Hotel Staff Share Neta Stories

Chefs from plush restaurants tell City Express who likes what
Hotel Staff Share Neta Stories

Salman Khurshid loves pizzas, R Ashok orders kebabs and fish, and N A Harris goes for prawns, chefs from big restaurants told City Express. Some politicians impress chefs and hotel staff in the way they conduct themselves.

Nilesh Singh, food and beverage manager, Ritz Carlton, fondly remembers Kejriwal's recent visit to Bangalore.

"I was really excited to see him after all the hype that the Aam Aadmi Party had created. What impressed me was his simplicity. He kept the whole group of 150 group engrossed in his speech," he says.

He also remembers N A Haris and Govind Raju visiting their Chinese restaurant, the Lantern, often. "But politics, for me, is more about an individual like Nandan Nilekanilike than a party. If you give the responsibility of running a constituency to a person like him, it would be better for the country," he explains.

Surjan Singh Jolly, executive chef at the J W Marriott and a recurring guest on reality show Master Chef India, is not a huge fan of politicians and would rather cook for Bollywood any day.

"Are the elections really happening?" he asks. "May the good man win... I have cooked for many but I would rather not take any names."

He has cooked for Shatrugan Sinha and the Ambanis, and remembers his work at Madhuri Dixit's wedding and Amitabh Bachchan's 60th birthday.

Toscano, the eatery at UB City, is no stranger to politicians either. "We have quite a few ministers who come in regularly because of our location. Six months ago, we had our external affairs minister, Salman Khurshid, over. He ordered from our pizza selection," says Goutham Balasubramanian, chef, Toscano.

Serving succulent kebabs at the Jashn counter, executive chef Vijaya Baskaran, has seen many politicians ply in and out of the Le Meridien.

"Since it's election time, they are now busy in their constituencies, so they haven't been coming around too often lately. R Ashok is a regular here. He likes the fish items," he says.

N A Haris was spotted at The Paul as well as the Le Meridien recently. "We have a lot of regular politicians coming in, Harris being one of them. He likes our dry prawn dish. The corporator of the area, comes in often as well, and he prefers a mix of Kerala cuisine and other preparations," says Biju Mohammad, executive chef, Vembanad, The Paul.

Chefs for charity

Twenty chefs from choice restaurants in Bangalore came together for a charity event at The Ritz-Carlton recently. Proceeds from the sale of donor passes went to Sneha Nilaya, an orphanage run by the Franciscan Sisters Of The Immaculate Society, Langford Gardens, Bangalore. City Express took the opportunity to speak to the chefs about the politicians they had served.

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