The Guide Restaurant Awards 2019 gather F&B talent across generations in a credible celebration of food, drink and hospitality
Mid-day executive editor Tinaz Nooshian and Mid-day Infomedia Ltd CEO Sandeep Khosla announce the award for Best New Ice Cream Parlour. PICS/ RANE ASHISH, NIMESH DAVE, PRADEEP DHIVAR, SHADAB KHAN AND SATEJ SHINDE
The moment when a room full of Mumbai’s most sought- after restaurateurs and Bollywood influencers were caught in rapture was not when the most coveted award of the night was announced, but when the owners of Mumbai’s 10 last surviving Irani cafés made it to stage for a group photograph that’s sure to go down in the nostalgia books.
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Kunal Vijayakar and Cyrus Broacha work the audience
Gauri Devidayal and Vicky Ratnani
The audience applauds the contribution of Sukh Sagar's Suresh Poojari to city's culinary evolution
Vicky Ratnani and Mukhtar Qureshi greet Rahul Akerkar (right, bottom)
Rahul Akerkar hands the Rising Star award to Aneesh Bhasin which he shares with Sahil Jatana of Svami
Held at The St Regis Mumbai, Mid- day’s annual celebration of food and drink talent — The Guide Restaurant Awards — saw the introduction of The Iconic Cultural Institution award to honour the enduring culinary contribution by a diaspora community.
Kubbra Sait, Vicky Ratnani and Pooja Dhingra
Malaika Arora and Shobhita Dhulipala
Outstanding Culinary Entrepreneur winner Amninder Sandhu and Ranveer Brar work their social handles between laughs
Amir Koolar Irani greets fellow Iranian Boman Irani in Persian style as Kunal Vijayakar captures the frame
Malaika Arora with the team behind Best New Restaurant Miss T, Pankil Shah, Gauri Devidayal, Jay Yousuf and Sumit Gambhir
Naimita Jagasia and Isha Shetty, finalists in Best New Patisserie category
Saee Koranne-Khandekar, winner of Food Chronicler of the Year with Gresham Fernandes
Beverley Pereira of Candies, winner of Bombay Adda – Readers’ Choice award
Amyra Dastur
Actor Boman Irani turned raconteur as he shared his own story of a family that made its way from Iran to Bombay against the odds, and how the child of Persian immigrants ran a wafer store for years before he channeled his passion to eventually become one of Indian cinema’s tallest figures.
Maria Goretti, Rasika Dugal and Huma Qureshi
Rishad Nathani of The Clearing House Bakery, and pastry chef Husna Jumani, winners of Best New Patisserie, with Rasika Dugal
Giving them company was the brain behind the Sukh Sagar chain of eateries, Suresh Poojari, who won the Bombay Boss award for giving the city what could well be its first Indian fast food experience.
Best New Spanish Restaurant winner Vidur Kapoor of El Mercado with Riyaaz Amlani
Chef Amninder Sandhu takes a selfie with Parvez Patel of Ideal Corner
Rajkummar Rao greets Boman Irani
Mid-day executive editor Tinaz Nooshian and Mid-day Infomedia Ltd CEO Sandeep Khosla announce the award for Best New Ice Cream Parlour.
Winners of Iconic Cultural Institution — The Surviving Irani Café with Boman Irani (left to right) Mirza and Aga Nazariyan of Café Colony, Gustad Dinshaw of Café Dela Paix, Ardeshir Mazkoori of Café Excelsior, Humin Irani of Cosmopolitan, Parvez Patel of Ideal Corner, Amir Koolar Irani of Koolar & Co., Meheraban Kola of Sassanian Boulangerie, Shirin and Sheriar Khosravi of Café Military
Malaika Arora with winners of Best New Bar, Akriti Agarwal and Manas Shah
Mona Singh with the winners of Best New Regional Restaurant, (left to right) Dharmesh Karmokar (Duma Dum Mast Kalandar), Hitesh Vijan (House of Lloyd), Priyadarshini Dey (Rajbari Rasai) and Kishor DF (Tanjore Tiffin Room)
Romil Ratra with Sahil Arora and Riddhi Merchant of 266-The Wine Room and Bar, winners of Best New Wine Bar
Sumeet Vyas
Rajkummar Rao
Esha Gupta and Kubbra Sait enjoy the a capella version of London Thumakda
Ehsaan Noorani
Karyna Bajaj of Hakkasan receives the award for Ode to The City from Jagran Prakashan Ltd. president Apurva Purohit
The Guide editor Fiona Fernandez and Farrokh Khambata with winner of Bombay Boss Suresh Poojari and son Bharat
Mid-day executive editor Tinaz Nooshian with Riyaaz Amlani, winner of Best New F&B Idea for Flea Bazaar Café
Vicky Ratnani with Mukhtar Qureshi and Yogesh Sonawane of Ummrao, winners of Best New Indian Restaurant
Huma Qureshi and Milind Ruparel, director of Ruparel Realty, with Lakhan Jethani and Vedant Malik of Mizu
Elie Houbeich, EAM – Food and Beverage, The St Regis Mumbai, hands the Best New Celebrity Den trophy to Saurabh Deshmukh of Cecconi’s – Soho House
Rahul Bose with Shailendra Kekade of Santé Spa Cuisine
Maria Goretti gives the Best New Takeaway award to Ashwin Ramachandran of Milliways – Broth Noodle & Bao
Vijay Varma hands Buntoo Singh of Quarter Canteen the award for Best New VFM Bar
Nachiket Barve with Umang Shah of The Junction, winner of Best New VFM Restaurant
Mid-day Infomedia Ltd. CEO Sandeep Khosla hands the award for Best New Witching Hour Grub to Thooso owners Jaikumar Taurani and Adhyayan Suman
Dhruvi Acharya and Shilpa Gupta with Crafters Tap House’s Vipul Hirani, winner of Best New Brewery
Deepak Vaswani, Vice President of The Royal Bombay Yacht Club, winner of the Toast of Gymkhanas award, with Kunal Vijayakar and Ayesha Broacha
Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage of O Pedro chat up Pablo Aranjo Agular and Pooja Dhingra
As debutants and veterans shared the stage in a genuine competition spanning close to 100 finalists across 28 categories, the city’s biggest chefs turned up to cheer those who would carry on their legacy, as well as those who had laid the foundation for their culinary growth.
Designer Nachiket Barve (left) and Jaspreet Chandok, Head of Fashion at IMG Reliance at The Guide Restaurant Awards 2019
Mid-day Executive editor Tinaz Nooshian, Jaspreet Chandok, Head of Fashion, IMG Reliance, independent fashion writer, Mid-day, Shweta Shiware
Hosts for the night, Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijayakar, proved to the audience once again that stand- up is, and has been their forte long before it became the 'it' profession for millennials.
The big awards of the night — Best New Bar and Best New Restaurant — went to the teams behind Thirsty City 127 and Miss T respectively.
Guests enjoy the brand new disruptive, craft wine from the Nashik valley, Indiosa, at the after-party
Sunila Duggal of The St Regis Mumbai catches up with Ehsaan Noorani
Lakhan Jethani and Vedant Malik
Guests at the Ballantine’s 12 Years bar
Abhishek and Pragya Kapoor
The Jaguar Land Rover station at the Astor Terrace of The St Regis Mumbai
A capella and beat boxing band Aflatunes
Cyrus Broacha tests the guests’ knowledge of Mumbai’s food history in a quiz. Also seen, Gauri Devidayal, Malaika Arora, Shobhita Dhulipala, Anurag Katriar, and Boman Irani
Outstanding Entrepreneur (Beverages) Keshav Prakash shows off his trophy to Jay Yousuf of Miss T
Esha Gupta and Crispin Simon, British Deputy High Commissioner, Mumbai, with Bayroute’s Arjun Kher, winner of Best New Middle Eastern and Levantine Restaurant
Winners in the Best New Café category, Pooja Dhingra and Pablo Aranjo Agular of Le15 Petit Café receive their award from Rajkummar Rao
Devendra Sanghvi of Happy House Kitchen, Best New Vegetarian Restaurant
Vishodhan Shah, GM - brand strategy and marketing, Ruparel Realty
Winner of best New Ice Cream Parlour, Chaitanya Rele of Huber & Holly
The complete list of winners:
BEST NEW BREWERY
CRAFTERS TAP HOUSE, POWAI
BEST NEW WINE BAR
266 – THE WINE ROOM AND BAR, BANDRA (W)
BEST NEW SOUTH INDIAN RESTAURANT
TANJORE TIFFIN ROOM, VERSOVA
BEST NEW SINDHI RESTAURANT
DUMA DUM MAST KALANDAR, CHEMBUR
BEST NEW BENGALI RESTAURANT
RAJBARI RASOI, ANDHERI (W)
BEST NEW GOAN RESTAURANT
HOUSE OF LLOYD, JUHU
BEST NEW WITCHING HOUR GRUB
THOOSO, ANDHERI (W)
BEST NEW VFM RESTAURANT
THE JUNCTION, MAHIM
BEST NEW VFM BAR
QUARTER CANTEEN, BANDRA
BEST NEW VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT
HAPPY HOUSE KITCHEN, GIRGAUM
BEST NEW TAKEAWAY
MILLIWAYS – BROTH NOODLE & BAO, GRANT ROAD
BEST NEW PATISSERIE
THE CLEARING HOUSE BAKERY, BALLARD ESTATE
BEST NEW ICE CREAM PARLOUR
HUBER & HOLLY, JUHU
BEST NEW HEALTHY MENU
SANTÉ SPA CUISINE, BKC
BEST NEW CELEBRITY DEN
CECCONI’S – SOHO HOUSE, JUHU
BEST NEW CAFÉ
LE15 PETIT CAFÉ, GOREGAON
BEST NEW ASIAN RESTAURANT
MIZU, WORLI
BEST NEW INDIAN RESTAURANT
UMMRAO, ANDHERI (E)
BEST NEW INTERNATIONAL CUISINE RESTAURANT – SPANISH
EL MERCADO, BANDRA
BEST NEW MIDDLE EASTERN AND LEVANTINE RESTAURANT
BAYROUTE, COLABA
FOOD CHRONICLER OF THE YEAR
SAEE KORANNE-KHANDEKAR
BEST NEW F&B IDEA
FLEA BAZAAR CAFÉ, LOWER PAREL
ODE TO THE CITY
THE MUGHAL MARTINI AT HAKKASAN, BANDRA
TOAST OF GYMKHANAS
THE ROYAL BOMBAY YACHT CLUB, COLABA
BOMBAY BOSS
SURESH POOJARI, OWNER SUKH SAGAR CHAIN
READERS’ CHOICE AWARD — BOMBAY ADDA
CANDIES, BANDRA
ICONIC CULTURAL INSTITUTION — THE SURVIVING IRANI CAFÉ
KOOLAR & CO, MATUNGA
CAFE DELA PAIX, GIRGAUM
IDEAL CORNER, FORT
COSMOPOLITAN, PRARTHANA SAMAJ
CAFÉ EXCELSIOR, FORT
CAFÉ MILITARY, FORT
CAFÉ COLONY, DADAR (E)
SASSANIAN BOULANGERIE,
DHOBI TALAO
BYCULLA RESTAURANT
AND BAKERY, BYCULLA (E)
KYANI & CO, DHOBI TALAO
THE RISING STAR
ANEESH BHASIN, SAHIL JATANA AND RAHUL MEHRA FOR SVAMI
OUTSTANDING ENTREPRENEUR (CULINARY)
AMNINDER SANDHU
OUTSTANDING ENTREPRENEUR (BEVERAGES)
KESHAV PRAKASH
BEST NEW BAR
THIRSTY CITY 123, LOWER PAREL
BEST NEW RESTAURANT
MISS T, COLABA
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