Vpakhiddey

Vasant Mangal Pakhiddey, born and raised in India, and later moved to New York city has always had a passion for cooking. Since graduating from the Institute of Hotel Management Pusa, New Delhi, he has spent more than twenty years working in various renowned hotels of Taj Group in India. His upfront style and culinary skills have brought him much attention in developing his career. His career started in 1981, as a kitchen trainee at Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, where he worked for few years cultivating his talent. Following his tenure there, he became an executive Chef for various Taj Group hotels such as Hotel Hans (New Delhi) Hotel Chandela(Khajuraho) Hotel Woodland( Shrinagar) and Hotel Taj Residency(Aurangabad) His hardwork and dedication acquired him distinction of handling over a hundred state banquets. Besides being an active member of Indian Culinary Forum, he was also involved in organizing outdoor catering for Prince Charles', former priminister, John Major and other top celebrities of India during banquet parties held at Taj Mahal Hotel. He organized several food related competitions with his senior chefs during his career; his organizational skills have taken his talent to food festivals in Switzerland and food competitions in Singapore. His talent and creativity have been featured in the top newspapers of India. In 1985 and 1987 he attended the culinary institute program (C.I.A) which is organized by Taj Group where he got an opportunity to interact with chef instructor Gerend Byrne from CIA. Ex Election commissioner T.S.Sheshan and well known Indian film star use to be his regular customers for Indian food. Roopa Gulati, Jigs Karla a writer for Indian Express wrote his recipes of Maharashtrian dishes such as "Pooran Poli" and Italian and bakery product. In the year 1998, he came to New York to open the first "Cafe Spice", located on University Place in New York. As Executive Chef, Cafe Spice expanded into a chain of various restaurants and express outlets. In May 2007, he started fine dinning restaurant (INDIGO) which is the best Indian Restaurant in NJ. In May 2008, Chef joined the biggest flight catering company in NY: Get Gourmet as chef. At present, he responsible for airline catering for Flying food group for Indian Food at Newark Airport. He has been featured in various newspapers in New York, New Jersey and India. Some of which include New York Times, The Star-Ledger, India in New York and The Times of India.