Day 1

BCIHMCT inaugurated Chandiwala Hospitality Ensemble 2020 in association with KCCI (Korean Cultural Center India) on November 22, 2020. The significance of the occasion was heightened by the celebration of International Kimchi Day along with declaration of winners for the Korean Culinary Challenge being organized online, in association with BCIHMCT.

The program began with the traditional and auspicious LAMP LIGHTING by all dignitaries followed by the national anthem of the People Republic of Korea and then, India. Subsequently, the video address by Honourable Minister of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to India, Mr. Choi Jongho was screened for the Auguste gathering. This was followed by address by the Chief Guest, Prof. (Dr.) Mahesh Verma, Honorable Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Mr. Hwang Il-Yong, Director, Korean Cultural Center India.

The ceremony was graced by eminent dignitaries including Chief Guest, Prof. (Dr.) Mahesh Verma, Honourable Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Chef Parvinder S. Bali, Programme Manager, Culinary Services, Oberoi Center of Learning and Development (OCLD), Mr. Hwang Il-Yong, Director, Korean Cultural Centre India, Chef Vaibhav Bhargava, Consultant Chef, Chef Lokesh, Korean Chef at Crowne Plaza Greater NOIDA.

Mr. Choi Jongho, Honourable Minister of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to India, gave a virtual video address and appreciated the efforts of BCIHMCT along with strengthening of Indo-Korean relations. He especially congratulated Mr R K Bhandari and his team, for the commendable task being achieved during these unprecedented times. He was especially pleased to know the successful implementation of Pan India Cultural Korean Culinary Challenge and congratulated all the participants and winners.

Prof. (Dr.) Mahesh Verma, in his inaugural address extended a warm welcome to the eminent dignitaries from Korea. He appreciated the efforts of BCIHMCT as it is one of the most premier hospitality colleges and a flagship institute of GGSIP university. He emphasized on the hardships being faced by institutions while organizing these events and highlighted the goodwill of BCIHMCT in doing a great job for the students and the entire hospitality fraternity. He mentioned about the hospitality industry and the significance of Chandiwala Hospitality Ensemble for the budding hoteliers of modern generation. He narrated the gathering about his visit to Korea and the importance of the business of food in today’s times. Conclusively, he extended his warm wishes to the participants and his heartiest congratulations to the winners.

In the Korean Culinary Challenge, participants were asked to prepare any one Korean dish of their choice by using authentic recipe or innovative fusion. The video entries were assessed for the recipes, technique, passion, knowledge of the product, and plating skills, to determine the finalists and the ultimate winner.

The Korean Culinary Challenge was judged by
Lee, Yeon-soon, National food Master (The Republic of Korea)
Chef Vaibhav Bhargava, Consultant Chef
Chef Lokesh, Korean Chef at Crowne Plaza Greater NOIDA and
Chef Ranojit Kundu, Assistant Professor & HOD Patisserie at BCIHMCT. The list of Winners are:
Winner – Ms Aarushi Garg, IHM Chennai
First Runner Up – Mr Lalit Mehta, IHM Gurdaspur
Second Runner (Tie) – Ms. L. Renthlei (Korean Cultural Centre, New Delhi) & Ms. Sushmita Khatri (IHM Gwalior)

Day 2

BCIHMCT once again successfully organized the Virtual Chandiwala Hospitality Ensemble, 2020 and the award ceremony was a huge success with winners receiving awards and participants appreciated for their efforts in these unprecedented times. We believe that providing this huge platform to students would enable them to showcase their talent, innovation and skills in the most unique and innovative manner. The spirit of competition so developed will go a long way in enhancing their career prospects in the hospitality industry.

The participants from all across the nation sent their entries through video presentation and a special Youtube channel – BCIHMCT ONLINE was created for the purpose. A major criterion besides the presentation, ingredients, final dish prepared was the element of Youtube Likes for the purpose of judging the winners. It was indeed a tough task but ended up being a learning experience for everyone and more than 1000 subscribers of BCIHMCT ONLINE in just seven days.

So, now we move on to the award ceremony of Chandiwala Hospitality Ensemble, 2020. The ceremony began with the traditional Lamp Lighting by the Hon’ble Chief Guest – Mr Ranjan Banerjee– General manager; Crowne Plaza Okhla and Guest of Honour – Chef Neeraj Tyagi, Director of Culinary, Pullman and Novotel, Aerocity along with Mr R K Bhandari, Principal, BCIHMCT, New Delhi

The presence of all dignitaries not only added unparallel wisdom to the event but also contributed to the warmth and spirit of the event. The Chief Guest, Mr Ranjan Banerjee gave valuable insights which are expected from budding hoteliers in these difficult times. He emphasized that “A professional must learn the art of resilience and perseverance as these two qualities will create the difference now.” Chef Neeraj Tyagi also mentioned the need to be industry-ready and brace challenge as we go forward to delight the five-star customers of today.

After the lamp lighting, our Principal, Mr R.K. Bhandari addressed the gathering and shared his thoughts regarding the challenges faced in conducting the event online, overcoming them and successfully organizing and judging the competition virtually.

Taking into consideration the prevailing pandemic situation and the associated challenges, the event was streamed live on the official Facebook page of BCIHMCT and garnered over 8800 views.

The event continued further with the award facilitation ceremony for the various events conducted online namely - Cornitos Nachos Culinary Challenge, Sehatmand Bhartiya Vyanjan Paak Kala Pratiyogita, Fruit And Vegetable Carving Event, Sunrise Dress The Cake Challenge, Zone Bar Wizard Challenge, Chandiwala Towel Origami Competition, Chandiwala Future Chef Contest And Hospitality Brain Twister.

The winning positions for the CORNITOS NACHOS CULINARY CHALLENGE were bagged by Himanshu Rawat (First Position), Vansh Sapra(First Runner Up) and Shaktik Banerjee (Second Runner Up), BCIHMCT respectively.

The competition was judged by Chef Ajay Sood, Sr. Executive Chef, RK Associates; Chef Sanjay Aggarwal, Founder at Salad Chef, and Chef Nitin Pal Singh, Co-Founder Chef & Consultant, Cook And Bake Academy. The main idea of this competition was to prepare a dish with CORNITOS NACCHOS as the core ingredient.

The SEHATMAND BHARTIYA VYANJAN PAAK KALA PRATIYOGITA award which was given for preparation and plating of lost and hidden traditions of food was adjudicated by Chef Kapil Sahi, Executive Chef Radisson Noida; Chef Mahendra K Khairiya, founder and Director Culinary Mantra and Chef Shailendra Singh, Executive Chef at Four Points. The winning positions were taken by T.Jayitri of IHM Chennai (Winner), Deepa Kumar IHM Gurdaspur (First Runner Up) and Abhimanyu Burman Vedatya Institute (Second Runner up)

THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CARVING was the next event to be judged by the eminent panel of judges. This contest had the competitors beautifully amalgamate their artistic skills and culinary knowledge to carve fruits and/or vegetables to make eye-catchy caricature adhering to the themes of their choice. Chef Prem Kumar Pogakula, Executive Chef, The Imperial and Chef Jitender, Sous Chef, ITDC, The Ashok constituted the panel of judges for this contest. The winners were Andrew Lee Jyth of IHM Chennai, Aditya Mittal -BCIHMCT and Aditya Shrivastava – IHM Gurdaspur respectively.

Adding little elements to a simple cake to make it visually pleasing and give it a tempting look was the challenge that constituted the next event titled, SUNRISE DRESS THE CAKE CHALLENGE. Renowned Chefs from the industry; Chef Vivek Chauhan, Executive Pastry Chef, Le Meridien Hotel, and Chef Tarun Kumar, Corporate Chef, Sunrise Victuals were the Jury for this competition who selected Vaisali N. of IHM Chennai as the Winner followed by Sachin Verma of Vedatya and Sejal Singh of BCIHMCT as runner-ups.

“The greatest accomplishment of a bartender lies in his ability to exactly suit his customer.” Sponsored by Zone, the BAR WIZARD CHALLENGE aimed at providing a platform to the students to showcase their bartending skills. This event was judged by Mr Ganga Bahadur Khatri, Corporate Director, Exotic Celebration Pvt. Ltd, and Mr Ullas Arora, F&B Manager, Crowne Plaza Mayur Vihar. First place was awarded to Satyam Kumar, BCHIMCT followed by first and second runner up, namely, Anshul Sawhney Vedatya Gurugram and Paras Bansal from IHM Gurdaspur.

The winners of CHANDIWALA TOWEL ORIGAMI COMPETITION were selected by Ms Neeraj Sharma, Head Estate Management, Delhi International Airport Limited and Mr Abhishek Lamba, Executive Housekeeper, Carlson Group. The awards for this category were awarded to Simran Passi BCIHMCT as the winner and Aina Sharma IHM Gurdaspur and Rahul Sharma of BCIHMCT as the first and second runner-ups respectively.

The fireless cooking challenge CHANDIWALA FUTURE CHEF CONTEST 2020 was judged by Chef Ravindra Choudhary, Executive Chef, FIO Cookhouse & Bar & Chef Parth Bharti, Executive Chef, Lantern’s Kitchen and Bar & Ohdeli. This contest provided an ideal opportunity for the school students to portray their proficient culinary talent onto a platter. The winning entries included Harshika Arya – Fr. Angel School Vaishali, Prabhat Arya – St. Andrews Sr Scot Secondary School & Avin Sharma from Cygnus World School Vadodara.

OXFORD HOSPITALITY BRAIN TWISTER 2020 was organized to test the skills and knowledge of students. The quiz was designed to understand the participant’s knowledge, awareness and concepts about the wide hospitality world. The participants in the brain twister were totally independent during the online quiz where they were not allowed to be dependent on any external source for their benefit. Winners of the competition are Shobhit Anand, Vedatya Institute Gurgaon (Winner), Kunal Grover, BCIHMCT (First Runner Up), and Madhavaraman M, IHM Chennai (Second Runner Up)

The event was formally concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Prem Ram, Event Coordinator Chandiwala Hospitality Ensemble 2020. He appreciated and thanked all the distinguished guests and members of the jury. Dr Prem Ram expressed gratitude on behalf of BCHIMCT for the time and support extended by the Jury and guests. Mementos were presented to felicitate all the guests including the judges.

It was well worth facing the challenges while organizing the event virtually, given the dedication and exuberant zeal displayed by all participants.