Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa is celebrating a trio of major culinary accolades following a wave of recognition at local, national and international level.
The honours kicked off at the Luxor Culinary Challenge 2012, recently staged and hosted by the ECA (Egyptian Chefs Association) in the city of Luxor, where Hilton’s executive sous chef Tarek Mohey El Din overcame tough competition to lead his team to victory in the live cooking category. Judges were impressed with the team’s locally inspired menu highlighting local produce and use of cultural influences of Egyptian cuisine. Dr Ezzat Saad, Governor of Luxor, was delighted to present the talented team with their winning prize of LE1000.
Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa’s head chef Paramasivam Shanker added to the hotel’s culinary competence after recently being nominated as a finalist in the hotly contested Chef of the Year category at the Middle East Caterer Awards.
A further competition short-listing for the hotel’s culinary team will take place on 17 October in Abu Dhabi, UAE, when the skilled team line up as a finalist at the Hilton Worldwide F&B Masters competition. They will go head to head in an all-day cook off with Conrad Pezula hotel from South Africa and Hilton Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The event’s judging panel, comprising external industry experts as well as senior F&B operational management from Hilton Worldwide, will have a tough time assessing the team’s original menu submissions as well as the demands of a black box round where teams need to create a superb dish from a range of mystery ingredients in limited time.
Christoph Schleissing, general manager of Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa said: “The hotel’s F&B team is enjoying an incredible winning cycle of recognition and awards right now which started with this year’s Luxor Culinary Challenge. We have some of the best chefs in the industry working with us and this event further demonstrates our enthusiasm in creating an exciting and rewarding culinary experience at our resort. I am thrilled to have such talented members demonstrate their skills on behalf of Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa.”