The Hyatt Group has always focused on interactive experiences with the public, with an aim to bring people together while engaging with the brand. Recently, I was invited to be a judge at the semi-finals of the Hyatt Culinary Challenge – People Cooking For People at Grand Hyatt Goa in Bambolim.
It was such an honour for me to receive the invitation, seeing as it has been a dream of mine to judge a culinary show ever since I started diligently following the popular reality show Masterchef year after year.
This year was the fifth edition of the event, held on the gorgeous lawns of Grand Hyatt Goa with the beautiful bay in the background, where each participating business head was teamed with a child participant from the Bethesda Life Centre, a not-for-profit home that looks after the educational needs and cares for children of AIDS victims and commercial sex workers.
Eight participants rose to the challenge with the help of their ever-eager assistants to showcase their talents – vice president of operations at Casino Strike Dexter Pereira, allergist and clinical immunologist Anita Dudhane, managing director of Buzz Events Jerry Pinto, general manager of Eastbound Group John D’Souza, director of Nizanta Retail Ventures Lavanya Shet, director of Madame Rosa Distillery Mac Vaz, managing director of Vogue Luxury Weddings Shruti Tiwari, and COO of Snip Salons and Spas Sumeet Bhobe.
It was a tough decision as each dish looked beautiful, smelled delicious and tasted even more so. But I was helped along by my fellow judges – Fiesta owner Yellow Mehra, A Reverie owner and chef Aakritee Sinh and Grand Hyatt Goa’s executive chef David Ansted – and before long we had our winners.
It was a close tie, and the final decision rested on a neck-to-neck race between Jerry Pinto with his partner Reshma Bepari, and Lavanya Shet with her partner Anjali Talapathi. Lavanya’s Tiranga Pulav or Tricolour Rice was a riot of colour, aroma and taste, but Jerry won us over with the delicate flavours of his Camarões Portugueses.
This was a competition among the various Hyatt hotels in India, and all the winners and runners-up at the preliminary round are awarded a stay at various resorts across India. This means that Jerry Pinto will now travel to Hyderabad to participate in the Grand Finale in December this year.
We wish him the best of luck at the final round of this challenge, hoping he wins the amazing prize of a family holiday at an international destination of Hyatt. Overall, the entire event was well organised and offered a lovely day out for participants’ families and guests with engaging repartee and hosting by MC Ayesha Barretto, and a live band playing foot-tapping music through the day.
I wish the winner great inspiration and luck for his next round, and I only hope Grand Hyatt Goa will have me back next year as a judge once more.
Sinéad McManus 