dairies operating in India are expected to focus on the milkbased beverages, in the near future. Now India’s food service industry can also come up with different innovative milk-based beverages of its own and promote them across its restaurants in a much bigger way than it is doing now. These beverages can especially cater to the younger generation of savvy health conscious consumers.

Like regular bars, the restaurants in India can also demarcate a section in their space where people can sit on stools and sip different delectable milk-based beverages. Such a space can be aptly termed as ‘Milk Bar.’ n

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PUB

Heady Delights with Stories

By Swarnendu Biswas

T

he advent of microbrewery in India’s alcoholic beverages market in 2009, a n d t h e s u bs e q u e nt s p re a d of microbreweries across the country can give a much needed fillip to our nascent industry of craft beers. And the flow of craft beers would lend more class to India’s beer business and some health to Delhi and other Indian metros’ fast developing nightlife spirits.

Though I have been a long time lover of Kingfisher, but I always love to have my occasional flings with delectable craft beers, whenever I get the opportunity. One such opportunity arrived in the form of After Stories. It is a microbrewery cum pub cum restaurant situated in Sector 29, Gurgaon.

The spacious outlet is spread across three floors, and can accommodate 400-500 people at a time. The place is owned and run by two young dynamic entrepreneurs.

“The basement floor is appropriate for having a nightlife party; ground floor represents an ideal café area; and the first floor is dedicated towards fine dining area,” explained Abhimanyu Boken, one of the proprietors of this enchanting place. The microbrewery is installed at the first floor.

Besides this microbrewery, After Stories has two bars.

The outside seating option amidst greenery in the ground floor level area is

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also ideal for hosting parties as the twilight descends, where one can enjoy the drinks under a dark and sparkling sky. On the lawn area, there is provision for the seating of 30-40 people. Here 100-150 people can stand and enjoy the party.

Craft Beer and Others “The microbrewery bubble is growing really fast in urban India and we plan to bring innovation to this bubble by

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

introducing various kinds of beers to take the microbrewery experience to another level. We have been serving a host of craft beers in our portfolio. The variety of the beers served here can delight a beer lover to the core. The amazing and interesting beers available on tap include Belgium Wit Beer, Apple Cider, Winter Ale, Honey Blonde, American Pale Ale and our latest launch Dark Ale. Milk Stout, Jägermeister Pale Ale, English Brown Ale, Munich Wit Wheat, Oktoberfest are some of the other refreshing beers on offer with us. Now, we have plans to introduce Alphonso Mango Cider and other seasonal fruit beers in the coming week,” Abhimanyu added.

I particularly liked the Belgian Wit Beer. It comes across as a shiny straw-gold beverage with a white mousse head that bursts with orange and coriander. Lithe and effervescent in the palate, it has a soft refreshing mouth feel and lively carbonation. “Its flavour offers delicate sweetness; cracker meal grain and an herbal mix of hops, coriander and chamomile,” pointed out Rattan Dev Burman, the F&B Manager of the outlet.

The Apple Cider also rejuvenated our tired spirits. “Cider compliments many dishes perfectly, but is perhaps best enjoyed with anything grilled over flames,” suggested Rattan. With chicken tikka, both me and my

Apr-May ’18

PUB

Rattan Dev Burman

Harshit Arora

friend enjoyed the drink immensely.

“Afte r s to r i es i s o n e of t h e fo u r microbreweries in India which filters its craft beers before serving them to the guests, a process which eventually wastes 5-7 percent of its total production. It takes weeks to mature our craft beers, and they have real time taste and are less carbonated, unlike regular canned beers which have preservatives and fizz,” Rattan explained.

In addition to these craft beers, After Stories has an impressive collection of innovative beer cocktails and other cocktails, and of course, an array of liqueurs, cognac, shooters, single malts, scotch whiskeys, other regular whiskeys, vodka, tequila and other alcoholic beverages on offer to satiate the heady spirits.

“Among the cocktails, Alligator Tears, which is a concoction of vodka, cucumber and basil leaves, is one of our most popular ones, and among the mocktails, Kalakatta is a big hit among the guests,” informed Praveen Kumar Sivach, the Executive Chef of the outlet.

Bombay Sapphire, Gordon’s Dry and Beefeater comprise the gin collection of After Stories, whereas its rum collection is represented through Malibu, Bacardi and Old Monk. Besides craft beers, After Stories has Corona and Hoegaarden beers in its portfolio too. These beverages are complemented by delectable food.

is the one of the most popular dishes on our menu,” affirmed Praveen. Ciabatta mini pizza topped with achari paneer tikka is a delicious combination.

According to Praveen, “Tawa meat with bhuna masala served with crispy flat bread is another of the immensely popular dishes on the menu.” We tried Tawa meat with bhuna masala served with crispy flat bread and realised that the Chef was justified in its liberal praise. The Lemon basil fish was also wonderful.

Succinctly, we realised that After Stories comes across as beer lovers’ and party lovers’ haven. Dim lights and friendly yet classy ambience further help to bring out the partying spirit within you. The peppy music in the background also gels effortlessly with the partying mood.

The outlet, which was launched on December 2016, has been attracting more than 150 persons on weekdays, and on an average weekend day the footfall is more than 250. The crowd is impressive but is not sufficient for such a huge place.

Sumptuous Fare At After Stories, Mutton rogan josh with naan tasted heavenly, as was the Baked Chicken Tikka Biryani served with raita.

Garlic prawns were also simply amazing.

The vegetarians shouldn’t miss Achari paneer tikka with roasted papad crust. “It

Apr-May ’18

Abhimanyu Boken

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Praveen Kumar Sivach

Innovative Endeavours After Stories is doing lots of creative events to garner more guests. We talked about some of them, while enjoying the delicacies.

“Our Cinderella Nights on Wednesdays are dedicated for women fighting their mid-week blues. Under this package, they can get unlimited freshly brewed beers in six different flavours, and heavenly cocktails, free of cost!” elaborated Harshit Arora, another of the proprietor at After Stories, and the business partner of Abhimanyu.

Thursday nights at After Stories are based on the legend of the thirsty crow, but with a twist. “Thirsty Thursdays at After Stories attempts to quench the thirst of people with a free mug of beer, while they munch on some great food,” pointed out Harshit. Thursdays also have karaoke night, where guests can get the opportunity to show their vocal talents.

EDM Saturday nights with their electronic music are targeted at the partying youngsters.

Influential people narrate their life’s struggles and triumphs on Storyteller Sundays.

“Moreover, Happy Hours flow at After Stories during 12 to 7 pm, where we have special menu in which each item is offered just for Rs. 99,” disclosed Abhimanyu, much to our delight.

And what about the expansion plans?

“Right now we are analysing the fancies and demands of our guests and potential guests, and in the near future we surely plan to expand and build our brand even stronger. We are loving the amazing response that we are getting from our guests which keeps motivating us to expand our venture,” elaborated Harshit.

It seems there is no dearth of stories at After Stories…One needs many visits there to explore them all. n

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THEME CUISINE

The Wafting Aroma from Japan

By Sharmila Chand

J

a p a n es e c u i s i n e re p res e nts g a s t ro n o m i ca l d e l i g h t s w i t h a bountiful of regional and seasonal fresh preparations.

It is a well-known fact that the Japanese believe in preparing dishes according to the season so that they can use fresh ingredients.

For instance, they use lots of bamboo shoots in the spring and chestnuts in the fall.

Nothing Overcooked We can say fresh flavours, vibrant colours, and interesting textures are the hallmarks of Japanese cuisine. The emphasis is on

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

raw, boiled or seared dishes with minimum seasoning. You will not find the usage of seasonings like peppers and garlic in Japanese cuisine.

The famous ‘Umami’ flavour of the cuisine comes from a few selected ingredients, including bonito flakes and broth, soy sauce, and miso.

Th e p o p u l a r co n d i m e nts u s e d i n Japanese cuisine are wasabi, miso, soy sauce, and pickles as well as light dipping sauces to enhance the flavour as per your choice.

Japanese meal means several courses

Apr-May ’18

THEME CUISINE

Chef Yutaka Saito with small dishes, infused with simple flavours. Japanese Chefs like to work with top quality ingredients and do not overcook the food so as to retain the authentic colour and flavour of their dishes.

Japanese Delights Japanese cuisine has a large variety of regional specialties. Some of them are as follows: Sushi Sushi is the most popular Japanese dish.

Traditionally, sushi is referred to pickled

Apr-May ’18

fish preserved in vinegar. These days, sushi can be described as a dish made with rice, prepared with sushi vinegar.

There are many different types of sushi. Some popular ones are Nigiri, which comprises small rice balls with fish, shellfish, etc. on top; Gunkan, which comprises small cups made of sushi rice and dried seaweed, filled with seafood. Then there is Oshizushi, which is pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice, in a wooden box.

Sashimi It is essentially thinly sliced, raw food.

Seafood is most commonly eaten as sashimi, but other types of meats can also be served as sashimi. Popular types of sashimi are Maguro (Bluefin Tuna), Sake (Salmon), Tai (Sea Bream), and more.

Tempura This is another popular item of Japanese cuisine. These are pieces of lightly battered, deep fried seafood and vegetables. The dish is believed to be introduced to Japan during the 16th century, by the Portuguese.

Ramen Ramen, egg noodles in a salty broth, is one of Japan’s favourite meal. There are four major soup styles: tonkotsu (pork bone), miso, soy sauce and salt.

Fukuoka is particularly famous for its

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

“In the coming days, we wish to focus on local produce & ingredients with a social outreach, by working directly with farmers and producers.”

Chef Mayank Tiwari, Group Executive Chef, PVR - The Luxury Collection rich tonkotsu ramen; pungent miso ramen is a specialty of Hokkaido.

Kaiseki A visual delight, an aesthetic culinary art,

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THEME CUISINE

Menu Planning

By Chef Hiroyuki Hashimoto – Japanese Specialty Chef at EEST, The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi Kaiseki is Japan’s haute cuisine. Kaiseki is the traditional multicourse dinner of Japan.

It originated centuries ago, alongside the tea ceremony in Kyoto.

Here you get a series of delightful small courses, meticulously arranged on exquisite crockery. Only fresh ingredients are used here and each dish is designed as a tribute to the current season.

Soba A staple of Japanese cuisine, more so in the hilly region, Soba – long, thin buckwheat noodles, are very popular in Japan.

Traditionally, these noodles are served in either hot, soy sauce-flavoured broth or at room temperature, on a bamboo mat with broth on the side for dipping.

Yakitori It is a delectable dish in Japan to bring together people in the evenings over some drinks. Grilled to perfection, seasoned with either shio (salt) or tare (a thick sweet soy sauce), yakitori is a low calorie delight.

Japanese Omakase Cold Dish Starter: Smoked eel bone, spicy cod roe, edamame bean Sashimi: Tuna, salmon, amberjack, octopus Warm Dish Chawanmushi: Steamed egg custard Tempura: Batter-fried prawn and vegetables Yakitori: Chicken and leek yaki, asparagus and bacon, salmon and sweet chili

Tea Ceremony in Japan Tea has an important role in Japan’s culinary tradition. The traditional tea ceremony in Japan called ‘Chado’ is considered one of the Japan’s highest forms of art, alongside calligraphy, music, and theater.

Also called Chanoyu, Sado or simply Ocha in Japanese, it is a choreographic ritual of preparing and serving Japanese green tea, called Matcha, together with traditional Japanese sweets to balance with the bitter taste of the tea.

The whole process is not about just drinking tea, but is also about aesthetics.

Good to Know Omakase is the Japanese tradition of letting a Chef select your meal.

It means "I will leave it to you."

It is a fine tradition that gives the Chef more creative freedom and facilitates the diner to have a memorable dining experience with the Chef explaining each dish to you.

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Murata Jukō (1423-1502) is known as the founder of Japanese tea ceremony.

Japadog at Simply Sushi Simply Sushi chain of restaurants by PVR has given a new smart face to the classic Japanese cuisine in the Indian food service industry and made it more accessible to a cross-section of diners.

Th ey a re offe r i n g t h e t ra d e m a r k Japanese food at affordable prices, outside the glamour of five-star fine dining, which is a rarity in India.

You have Simply Sushi outlet at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj and at Select City Walk, Saket, in Delhi. Here you can get a Japanese version of the famous American street food — the hotdog.

Known as ‘Japadog’, these are delicious versions of the American hotdog with a generous garnishing of seaweed, wasabi and other Japanese condiments.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Sushi Salmon roe gunkan Boiled shrimp nigri Scallop nigri Mackerel nigri California uramaki Takuwan maki Soup Miso soup with wakame and tofu Dessert Seasonal fruits and ice-cream

Spearheaded by the internationally renowned Chef Yutaka Saito, the Executive Chef at Simply Sushi, the menu at Simply Sushi has been crafted to cater to Indian palates. The Japadog was introduced under the guidance of Mayank Tiwari, the Group Executive Chef of PVR - The Luxury Collection.

Chef Saito said, “The idea behind the concept of Simply Sushi is to showcase and present the best sushi in the country to patrons and give them a glimpse of what to expect in our cinemas. This concept highlights the attention to details and the fact that good quality food is not always very expensive, if the menu is crafted smartly, as in this case.”

Chef Saito has also kept vegetarian diners in mind which can dispel the erroneous notion that the Japanese cuisine is only for those who eat seafood.

Approximately, 40 percent of the menu at Simply Sushi is vegetarian.

Fresh ingredients is another major concern of Chef Saito who has spent nearly a decade in India. In order to serve fresh and good quality ingredients to prepare his dishes, he makes sure most of the ingredients are flown in directly from the Tsukiji market in Japan.

No wonder, he assures authentic flavours in his batera sushi, temaki rolls, maki sushi rolls and Japadogs. Do not be surprised if next time he serves you typical fries with an innovative Japanese twist. n

Apr-May ’18

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R estaurant

The Taste of EEST

By Sharmila Chand

T

his time I was fortunate to taste outstanding Japanese cuisine at two restaurants. One of them is located in Delhi-NCR and the other is in Pune. They are EEST at The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi and Koji at Conrad Pune.

Lo cate d o n t h e f i rs t f l o o r of Th e Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi, EEST offers a comprehensive array of dishes that focus on authentic flavours and recipes from Japan, Thailand & China.

The menu has been cleverly curated to showcase the essence of each of these nations. At EEST, the discerning diners get to taste exquisite preparations in a fine dining ambience, marked with impeccable service.

to the colour, textures and aesthetics.

The restaurant has five private dining rooms and half of the restaurant is designed in a way where every table gets its own private space. The venue offers five themed private dining areas, a Chinese tea bar, a

large semi-private main dining room and a Sushi Bar to seat five.

The Culinary Fare It is great to spend some time at the impressive sushi bar and enjoy the skills

Cheerful Ambience As I stepped into the visually striking restaurant, the bright and cheerful ambience lifted my mood instantly. I was happy to see the décor enhanced by elements from the oriental world, along with an impressive lineup of live cooking stations.

E EST h as b e e n d es i g n e d w h i l e keeping the Asian traditions in mind related

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R estaurant “At EEST, we want our guests to immerse themselves in traditional Japanese culture.

The food, service and the ambience have been designed keeping that in mind. For example, we are one of the few restaurants to offer an authentic Omasake menu, and some of the freshest seafood in the city.”

Chef Hiroyuki Hashimoto of the Japanese Chef as he prepares something special for you.

This elegant restaurant features an impressive repertoire from expat Asian C h efs . Th e re i s u s a g e of t ra d i t i o n a l ingredients and methods in the kitchen.

In addition to the teppanyaki area, the sushi counter offers fresh rolls, sashimi and shellfish, prepared right in front of the diners.

Dumpling signatures from the dim sum section are cooked to order while the Wok Chef was seen busy rustling up his own specialty of stir fried and wok dishes.

Fo r ve g et a r i a n s , U ra m a k i , w h i c h comprises Philadelphia roll with cream cheese, cucumber, carrot, lettuce toasted sesame roll; Tempura Asupara Uramaki, which comprises batter fried asparagus, mayonnaise and toasted sesame can be delightful options. The top-of-the-line nonvegetarian options at the outlet include Karefuniya Uramaki ― California roll with crab meat and avocado; and Tempura Ebi Temaki comprising tempura prawn, flying fish roe and lettuce hand roll.

Chefs at EEST Chef Hiroyuki Hashimoto – Japanese Specialty Chef Chef Hiroyuki Hashimoto is the Japanese Specialty Chef at EEST who comes with over 25 years of experience.

Prior to joining The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi, Chef Hiroyuki Hashimoto was associated with The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel and Residences for a period of five years since 2009. He was also a part of the preopening team at Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi, as Executive Japanese Chef, in 2005. He has a decadelong stint in India.

Chef Hashimoto has also worked with numerous celebrated stand-alone restaurants in Japan, including the famed ‘Kyo Tofu Fujino’, ‘To Fu Fujino’, ‘Fukuroju’, and ‘Tsukijishouro’ as Sous Chef and Head Chef for the F&B production team.

At EEST, Chef Hashimoto offers an elaborate set menu titled Omakase that will take you through the many facets of Japanese cuisine. His focus is to show diners his exotic dishes that combine creativity and various Japanese cooking techniques. To enhance your experience, there are premium sakes available that you can pair with your meal.

Jatsalid Sirimongkolthong – Thai Specialty Chef Chef Jatsalid Sirimongkolthong is the Thai specialty Chef at EEST. Chef Jatsalid has 24 years of experience as Thai Chef and has had an illustrious career, working with many celebrated restaurants and hotels worldwide.

When I chatted with him, I understood how passionate he is about Thai cooking. No wonder, he describes himself as a food aficionado, with a special affinity for Thai ingredients and culinary techniques. EEST restaurant has won many prestigious awards specific to the Thai cuisine where his expert culinary skills played a pivotal role.

“Indians have an affinity for Thai flavours, given the similarities in our cultures.

At EEST, we bring you a representation of the wide variety of cuisine and dishes found in and around Thailand. Indian guests may find the tastes familiar, and yet can experience a great gastronomic journey with us.”

Chef Jatsalid Sirimongkolthong

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R estaurant

Oriental Delicacies at Koji

A

s I stepped in the lobby of the Conrad Pune, the exquisite gold leaf wall caught my attention. This is the entrance to one of the most popular pan Asian restaurants in the city. Named after a very special ingredient used for fermentation in Japanese cuisine, Koji is a visual delight, lined with a glass wall stocked with sake barrels containing top quality rice wines.

Inviting Interiors I couldn’t help admiring the mesmerising chandelier on the roof, a hand blown glass piece flown in from Czech Republic.

The restaurant’s brown and gold colour scheme aptly renders an opulent feel. The interiors of the restaurant were designed by the renowned Japanese interior design company, Spin.

Exotic and Authentic Tastes The food at Koji is nothing short of an exotic gastronomical experience. The kitchen at Koji is led by Chef Hitesh Rai, the Specialty Chef at Koji. The restaurant offers a selected menu of Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

Chef Hitesh believes in recreating traditional cuisines without hampering their authentic taste. Based on this philosophy, all the ingredients for the Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisines have been imported from their country of origin. Hitesh believes that using substitutes disrupts the flavours and authenticity of a dish, and at Koji, authenticity is the key.

At Koji, guests can relish signature specialties from Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisines, served with exotic Asian cocktails and original rice wines.

Chef Hitesh Rai — Chef de Cuisine, Koji, Conard Pune Chef Hitesh Rai is the Chef de Cuisine at Koji. Being at the helm of culinary affairs at the restaurant, Hitesh is involved in supervising the day-to-day functioning of the restaurant along with strategising on menu innovations and interacting with patrons on a daily basis.

Armed with an experience of 15 years of working in the industry, Chef Hitesh has been trained under the guidance of some of the leading expatriate Chefs, mainly for Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisines. During his career, he has worked with established hospitality brands.

Through his various stints he also worked with prominent Chefs such as Chef Laurie Gear, Chef Vineet Bhatia, Chef Anjum Anand, Chef Ian Curley, and Chef Nooror Somany Steppe for various projects.

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“Koji is one of the leading destinations for oriental cuisine in Pune. The chic ambience of the restaurant combined with the exotic spread of authentic cuisines and the fine collection of sakes makes it a go to destination for lovers of Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines. Personalised services and lively and intimate dining areas have been an integral part of the entire Koji experience. “ Shubham Chandra, GM, Conrad Pune The entire menu at Koji is an assortment of traditional dishes with modern twists such as sushi & sashimi, dimsum, rolls, rice noodles and desserts.

The outlet also has a stunning open sushi bar and a dedicated teppanyaki grill, which allows guests to interact with the Chefs who are happy to customise their food according to the guests’ preferences.

Some of the hot selling dishes at the restaurant are the sushi and sashimi platter, authentic Shizu Yang Rou-Lamb with Chili Bean Sauce, Stir-fry Pork Belly with Black Bean and Sichuan Pepper Sauce, Stir-fry with Peruvian Asparagus & Baby Pakchoy in Pumpkin Sauce. Some of the popular dimsums on offer are Edamame Truffle Dumpling, Pan Fried Chicken Shanghai, and Prawn Hargao.

Speaking about the restaurant, Chef Hitesh Rai said, “Koji is one of our most popular restaurants in the hotel. Guests love the authentic pan Asian gastronomic experience provided by the restaurant.

O u r p at ro n s a re ext re m e l y o p e n to experimenting with new flavours which has led to the success of the outlet. We have always kept the preferences of our patrons at the forefront while planning the menu, after much research and tastings.”

Apr-May ’18

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chef voice

No Short Cut for Good Food

By Sharmila Chand

G. Muthu Kumar, the Executive Chef of Novotel ibis Chennai OMR, is known for his gastronomic expertise and professionalism. With over two decades of experience behind him, the seasoned professional believes that hospitality flows from the heart and entails catering to the unarticulated requests of the guests.

His current responsibilities at the hotel include overseeing the entire culinary vertical from kitchen operations, quality control, stock management, training and development to finally plating dishes for guests and garnering customer satisfaction.

Chef Muthu was fond of the culinary arts from an early age but found his passion in bakery and confectionary while studying at IHM, Chennai.

Inspired by the aroma of bakery, Chef Muthu began work with the Taj Coromandel, Chennai. His professional journey so far included tenures with The Leela Group, and Hyderabad International Convention Centre or HICC as well as with overseas projects in Germany, Indonesia and more.

Chef’s zeal, curiosity and drive to learn helped him gain quick mastery over banquets, restaurants’ operations, and menu design.

A team player, Chef Muthu thinks that leadership skills grow when one inspires another. He likes experimenting with cuisines, is an avid reader and an Ayurveda enthusiast. The excerpts of the interview follow: How do you define yourself?

I see myself as a Chef, with one foot in the present and one foot in the future. I am alive to present day requirements but keep an eye for tomorrow’s needs as well.

What is your philosophy of cooking?

There is no short cut for good food.

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Had you not been doing this then what would you have been?

Any awards received?

Can’t really say for sure... maybe I would have been in the field of fine arts.

Had been silver medalist twice in The Great Indian Culinary Challenge, organised in Mumbai (2005, 2006).

What or who is your source of inspiration?

What has been the most rewarding moment in your career?

Working with people with different perspectives.

The day I chose to be Chef, some 24 years back.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Apr-May ’18

chef voice These days, which skills are necessary for Chefs?

How do you rate yourself as a Chef?

Doing things differently with creativity, and people management skills are the two fundamental requirements for Chefs in the present day.

I am constantly evolving as a Chef.

What has been your strength, professionally?

What is your favourite spice?

What is your favourite cuisine?

It is Mediterranean.

It is cardamom.

It is flexibility.

And what is your favourite dish?

What has been your weakness?

I am not sure whether it is a weakness, but I don’t shout or scream to get things done.

Yo u r f a v o u r i t e destination?

holiday

Places of pilgrimage.

How do you de-stress yourself?

I call some of my industry colleagues, and when they share their stress, I feel my situation is relatively better.

How would you describe yourself in one word?

I would describe myself as curious.

Apr-May ’18

Lessons learnt in the kitchen?

We are as good as our last meal.

Where could we expect to see you 10 years from now?

There is an entrepreneurial dream, which I am nurturing…

What are your future plans?

I want to experiment with food which influence health in a beneficial way.

It is momos.

Your favourite equipment?

Combi oven.

Who is/are your favourite diner/s?

Anyone who is willing to try Chef’s creative fare.

What is/are your hot selling item/s?

Crispy squids.

What is the best compliment you have ever received?

The best compliments for Chefs are not spoken in words; they appear in the restaurant again and again...

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

What is the position of Chefs these days, in India?

Nowadays, in India Chefs are influencers, Chefs are respected and Chefs are looked up to.

What are the problems and challenges faced by Chefs, in the context of India’s hospitality industry?

Retaining talent is one of the challenges in our industry.

What would you recommend to someone interested in working in your field?

Jump in… It is worth the journey.

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H ea l th

Tackling Indoor Air Pollution in Restaurants To prevent indoor air pollution in restaurants, all the products used to design the restaurant need to be of good quality — be it the furniture, carpets, blinds or curtains, or even the paint used for the interiors. Moreover, the restaurants and their kitchen should be well ventilated, and air-conditioners should be timely serviced

By Jyotismita Sharma

T

alk of pollution and the first thing that comes to one’s mind is the smog hanging over cities or the foul smell emanating from garbage dumps littered around the streets. But little attention is often paid to the impact of indoor air pollution (IAP) despite the fact that humans today spend far more time indoors than outdoors.

A c c o rd i n g t o t h e Wo r l d H e a l t h Organisation (WHO), the combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household (indoor) air pollution causes about 6.5 million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. And about 4.3 million people a year die from the exposure to indoor air pollution alone.

Now this is a global picture. The problem is actually worse in countries like India

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which is battling severe pollution.

In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), indoor air pollution is a leading cause of deaths from non communicable diseases, including 25 percent of all deaths from stroke; 15 percent of deaths from heart disease; 17 percent of deaths from lung cancer; and 33 percent of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to the WHO. “Air pollution is generally associated with smog and car emissions; however, these are strictly the causes of pollutions outdoor and are less dangerous than those of indoor air pollution,” said Shahrom Oshtori, Director of Food & Beverage, Sofitel Mumbai BKC. “Indoor pollutants can contaminate the indoor atmosphere through various sources – from wood-fire ovens to indoor smoking,”

Prashant Vaidya

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Oshtori added.

“Air pollutants such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide in large units of emission, from sources such as stoves and heaters, in a small restricted indoor area can lead to serious respiratory disorder,” he said.

Air Pollution Inside Restaurant Vishi Oberoi, Director of Food & Beverage, Novotel Imagica Khopoli in Maharashtra states that in restaurants, many guests and staff can get affected by faulty fabric used in carpets and soft furnishings, and also through smoke, cleaning chemicals, certain air fresheners, etc.

“Often restaurants have live counter set ups that cause a lot of smoke, which, when inhaled, can have major implications on the health of guests and staff. The room temperatures inside kitchens are generally high and hence the air around it is often humid, increasing the chance of mold and mildew formation. Such polluted air can cause many breathing problems for anyone who inhales this over a prolonged period,” Oberoi said.

What he highlights is that Restaurant Managers must ensure that mold formation in restaurants’ premises, especially in the restaurant kitchens, should not take place.

Mold formation, which can also result from water leakage, does not only make a place look bad, it can also be a source of indoor air pollution.

Apr-May ’18

Preventing IAP To prevent indoor air pollution in restaurants, Oberoi asserted that, “All the products used to design restaurants should be of good quality — be it the furniture, carpets, blinds or curtains, or even the paint used for the interiors. The restaurant and kitchen should be well ventilated, and air-conditioners should be well maintained and timely serviced.”

Neeraj Rawoot “Room fresheners should a l s o b e a l l e rg e n f re e a n d preferably organic in nature,” he specifically pointed out, adding that indoor air pollution can affect the overall hygiene level of the restaurant.

“A restaurant with air pollution is more likely to have high pathogen and bacteria levels, which adversely affect the overall quality of the food,” Oberoi said.

Neeraj Rawoot, Executive Chef, Sofitel Mumbai BKC, agreed when he said that with indoor air pollution, there is always risk of dusts and unwanted toxic particles that carry diseases s ett l i n g o n fo o d i t e m s o r service plates and eventually transferring to people, which include hotel personnel and guests alike.

To m a i nta i n h e a l t h y a i r quality within its premises, Sofitel Mumbai BKC tests air samples from different areas.

“We have also installed UV lamps in our air-conditioning and ventilation routes, as well as Shahrom Oshtori ozonation, a process that helps destroy harmful microorganisms through the infusion of ozone.

We also ensure that all air-conditioning and ventilation ducts are regularly deep-cleaned, a process that takes place as often as once every three months,” said Prashant Vaidya, Chief Engineer, Sofitel Mumbai BKC. “Furthermore, we are a non-smoking hotel with only designated outdoor public spaces within the premises allowed for smoking. These are some of the measures that we have taken to maintain the air quality indoors,” Vaidya added.

S u cc i n ct l y, w e ca n s e e t h at m a i nta i n i n g g o o d a i r quality inside the restaurant i s ext re m e l y i m p o rta nt fo r reducing the risk of several diseases among restaurant personnel and its guests, and also for improving the overall market image of the restaurant.

And with proper planning and adequate monitoring, it is not very difficult to achieve. n Vishi Oberoi

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HYGIENE

Hygiene Solutions for Bakeries These days, to establish a successful bakery business, it is crucial to ensure hygiene in all layers of production, distribution and retailing. And this is possible only when food handlers involved in the bakery supply chain are adequately trained

By Jyotismita Sharma a popular trend in India’s bakery industry .

These flours offer tastes and textures that are uniquely different from wheat flours, which also serve the trend towards more types of artisan and handcrafted breads.

Hygiene Matters

B

akery products are items of mass consumption. Their acceptance in India has increased over the years because of various factors. The significant increases in disposable incomes in select but sizeable pockets of urban Indian society during the last decade-and-a-half; changing eating habits of people; growth in the number of nuclear families in urban India with less time to cook at home being only some of them.

In India, there are more than 2,000 organised and semi-organised bakeries, and 1,000,000 unorganised small-scale bakeries. Bread and biscuits are the most popular bakery items in the country and account for more than 80 percent of the total bakery products in India. In fact, India is the world’s second-largest producer of biscuits after the US. According to the report by IMARC Group, titled ‘Indian Bakery Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2018-2023’, the Indian bakery market reached a value of more than 6

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billion USD during 2017.

The bakery sector comprises the largest segment of the food processing sector in India and offers huge potential for growth, according to the guidance document produced by FSSAI, which was published in October 2017.

Healthy Bakery Trends in India’s bakery business continue towards lighter, healthier products, and those containing allergen-free, organic, and whole-grain ingredients, states the abovementioned guidance document.

Interest in inclusions and fortification continues to increase among consumers of baked goods in India. The use of whole and alternative grains and grain products also continues to drive new product development in the Indian bakery industry. In response to the demand for products that are free from gluten and other allergens, baked goods using flours made from buckwheat, quinoa, millet, amaranth, flax, corn, rice, sorghum, wild rice, and other non-wheat grains remain

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Besides emphasis on healthy bakery products, India’s bakery industry is also becoming more serious about safety and hygiene. Thankfully, the importance of hygiene in food service has increased over the years along with greater focus on healthy food items.

In fact, in some cases, emphasis on sanitation and hygiene and focus on preparing healthy food are co-related.

Sanitation, for example, is an absolute necessity while producing gluten-free products because even slight gluten contamination can make such ‘gluten-free products’ unsuitable for consumption for people suffering from certain diseases.

Commercial bakeries that produce gluten-free products must maintain strict sanitation standards to avoid contamination, especially if products containing gluten are also produced in the same bakeries.

Overall, the issues of safety and hygiene are extremely important for the bakery industry for several reasons. First of all, without maintaining hygiene in the production process, distribution and in the retail space pertaining to bakery business, it is next to impossible to provide safe bakery items for consumption on a long-term basis.

Following the hygiene rules is critical to avoid contamination of the products with harmful microbial organisms. Putting adequate hygiene norms in place is also important for extending shelf-life of products, which again is very critical from the bakery business point of view.

This is because bakers generally work with highly perishable raw materials

Apr-May ’18

HYGIENE including milk and other dairy products. In the absence of strict hygiene standards, products made with such perishable materials are likely to have very short shelf life, increasing the chances of spoilage of bakery products. Therefore, to establish an enduringly successful bakery business, it is extremely crucial to ensure hygiene in all layers of production, distribution and retailing.

Underlining the importance of hygiene in the Indian bakery industry, Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in a guidance document on food safety management system, said, “It is important that food handlers involved in the bakery supply chain are trained appropriately to implement the good manufacturing practices and good hygiene practices to ensure food safety.”

The key issues that the Indian bakery industry is facing include the need for improvements in hygienic practices as well as technology apart from availability of skilled manpower at all levels of bakery operations, says the document.

Improving hygiene practices can be said to be a key driver for the growth of the Indian bakery industry.

that states ‘Allergens.’

The FSSAI guidance document states that the baking room should be cleaned periodically, followed by mopping with 500 ppm (parts per million) sodium hypochlorite solution or other appropriate odourless floor cleaners. It is necessary to keep the baking room dry. Similarly, the cake cooling trolleys also need to be mopped daily with 500 ppm sodium hypochlorite solution.

The equipments, utensils and other tools used in handling food products should also be cleaned and sanitised whenever necessary.

Bakeries also should not ignore hygiene at the packaging stage as using damaged, defective or contaminated packaging materials may lead to contamination of the product/s. In order to prevent packagingrelated contamination, it is important to inspect food packaging material before use.

Moreover, the packaging surfaces should be kept clean and sanitised for high-risk products, at all times.

The FSSAI recommends that to avoid contamination of the products, wrapping

Maintaining Hygiene in Bakeries To maintain hygiene in bakery establishments and ensure safety of the products, one needs to have a holistic approach. This is because hygiene issues encompass almost every aspect of the production process.

For example, it may not be possible to follow the right hygiene standards if a bakery production facility is found to be wanting in having adequate provisions for ventilation and windows in areas where the workers carry out their duties, or, for that matter, found wanting in having wellmaintained toilets.

Bakery establishments should also have impeccable provisions for storing food and packaging materials in appropriate areas for effective protection from dust, condensation, drains, waste and other sources of contamination during storage.

It is also crucial for storage areas to be kept dry and well ventilated. Attention should also be paid to have the products stored as per their temperature and humidity requirements and in specific sections. It is also important to make the employees aware about all the allergic foods or ingredients and they should be stored at a designated area. It also helps to label the raw materials that are allergens with a tag

Apr-May ’18

and packaging operations need to be carried out in a hygienic manner.

When it comes to cakes or pies, the packaging room should be air-conditioned.

And when it becomes necessary to handle naked cakes manually, food handlers should use sterilised gloves or disinfect their hands with disinfectant solution.

Parts of the packaging machines that come in contact with the food handlers should be cleaned daily with 500 ppm hypochlorite solution, according to the FSSAI guidance document.

To protect food stuff from contamination, it is also important to keep conveyances or containers used for transporting food stuffs clean, and maintain them in good repair condition.

But it is also important to keep in mind that the cleaning chemicals should be food grade, handled and used carefully, i n a cco rd a n ce w i t h m a n u fa ct u re rs ’ instructions.

Moreover, food handlers should be

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

trained adequately to ensure that cleaning and sanitising chemicals do not contaminate food or packaging materials during or after cleaning and sanitising.

Pest Control Having comprehensive pest control measures is another important aspect of maintaining hygiene in bakery establishments as contact of disease-bearing pests such as rodents, cockroaches, or even flies, with food ingredients may lead to contamination and may endanger food safety. Food can act as a carrier of diseases caused by pests who have the ability to fit in compact spaces and survive in adverse conditions.

When it comes to pest control, it is important to have a preventive approach, along with a system to detect and eliminate pests, in case they gain entry.

But an effective application of multiple pest management strategies requires an understanding of different types of pests on the part of those in charge of the production process. They should also evaluate the economical and safe ways to controlling pests. In fact, controlling the pest requires the cooperation of all the employees involved.

Therefore, the new employees in a given bakery unit should also be adequately educated about the pest management programme in place at the bakery unit and on how he or she could contribute to that programme.

But pesticides used in pest control measures should be “registered under the Environment Protection Act, 1986”, the FSSAI guidance document states. It is also important for the food operator to maintain all records regarding pest control including pesticides / insecticides used along with dates and their frequency of use.

Waste Disposal is Must The waste disposal system also contributes g re at l y to t h e h yg i e n e m a i nte n a n ce of a bakery. It is important for these establishments to not allow food waste, non-edible by products and other refuse to be accumulated in food handling or storage areas.

Food waste should ideally be cleared daily in order to avoid accumulation and overflow in food handling and food storage areas.

It is extremely important to carry out disposal of sewage and effluents — solid, liquid and gas — in conformity with specified requirements of factory act/ state pollution control board. n

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p ro d uct p revie w Facilitating Quality Food Service

Advancing Technology

Having the privilege of being the preferred brand by discerning customers, FnS has always been on its toes for innovating new designs and better techniques that make its product range unique. The brand has seen remarkable growth and has emerged as a leader in the industry since its inception.

FnS has always understood the aesthetics of culinary art and has successfully revolutionised the market in the last decade with innovative

Pride equipment is one of the leading suppliers of commercial food service equipments for hospitality Industry in India. Its objective is to provide the best product and service to satisfy the needs of its clients. The company has been dealing in both imported and fabricated kitchen equipments and a wide range of F&B service items.

The professional team of the company has vast experience and In-depth knowledge of the hospitality industry. It believes that advanced technological resources and a clear client-based focus are essential to meet the future demand of hospitality service professionals. Its partners have an average experience of 20 years in the industry.

The company's mission is to distribute and manufacture top quality equipment & accessories for the food service industry, based on its experience, know-how, specialised manufacturing potential and market research.

Pride Equipment info@prideequipment.in

and impressive designer products. The company has elegantly taken dining experience to new level of style and opulence by giving a thoughtful mind to study the everlasting bond which exists between an individual and tableware.

Th e b ra n d ' s c rafts m a n s h i p h as b e e n developed keeping in mind the fact that it adds an element of elegance to scrumptious cuisines.

FnS has constantly worked to introduce modern designs that reflect the traditional heritage of skilled craftsmanship that gratifies the taste of cutlery connoisseurs across five-star hotels, restaurants, bars & retail consumers.

The wide range of bar & table accessories, buffet displays, snack servers, chafing dishes and many more elegantly crafted products take the brand experience to a next level of recognition.

The brand follows rigorous quality standards to ensure that its products exude world standard quality.

The brand has successfully developed a fusion of wood, steel & glass in its newest range of buffet display, exemplifying its approach towards innovation & design. Today FnS is a well recognised brand for those who prefer to experience fine-dine on a regular basis.

FnS International Pvt. Ltd. info@fns.co.in

SUPACORN Launched in Institutional Packs

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SUPACORN, a brand of ready-to-eat sweet corns; packaged using OXYFRESH technology that gives it nine months of shelf life at ambient temperatures without any preservatives, is now available in institutional packs.

SUPACORN brand is synonymous with healthy corn snacking and its products are available across the country at various retail outlets. Having spent three years focusing on consumer market, Supa Star Foods Pvt. Ltd. which introduced SUPACORN, launched its institutional packs of 1 kg weight at the recently held food show Aahar, in New Delhi.

Some of the products of the co m p a n y i n c l u d e swe et co r n kernels and cobs. While cobs come in packs of 1 or 2 pieces, kernels come in 1kg, 500gm, 300gm, 200gm and 150gm packs. Kernels come in both natural and preflavoured forms.

At the Ahaar, the company was displaying how easy it is to use its products. As the products have no preservatives (not even salt) and can be stored at ambient temperatures, there is no need to thaw or wash or steam or boil them.

Another big benefit is the health and sweetness attributes of the products. They are naturally healthy as these products are packaged within hours of harvesting.

SUPACORN retains the natural goodness by making sure that its corn is packaged within hours of harvesting through OXYFRESH packaging technology.

Supa Star Foods Pvt. Ltd. kanwal@supafood.in

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Apr-May ’18

FOOD INDIA by

World’s No. 1 Food Innovation Network 16 - 18 September 2018

Pragati Maidan Exhibition Centre, New Delhi www.foodindia-bysial.com Contact:

Vicky Kumar: +91 9990920490, vicky@interads.in Siddharth Chibba: +91 9810417941, siddharth@interads.in Kumar: +91 9818435234, kumarrohit0286@gmail.com Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review Apr-May Rohit ’18

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BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

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Apr-May ’18

Advertiser’s Inde x Company

Page No.

agro pure capital foods pvt. ltd.

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* FIC - FRONT INSIDE COVER * BIC - BACK INSIDE COVER * BC - BACK COVER

Apr-May ’18

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INTERVIEW

Surpassing Challenges to Meet Success

By Sharmila Chand

After graduating from the Indian Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Goa, Aman Kishor Jha, Food & Beverage Director, Novotel Lucknow Gomti Nagar Hotel, began his career with the Starwood Group of Hotels.

After spending close to four years in Goa, he moved to Hyderabad as a part of the pre-opening team for the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC).

During his career he worked with multiple hospitality brands including the Le Royal Meridien Hotel, Mumbai, Hilton Hotel RAK among others.

“I think my strength lies in building the foundation for the food & beverage offerings as a part of the pre-opening team for multiple hotels and ensure that they are successful even after the hotel has been launched,” he conveyed. The excerpts of the interview follow: What do you enjoy the most about being a Food & Beverage Director?

As the Food & Beverage Director, one gets to be in tune with all the five senses and this is what I enjoy the most.

What are the challenges in your job?

I think that the food service industry is a 24-hour-job, both on the front-end and back-end. Maintaining a balancing act to meet guests’ demands and of the staff is always hard.

Also meeting the demand in rush hours is a big challenge. It is a tough position to be in. However, I am extremely passionate about my work and it is worthwhile. I love challenges and without them work-life would be boring and mundane.

When I look back, I find that hotel launches were always challenging, however, we have always been successful in opening them. I think the real challenge comes once the hotel is opened. Maintaining the service levels and ramping up consistently are the keys.

Moreover, I think today’s challenges in India’s hospitality and food service industry

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are very different from what one would experience say five to ten years ago.

Today’s guests are highly exposed to various experiences – which include food and otherwise. Their expectations have evolved in terms of service, food and its presentation. This means that we need to ensure we are always performing our best.

Another challenge which is common in the Indian hospitality and food service industry is finding the right talent. With the right team which is driven, you will always be able to differentiate yourself, provide an elevated service and deliver on your brand promise.

Can you suggest any tips to F&B Managers to lead their team?

I would tell my team not to get discouraged easily. Most of us want fast results and thus are disheartened very quickly. When you sincerely work on something and it does not work out, don’t worry about it. Instead, think about what you have learned in the process. I would say my team members to focus on the task at hand and the results will show for themselves.

In addition to this, I think that it is

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

essential to also empower your team.

Empowering your team members with the necessary equipment and knowledge not only contributes to their growth but also, by extension, to the growth of the business.

Finally, how is your experience at the present job?

I thoroughly enjoy my experience here. To standout in the crowd by offering seamless, consistent service and food, and moreover leveraging anything that enhances our guest experience, excites me.

What is the USP of your F&B outlets / brands?

I think what sets Novotel Lucknow Gomti Nagar Hotel apart is that it has brought French food to Lucknow, and at the same time specialised in the local delicacies as well.

What is your work philosophy which keeps you going?

With the right frame of mind and hunger to succeed, we can surpass all difficulties and create benchmarks.

Apr-May ’18

Aug-Sept ’17

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Feb-Mar ’18

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