India’s Best Chefs Cook It Up At GICC

Lakshmi Subramanian - Mumbai

Chefs from leading hotels across the country waged a culinary war at the Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC) held during HospitalityWorld 2005 which concluded recently. The war fought with different spices, fruits, vegetables and ingredients found the best of the best showcasing the best in culinary art and cooking style.

Divided into two segments there were five different categories in the first segment viz fruit & vegetable carvings, three-tier cake, pastry showpiece, butter showpiece and plated appetisers. The second segment viz the hot cooking competition saw chefs presenting their skills on the stove.

In all there were 23 participants for the first segment and 30 participants for the hot cooking segment. Chefs from major hotels such as Taj Lands End, Radisson White Sands Resort, Goa, Hyatt Regency, Mumbai, The Claridges Hotel, New Delhi, The Oberoi, Mumbai, IHMCTAN, Mumbai, The Rodas, Mumbai participated in the event. The panel of eminent judges included chef Gerard Mendis, WACS member and chairman of Hilton Colombo, chef Manjit S Gill, IFCA president and corporate chef of ITC Welcomgroup, WICCA president chef Vernon Coelho, IFCA secretary chef P Soundararajan and chef Mougam Pareatumbee, WACS member and director of HTTC, Mauritius.

Margarine Showpiece, Chocolate Junkyard, Madhuka, Rainbow Italian Cheese Pastry and Achari Murg were some of the appealing exhibits at the competition. As for the hot cooking competition is concerned the presentation of some of the dishes was very innovative bringing to fore the talents of the participating chefs.

Chef Manjit S Gill was quite appreciative about the participants and said that most of the chefs had got their basics right. However, he did assert that they required more training. “They are not yet fit to compete at the international level which is why they need more exposure. And competitions such as this will definitely benefit them. I’m quite sure that this event will help them get new ideas and use them while in the hotel kitchen.”

Owing to high standards of judging some of the competitions didn’t even find winners in the end. According to the organisers, the high benchmark was in tandem with the international judging standards followed by competitions of this nature overseas. As a result, there were no winners for the three-tier cake section.

“It is heartening to see that a competition of this stature is held in India for the first time. More such competitions should be held in the future as the chefs will have a sense of achievement, motivation and it is a platform for them to exhibit their talent,” opined chef Gerard Mendis.

The judges had a tough time as contestants showed off their culinary artistic skills with pride. The petit fours, plated dishes and desserts category had 31 participants while the individual hot cooking competition for the students and trainees had 27 participants.

Chef Coelho was pleased that the participants showed lot of enthusiasm and dedication and opined that some participants had an incredible natural flair but that required fine tuning. “Our chefs are definitely skilled. They just need to learn more about presentation, use of special plates and so on. It is essential for them to compete at this level as it would help them know where they stand, which areas they have to improve and how to develop their skills.”

The winners were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals and a certificate for their efforts. In all there were 35 medals awarded to winners in their respective categories. Surprisingly enough, there was just one gold medal winner in the hot cooking category which was awarded to Supriya Dutta, sous chef, Taj Lands End Mumbai. This apart, there were 12 silver medals and 22 bronze medals which were handed over to the respective winners (see box) at the GICC Award Ceremony on the final day of HospitalityWorld 2005. The WICCA Junior Forum was also launch at the ceremony wherein chef Manjit S Gill, chef Gerard Mendis, chef Mougam, chef Vernon Coelho enlightened the audience with their useful insights and tips.

Speaking to Express Hotelier & Caterer, most of the participants opined that the competition has definitely benefited them by giving them an opportunity to network and gain new insights from the industry experts. They also considered it to be a good platform for exhibiting their skills and talents.