Thursday 12 September 2013

Seven Michelin-Starred Chefs to Dish Up Eight Days of Feasting in Delhi & Mumbai

By Sourish Bhattacharyya
Non-profit Creative Services
Support Group founder Anand
Kapoor had orchestrated a
memorable nine-course charity
dinner accompanied by music
at The Oberoi Gurgaon last year

HAVE you fancied having canapés suspended from helium balloons floating at your nose level? If you did nurture such a dream, you can spoil yourself when the French arts group La Cellule unveils its floating buffet on October 1 in one of a series of charity events being organised by Anand Kapoor, the powerhouse behind the non-profit Creative Services Support Group (CSSG), between September 28 and October 5 in Delhi and Mumbai.
Kapoor says he’s “going mental” — well, he’s not exaggerating, for he has a full-time job in New Delhi with a UK-based, BAFTA Award-winning design house and CSSG is the organisation he runs in his spare time to provide skill development opportunities to talented young men and women from economically marginalised families.
Seven Michelin-starred chefs from England, Scotland and Spain and two of Australia’s top ‘hatted’ chefs are participating in this year’s CSSG Summit 2013: Food and Art Edition. The programme includes four dinners and breakfasts curated by the visiting chefs in Delhi and Mumbai; a day of ‘food art installations’ in Delhi to accompany talks by actor Nandita Das and Golf Australia’s brand ambassador and acclaimed chef Ian Curley; two days of master classes at the restaurant Le Cirque; a gala dinner in Delhi featuring a performance by the singers of Glyndebourne, the 600-year-old opera house in Sussex, England; and the release of a book of recipes by the international chefs associated with the CSSG’s initiatives.
Kapoor informs me that the tickets to the gala dinner took just half an hour to sell out! The master classes, too, have been snapped up by the Australian High Commission (September 27) and the Delhi Gourmet Club (October 2). Also engaged in this mega-celebration of food and philanthropy are Delhi’s most talented chefs Manish Mehrotra, Ritu Dalmia, Nira Singh, Sabyasachi ‘Saby’ Gorai, Jatin Mallick, Mickey Boite and Avanti Mathur.
Last year, Kapoor had organised an unprecedented charity dinner where he had seven international celebrity chefs, including UK-based Vineet Bhatia and Anjum Anand, prepare a nine-course meal served to the accompaniment of music presented by B.L.O.T. at The Oberoi Gurgaon. The money he raised from the event was used to support four young men, who spent their childhood growing up homeless in the New Delhi Railway Station, realise their life’s ambition of becoming chefs. These aspiring chefs, whose further career development, up to a stint with Michelin-star restaurants in the U.K., is being supported by the Delhi Gourmet Club, are working with the restaurant Tres, the patisserie chain L’Opera, the French eatery Chez Nini and pastry chef Avanti Mathur’s Sweet Nothings.
The chefs you’ll see in action this year are:
Frances Atkins, The Yorke Arms, Patley Bridge, North Yorkshire (Michelin Starred), who’s one of only six women chefs in Britain to have a Michelin star.
Ian Curley, The European, Melbourne (Hatted), who’s a celebrated chef famous for teaching cooking to the homeless and working for the rehab of alcohol and drug abuse victims.
Mark Best, Marque, Sydney (Hatted), who’s a former electrician, a brilliant exponent of French cuisine and has worked with such global maestros as Alain Passard and Raymond Blanc.
Alyn Williams, Alyn Williams at The Westbury, London (Michelin Starred), who’s been Marcus Wareing’s head chef at The Berkeley and is the youngest in this lot of seasoned hands.
Michael Wignall, The Latymer, Surrey, (Michelin Starred), who’s an extreme sport fanatic when he’s not running his Michelin two-star establishment.
Roger Pizey, Marco’s, Stamford Bridge, London (Michelin Starred), who’s an acolyte of Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White and has reignited the British passion for traditional pastry treats.
Laurie Gear, The Artichoke, Buckinghamshire (Michelin Starred), who’s a largely self-taught chef, having started his career washing dishes, but he’s a fine exponent of European cuisine.
Marcello Tully, Kinloch Lodge, Isle of Skye, Scotland (Michelin Starred), who’s a big promoter of sustainable eating, slow food and British farm products.
Fernando del Cerro, Casa José Aranjuez, Madrid (Michelin Starred), who’s famous for his culinary creations with the produce of Aranjuez’s historical vegetable garden.
A treat awaits Delhi before it goes into the Navaratra mode and steers clear of all that’s good to eat and drink.



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