This 5-Star Restaurant Serves Global Cuisines Everyday

Chef Pankaj Rawat brings with him over 9 years of culinary experience. His professional career began after he obtained a degree in Hotel Management & Catering Technology from I.H.M Meerut. Chef has amassed diverse experience in the world of culinary arts and hospitality having worked with a couple of hotels like Courtyard by Marriott Gurgaon, Double Tree by Hilton Delhi, Hilton Jaipur, Marriott Jaipur etc. Prior to joining Le Méridien Gurgaon as Chef De Cuisine at Latest Recipe, his last assignment was with Marriott Jaipur as Sous Chef at Okra Kitchen.

What distinguishes him from others is his ability to play with every aspect of taste and texture. He often uses a wide variety of flavours to achieve the look and taste he wants to achieve with each and every dish. For him, cooking is the marriage of flavours and textures. Food evolves with time and he always tries to reinvent or add a new aspect to a dish, whichever cuisine it may be. Excerpts from the interview:

How have you seen food grow?

Earlier, people used to have street food and they would enjoy it but today people are going to the health side. They are looking at healthier options. And, it is going to be the biggest trend disrupting the dining trend in the country.

What’s cooking to you is?

For me cooking is bringing more fresh food and ingredients on the table. It should be eye catchy, healthy and appetite at the same time.

How does travel influence your techniques of cooking?

Travelling from one place to another actually gives you an opportunity to learn new techniques. Every place has its own uniqueness that is something which I am very keen towards. Being a chef I strive for new methods of cooking and experimenting with my food. Thus travel helps in a constant learning process. 

What is your favorite cuisine and why? 

My favorite cuisine is Continental as they got a lot of healthy and tasty options to choose from.

How are you focusing on presentation?

We use lots of micro greens and local ingredients for presentation. Also, we use lots of edible flowers that also look eye catchy and colourful on customer’s plate. We use mustard sprouts while presentation which has become a latest trend in the restaurant these days. These are all eye catchy as well as healthy for a customer.

What’s your responsibility at Latest Recipe?

As a Chef De Cuisine at Latest Recipe, I am responsible for all of the culinary operation of the restaurant. While my job keeps me confined in the kitchen spaces, I find escape over spending some time at the gym and keeping myself healthy. Apart from this I love adapting new styles.

How is Latest Recipe different from other restaurants?

Our buffet is different from other restaurants. We do global cuisine everyday depicting a state each day. We will be depicting one Asian country everyday this week---we will do Japanese today, Korean tomorrow. Likewise, we are working on doing Mexican, Italian etc. We will also do street foods menu; for eg while doing London we will depict streets of London and its food. It is going to be the biggest buffet in town. Latest Recipe is a global cuisine restaurant where we have something for everyone. It can satisfy the taste bud for people from different countries and that’s what makes Latest Recipe different from other restaurants. We also have lots of live counters for different food. Sushi, Sashimi, dimsums are also part of these counters. We have everything for health freaks, junk lovers and the likes.

Food Trends 2020

Healthy food has all the fibres in it without compromising on taste and quality. Hence, it will be the biggest trend. Vegan comfort food is also healthy food because people are subtracting their milk and milk based products. We have an extensive range of vegan food options also in our menu at Latest Recipe.

                                                                                                       With Inputs From: Kritika Agarwal