Twenty Years, Five Countries, One Discipline: The Career of Chef Manoj Kumar
New Delhi [India], September 23: In September 2000, Manoj Kumar joined The Park New Delhi as a commis. His first assignment was room service, the residence lounge and the coffee...
New Delhi [India], September 23: In September 2000, Manoj Kumar joined The Park New Delhi as a commis. His first assignment was room service, the residence lounge and the coffee shop, three outlets with three very different rhythms. Room service demands speed and accuracy with no margin for error. A lounge asks for polish. A coffee shop runs on steady volume from morning to night. For a young cook, moving between them is a demanding way to learn how a hotel kitchen actually works.
Recognition came early. He was named Merit Employee of the Year at The Park in 2004, and in 2005 the hotel sent him to represent it at the Great Indian Culinary Challenge in Mumbai, where he competed in the starters section. Around the same period he contributed to research on North East Indian cuisine and helped organise a festival built around it. It was work that took him beyond the familiar North Indian repertoire and into regional cooking few restaurant kitchens were exploring at the time.
