For someone whose career spans across five decades and has constantly raised the bar as far as food is concerned, Chef Manjit Gill has a simple mantra: ‘constant innovation’.
After graduating from the Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa, New Delhi, in 1974, he joined the Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development as a Food Production Trainee for two years and graduated in 1976. In this stint, he worked in all areas of food production, after which he joined ITC Maurya Sheraton in 1977 and took over as Executive Chef ITC Maurya Sheraton in 1981. In his almost 43-year stint at ITC Hotels, he has successfully operated F&B Production and created some of the best restaurants of Indian foods in the country. These include Bukhara, the Northwest frontier tandoori cuisine; Dum Pukht, cuisine from Avadh; Dakshin, which serves specialised food from the four states of South India; Kabab & Kurry that serves kebabs and curry dishes from across India; and Royal Vega, a vegetarian food restaurant. His efforts in building these restaurants and their food have made Bukhara and Dum Pukht bag spots in the top 50 best restaurants in Asia and the world by Restaurant Magazine, UK.
Currently, he has been the Managing Director of Ecogreen Hospitality Private Limited for the last couple of years. This is an organisation that provides complete food and beverage solutions, product development and innovation, menu franchising and restaurant menu development.
His achievements and contributions have seen him win the Lifetime Achievement Award from India’s Ministry of Tourism in January 2006. He has also been given the ‘Punjabi Gold Award’ by the World Punjabi Organization in 2007 and the Paryatan Ratan (Jewel of Tourism) by Panjab University in March 2016.
He has always been passionate about researching and applying ancient Indian cuisine and an advocate of sustainable food philosophy of Indian Vedic knowledge, and is the champion of all things good food. He is the President of the Indian Federation of Culinary Associations and has India’s membership of the World Association of Chef’s Societies – WorldChefs.
He has authored several books, including ‘Eating wisely & well’ by Penguin, ‘Fire / Water / Earth / Air / Ether Secrets of Indian gastronomy’ and ‘Indian Spa Cuisine’. As a founding member of the monthly magazine ‘Cuisine Digest’, he works towards sharing knowledge with and from other chefs.
For someone whose food philosophy is about being an experience of happiness, serenity and joyful living, he considers his kitchen to be his temple where the learning of the past transfers into the future.
