"Tuscany Is My Baby: Take 2!”
I met Chef Rahul at Tuscany Restaurant
yesterday at around 04.30pm.
I shot his solo pic along with one with his colleagues - Chef Ramesh Balra and
Chef Deepak Kumar - both outstanding Italian hands from Trident Hyderabad.
Now, this happens to be the second time, that I am writing on Rahul Gomes – the Italian culinary
artist who considers Tuscany to be his baby. So far I have written 190 blogs -
all on remarkable hoteliers. But Rahul’s story happens to be the first
blog to have crossed the magical mark of 500 views. I was dumbstruck the day I
had published his story first. (Titled: TUSCANY IS MY BABY). That was on
8th of March 2015….and on the same day, his story crossed 200 views
within the first 24hrs and 300 views within 48 hrs. I was so happy for him that
I promptly informed the same to him. As I write this story the number
stands at 504.
I thanked God profusely ... all thanks to my Facebook friends from the Oberoi
family…..they are perhaps the most FB savvy people, I will say.
Of my 2000 plus Facebook friends, my students from
Oberoi and Trident hotels are the maximum and they are the most active too…. My
sincere thanks to Facebook too for connecting all of us in myriad ways.
Chef Ramesh Balra has been with Rahul from day one of Tuscany. He happens to be Rahul's right hand man and presently runs the main kitchen. On the other hand Deepak
Kumar is the Pizza expert, who is slowly getting ready to run the main kitchen.
There are 2 more stalwarts under Rahul who are currently away from Tuscany -
Payal Rajankar ( who recently got selected
for the Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development and is presently working
at the Oberoi, New Delhi). The other is Trainee Chef Deepak Punjabi who is currently attending his supervisory training.
Chef Rahul is very contented while looking back. His days at Tuscany have been
fulfilling and rewarding. Tuscany was thrown open to the foodies of Hyderabad
on 02 November 2013. Amongst all the highs the one which stands out the most
for Rahul was when Tuscany got handpicked by the French Embassy at New
Delhi for the International Day on French Food. That was on 19 March 2015. A
refreshingly well-crafted French menu was presented by Chef Rahul,
partnering with officiating Executive Chef Manik. While it was just a 1 day
affair Tuscany found its place amongst a select group of restaurants – hand-picked across the globe by the French embassy. That meant a lot for Rahul!
Apart from International Day on French Food, Tuscany has orchestrated two super hit promotions as
well in its last 18 months of celebrated existence - that was the 'Ice Cream Sundae promotion' as
well as the 'Ravioli promotion'.
Come July 2015, by the third week of the month, Tuscany will have a retooled
menu, which will feature contemporary Italian dishes and out of the box Italian
delicacies. (I will be there on the first day, when the new menu shows up as I
will be writing a review for the same on Trip advisor. I am really looking forward to
that day.) Another promotion is on the cards during the monsoon season. Busy
days are ahead for Chef Rahul for sure!
On behalf of my 50,000 plus strong student community from the hospitality world, I wish Chef Rahul good luck and Godspeed. Undoubtedly, he is a great
credit to the Oberoi Group of Hotels…a rising “STAR “.
A group of long staying guests of this hotel, working for a Netherland based
company were so impressed by the incredible taste of Tuscany's food that one of
them told Chef Rahul: "When in Hyderabad, we will not eat anywhere else
and we will come to Tuscany only".
This incident happens to be the
happiest moment for Chef Rahul at Tuscany. He wears it like a
badge of honour!
Text and Pictures: R Kesava Mallia in Hyderabad
1 comment:
Dear Rahul and team,
I fully agree with all as mentioned in this article. Tuscany is a great place where you feel welcome, have delicious food and nice company by the friendly staff who make time for a chat. Enjoy the work you do and your customer feel it. Hope to come back soon. Take care, Carolien
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