Renowned celebrity Chef Montu Saini has been appointed as the Executive Chef of the Parliament canteen. His appointment comes after the Speaker and MPs decided to change the catering services company. Parliament was concerned about the quality of food and therefore felt the need to bring in new caterers, the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). ITDC decided to call services of Chef Montu Saini to bring the food standard at par with luxury hotels.
Chef Saini has previously served as Executive Chef for five years at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India. He was praised by former President Pranab Mukherjee and current president Ramnath Kovind for serving them delicious food. After completing his five year tenure at Rashtrapati Bhavan, he has returned to his native organization India Tourism Development Corporation’s (ITDC) five-star Ashok Hotel in New Delhi and is working there. Chef Saini’s appointment confirms his popularity at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by scrutiny committee. ITDC is the tourism wing of the government of India and operates the luxury five star Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi and in other various cities.
The new caterers will serve meals on a “no profit no loss” basis. Initially ITDC will send a team of about 125-150 employees to run the canteen and will increase the strength at later stage. Due to pandemic, they will now be limited to tea, coffee and packaged snacks.
It may be noted that Parliament Canteen is run by Northern Railway for the last 52 years right from 1968. ITDC has been given the responsibility of running the Parliament canteen from 15th November, 2020.
A senior official on condition of anonymity said “ITDC was considering improving the kitchen to match the quality of the five-star hotel in Parliament canteen. But we have to wait for now because all these decisions are approved by various secretariats”.
About Chef Montu Saini:
Chef Montu Saini, 38, born in Haryana completed his degree in Hotel Management from IHM Bangalore. After completing his graduation, he began his culinary journey at Pizza Hut and later joined Oberoi Hotel. Later, he was selected as a management trainee in Ashok Hotel which he happily joined and did not look back and climbed the ladder of success.
Chef Montu was appointed at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2015 and became the youngest executive chef at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Notably, he is also the youngest member of Le Club des Chefs des Chef (CCC). The CCC was founded by Gilles Bragard in 1977, is an international culinary organisation. The main purposes of this official gathering are to promote the national kitchen, and act as diplomatic representatives. The chefs are in contact every day with their own heads of state and formed a unique international network. Annually, the president brings together the chefs of heads of state to meet and discuss their work.
Chef Saini was the head of the royal state banquet kitchen brigade with the President’s family at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. During his tenure at Rashtrapati Bhavan, he hosted royal banquets for some of the world’s Heads of The State from various countries that included The French Republic, Abu Dhabi, Tanzania, The Republic of Mozambique, Myanmar, The Republic of Egypt, Israel and The Republic of Indonesia. Chef Montu is the recipient of “Young Hotel Chef” Award 2014 from Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) and “Master Chef” Award 2014 from Indian Culinary Forum (ICF).
Padmashri Awardee, Grand Master Celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoor on appointment of Chef Montu Saini at Parliament Catering said “Chef Montu Saini is a wonderful and innovative chef and knows his job thoroughly. His performance at Rashtrapati Bhavan was well appreciated. ITDC’s Ashok hotel is considered a “Mecca of Culinary”. It’s a routine job at Ashok hotels team to prepare Royal Banquets for every head of the state who visits India. I was also a part of it and began my culinary journey there. I am sure that Chef Montu will do a great job at Parliament catering too and earn accolades from lawmakers too”.
Editor in Chief : Mewati SItaram
