Guide Awards: Mid-day crowns 2018-19's F&B stars

The Guide Restaurant Awards 2019 gather F&B talent across generations in a credible celebration of food, drink and hospitality

The moment when a room full of Mumbai’s most sought- after restaurateurs and Bollywood influencers were caught in rapture was not when the most coveted award of the night was announced, but when the owners of Mumbai’s 10 last surviving Irani cafés made it to stage for a group photograph that’s sure to go down in the nostalgia books.

Kunal Vijayakar and Cyrus Broacha work the audience

Gauri Devidayal and Vicky Ratnani

The audience applauds the contribution of Sukh Sagar's Suresh Poojari to city's culinary evolution

Vicky Ratnani and Mukhtar Qureshi greet Rahul Akerkar (right, bottom)

Rahul Akerkar hands the Rising Star award to Aneesh Bhasin which he shares with Sahil Jatana of Svami

Held at The St Regis Mumbai, Mid- day’s annual celebration of food and drink talent — The Guide Restaurant Awards — saw the introduction of The Iconic Cultural Institution award to honour the enduring culinary contribution by a diaspora community.

Kubbra Sait, Vicky Ratnani and Pooja Dhingra

Malaika Arora and Shobhita Dhulipala

Outstanding Culinary Entrepreneur winner Amninder Sandhu and Ranveer Brar work their social handles between laughs

Amir Koolar Irani greets fellow Iranian Boman Irani in Persian style as Kunal Vijayakar captures the frame

Malaika Arora with the team behind Best New Restaurant Miss T, Pankil Shah, Gauri Devidayal, Jay Yousuf and Sumit Gambhir 

Naimita Jagasia and Isha Shetty, finalists in Best New Patisserie category

Saee Koranne-Khandekar, winner of Food Chronicler of the Year with Gresham Fernandes

Beverley Pereira of Candies, winner of Bombay Adda – Readers’ Choice award 

Amyra Dastur

Actor Boman Irani turned raconteur as he shared his own story of a family that made its way from Iran to Bombay against the odds, and how the child of Persian immigrants ran a wafer store for years before he channeled his passion to eventually become one of Indian cinema’s tallest figures.

Maria Goretti, Rasika Dugal and Huma Qureshi 

Rishad Nathani of The Clearing House Bakery, and pastry chef Husna Jumani, winners of Best New Patisserie, with Rasika Dugal

Giving them company was the brain behind the Sukh Sagar chain of eateries, Suresh Poojari, who won the Bombay Boss award for giving the city what could well be its first Indian fast food experience.

Best New Spanish Restaurant winner Vidur Kapoor of El Mercado with Riyaaz Amlani

Chef Amninder Sandhu takes a selfie with Parvez Patel of Ideal Corner

Rajkummar Rao greets Boman Irani

Mid-day executive editor Tinaz Nooshian and Mid-day Infomedia Ltd CEO Sandeep Khosla announce the award for Best New Ice Cream Parlour. 

Winners of Iconic Cultural Institution — The Surviving Irani Café with Boman Irani (left to right) Mirza and Aga Nazariyan of Café Colony, Gustad Dinshaw of Café Dela Paix, Ardeshir Mazkoori of Café Excelsior, Humin Irani of Cosmopolitan, Parvez Patel of Ideal Corner, Amir Koolar Irani of Koolar & Co., Meheraban Kola of Sassanian Boulangerie, Shirin and Sheriar Khosravi of Café Military 

Malaika Arora with winners of Best New Bar, Akriti Agarwal and Manas Shah

Mona Singh with the winners of Best New Regional Restaurant, (left to right) Dharmesh Karmokar (Duma Dum Mast Kalandar), Hitesh Vijan (House of Lloyd), Priyadarshini Dey (Rajbari Rasai) and Kishor DF (Tanjore Tiffin Room)

Romil Ratra with Sahil Arora and Riddhi Merchant of 266-The Wine Room and Bar, winners of Best New Wine Bar

Sumeet Vyas

Rajkummar Rao

Esha Gupta and Kubbra Sait enjoy the a capella version of London Thumakda

Ehsaan Noorani

Karyna Bajaj of Hakkasan receives the award for Ode to The City from Jagran Prakashan Ltd. president Apurva Purohit

The Guide editor Fiona Fernandez and Farrokh Khambata with winner of Bombay Boss Suresh Poojari and son Bharat

Mid-day executive editor Tinaz Nooshian with Riyaaz Amlani, winner of Best New F&B Idea for Flea Bazaar Café 

Vicky Ratnani with Mukhtar Qureshi and Yogesh Sonawane of Ummrao, winners of Best New Indian Restaurant 

Huma Qureshi and Milind Ruparel, director of Ruparel Realty, with Lakhan Jethani and Vedant Malik of Mizu

Elie Houbeich, EAM – Food and Beverage, The St Regis Mumbai, hands the Best New Celebrity Den trophy to Saurabh Deshmukh of Cecconi’s – Soho House

Rahul Bose with Shailendra Kekade of Santé Spa Cuisine 

Maria Goretti gives the Best New Takeaway award to Ashwin Ramachandran of Milliways – Broth Noodle & Bao

Vijay Varma hands Buntoo Singh of Quarter Canteen the award for Best New VFM Bar

Nachiket Barve with Umang Shah of The Junction, winner of Best New VFM Restaurant

Mid-day Infomedia Ltd. CEO Sandeep Khosla hands the award for Best New Witching Hour Grub to Thooso owners Jaikumar Taurani and Adhyayan Suman

Dhruvi Acharya and Shilpa Gupta with Crafters Tap House’s Vipul Hirani, winner of Best New Brewery

Deepak Vaswani, Vice President of The Royal Bombay Yacht Club, winner of the Toast of Gymkhanas award, with Kunal Vijayakar and Ayesha Broacha

Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage of O Pedro chat up Pablo Aranjo Agular and Pooja Dhingra

As debutants and veterans shared the stage in a genuine competition spanning close to 100 finalists across 28 categories, the city’s biggest chefs turned up to cheer those who would carry on their legacy, as well as those who had laid the foundation for their culinary growth.

Designer Nachiket Barve (left) and Jaspreet Chandok, Head of Fashion at IMG Reliance at The Guide Restaurant Awards 2019

Mid-day Executive editor Tinaz Nooshian, Jaspreet Chandok, Head of Fashion, IMG Reliance, independent fashion writer, Mid-day, Shweta Shiware

Hosts for the night, Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijayakar, proved to the audience once again that stand- up is, and has been their forte long before it became the 'it' profession for millennials.

The big awards of the night — Best New Bar and Best New Restaurant — went to the teams behind Thirsty City 127 and Miss T respectively.

Guests enjoy the brand new disruptive, craft wine from the Nashik valley, Indiosa, at the after-party

Sunila Duggal of The St Regis Mumbai catches up with Ehsaan Noorani

Lakhan Jethani and Vedant Malik

Guests at the Ballantine’s 12 Years bar

Abhishek and Pragya Kapoor

The Jaguar Land Rover station at the Astor Terrace of The St Regis Mumbai

A capella and beat boxing band Aflatunes

Cyrus Broacha tests the guests’ knowledge of Mumbai’s food history in a quiz. Also seen, Gauri Devidayal, Malaika Arora, Shobhita Dhulipala, Anurag Katriar, and Boman Irani

Outstanding Entrepreneur (Beverages) Keshav Prakash shows off his trophy to Jay Yousuf of Miss T

Esha Gupta and Crispin Simon, British Deputy High Commissioner, Mumbai, with Bayroute’s Arjun Kher, winner of Best New Middle Eastern and Levantine Restaurant

Winners in the Best New Café category, Pooja Dhingra and Pablo Aranjo Agular of Le15 Petit Café receive their award from Rajkummar Rao

Devendra Sanghvi of Happy House Kitchen, Best New Vegetarian Restaurant

Vishodhan Shah, GM - brand strategy and marketing, Ruparel Realty

Winner of best New Ice Cream Parlour, Chaitanya Rele of Huber & Holly 

The complete list of winners:

BEST NEW BREWERY
CRAFTERS TAP HOUSE, POWAI

BEST NEW WINE BAR
266 – THE WINE ROOM AND BAR, BANDRA (W)

BEST NEW SOUTH INDIAN RESTAURANT
TANJORE TIFFIN ROOM, VERSOVA

BEST NEW SINDHI RESTAURANT
DUMA DUM MAST KALANDAR, CHEMBUR

BEST NEW BENGALI RESTAURANT
RAJBARI RASOI, ANDHERI (W)

BEST NEW GOAN RESTAURANT
HOUSE OF LLOYD, JUHU

BEST NEW WITCHING HOUR GRUB
THOOSO, ANDHERI (W)

BEST NEW VFM RESTAURANT
THE JUNCTION, MAHIM

BEST NEW VFM BAR
QUARTER CANTEEN, BANDRA

BEST NEW VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT
HAPPY HOUSE KITCHEN, GIRGAUM

BEST NEW TAKEAWAY
MILLIWAYS – BROTH NOODLE & BAO, GRANT ROAD

BEST NEW PATISSERIE
THE CLEARING HOUSE BAKERY, BALLARD ESTATE

BEST NEW ICE CREAM PARLOUR
HUBER & HOLLY, JUHU

BEST NEW HEALTHY MENU
SANTÉ SPA CUISINE, BKC

BEST NEW CELEBRITY DEN
CECCONI’S – SOHO HOUSE, JUHU

BEST NEW CAFÉ
LE15 PETIT CAFÉ, GOREGAON

BEST NEW ASIAN RESTAURANT
MIZU, WORLI

BEST NEW INDIAN RESTAURANT
UMMRAO, ANDHERI (E)

BEST NEW INTERNATIONAL CUISINE RESTAURANT – SPANISH
EL MERCADO, BANDRA

BEST NEW MIDDLE EASTERN AND LEVANTINE RESTAURANT
BAYROUTE, COLABA

FOOD CHRONICLER OF THE YEAR
SAEE KORANNE-KHANDEKAR

BEST NEW F&B IDEA
FLEA BAZAAR CAFÉ, LOWER PAREL

ODE TO THE CITY
THE MUGHAL MARTINI AT HAKKASAN, BANDRA

TOAST OF GYMKHANAS
THE ROYAL BOMBAY YACHT CLUB, COLABA

BOMBAY BOSS
SURESH POOJARI, OWNER SUKH SAGAR CHAIN

READERS’ CHOICE AWARD — BOMBAY ADDA
CANDIES, BANDRA

ICONIC CULTURAL INSTITUTION — THE SURVIVING IRANI CAFÉ
KOOLAR & CO, MATUNGA
CAFE DELA PAIX, GIRGAUM
IDEAL CORNER, FORT
COSMOPOLITAN, PRARTHANA SAMAJ
CAFÉ EXCELSIOR, FORT
CAFÉ MILITARY, FORT
CAFÉ COLONY, DADAR (E)
SASSANIAN BOULANGERIE,
DHOBI TALAO
BYCULLA RESTAURANT
AND BAKERY, BYCULLA (E)
KYANI & CO, DHOBI TALAO

THE RISING STAR
ANEESH BHASIN, SAHIL JATANA AND RAHUL MEHRA FOR SVAMI

OUTSTANDING ENTREPRENEUR (CULINARY)
AMNINDER SANDHU

OUTSTANDING ENTREPRENEUR (BEVERAGES)
KESHAV PRAKASH

BEST NEW BAR
THIRSTY CITY 123, LOWER PAREL

BEST NEW RESTAURANT
MISS T, COLABA

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