MUMBAI: India’s premium lifestyle channel, Living Foodz organized the second edition of Epicurean Guild Awards at an evening which saluted the game changers in India’s fine-dining, nightlife and lifestyle entertainment space. Held on March 22 at Sahara Star, Mumbai, the event was curated by Chef Manu Chandra. Living Foodz Epicurean Guild Awards paid ode to the country’s best fine-dining restaurants and lounges across 8 cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Goa.
Attended by India’s finest food mavens, influencers and eminent personalities such as Kunal Kapur, Maria Goretti, Amrita Raichand, Thomas Zacharias, Brinda Miller, Zeba Kohli, Kunal Vijayakar, Devita Saraf, Kelvin Cheung, Adarsh Munjal, Michael Swamy and Prahlad Kakar. The evening was a celebration of India’s evolving fine-dining and nightlife culture. Comedians Kunal Rao and Azeem Banatwalla had the audience in splits throughout the night.
The winners of this year’s Epicurean Guild Awards were:
JURY CHOICE AWARDS:
BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT: Yauatcha, Mumbai
BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT: MEGU -The Leela Palace, Delhi
BEST MULTI ASIAN RESTAURANT: Gung the Palace, Delhi
BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT: Artusi Ristorante E-Bar, Delhi
BEST EUROPEAN RESTAURANT: Masque, Mumbai
BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT: Dum Pukht - ITC Maurya, Delhi
BEST NEW INDIAN RESTAURANT: Royal Vega - ITC Grand Chola, Chennai
BEST FREESTYLE RESTAURANT: The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai
BEST NEW RESTAURANT: POH, Mumbai
BEST NIGHTLIFE EXPERIENCE: KOKO Asian Gastropub, Mumbai
BEST INDIAN WINERY: KRSMA Estates
ICONIC RESTAURANT: Bukhara - ITC Maurya, Delhi
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Madhur Jaffrey
NON-JURY AWARDS:
BEST FOOD ENTERTAINER: Kunal Kapur
BEST FOOD INSTAGRAMMER: Shivesh Bhatia
As the curator of the Epicurean Guild Awards Chef Manu Chandra said “The Epicurean Guild Awards are an attempt to redefine the narrative of fine-dining in India, which has undergone a significant transformation over the last few years. The awards champion India’s emerging stars who have put the country on the global culinary map. I have always rooted for the emergence of talent in this space and I am delighted to be a part of this unique property.”
While speaking about the evening Amit Nair said “At Living Foodz, we have always stood for creating new formats and intellectual properties.
The Epicurean Guild Awards in its second year have been a resounding success due to the meticulous approach and range of the jury involved. The award categories and winners reflect the diversity of India’s culinary landscape and I congratulate each one of them for setting the bar high. We are thrilled at the response from the consumer votes for the Best Food entertainer and Best Instagrammer of the year. The whopping 10k plus votes was a testament to the burgeoning interest in food related content both on TV and Digital, where we have maintained a sustained leadership.”
The awards were curated by Chef Manu Chandra along with an esteemed jury panel that consisted of an electric mix of the best chefs, influencers, and personalities from the food industry. It comprised of Chef Ranveer Brar, AD Singh, Karen Anand, Magandeep Singh, Bhaichand Patel, Ajay Chopra, Chef Rakhee Vaswani, Clinton Cerejo, Anoothi Vishal, Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal, Kalyan Karmakar, Mohit Anand, Nicole Madon, Nikhil Agarwal, Antoine Lewis, Anirban Blah, Osama Jalali, Ruma Singh, Gauri Devidayal, Ruth Dsouza Prabhu, Purva Mehra and Hemamalini Maiya. EY are the Process Advisors for the second edition of Living Foodz Epicurean Guild Awards 2018. The nomination process started by reviewing restaurants across the 8 cities, a dine out session followed by 2 jury deliberation rounds.
India Gate Brown Rice was the ‘Co-Powered By’ Sponsor and Volkswagen was the ‘Driven By’ Sponsor for the Epicurean Guild Awards 2018. Some of the strategic partnerships for the property included Radio One: Radio partner, Facebook- Social Media partner, Jean Claude Biguine - styling partner, The Hindu- Print Partner, FBAI- Blogging Partner, TGI.Co - Tea partner and Sahara Star- Hospitality partner.
