India’s brightest gastronomic star, trailblazing celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, has transformed the art of preparing and eating good food for millions of Indian families – and now he’s coming to Auckland to sprinkle his unique brand of foodie magic across the highly anticipated 2022 Australasian Tapas Championships on August 22.

The Jamie Oliver – or Hudson and Halls – of India, Chef Kapoor has the chutzpah of a Bollywood movie star and an adoring fanbase that spans three generations. The first chef in the world to launch his own food channel, he’s on the Forbes list of top 100 Indian celebrities and has singlehandedly redefined Indian cuisine.

“I grew up watching Chef Kapoor cook on television, and so did my mother and grandmother,” says competition organiser Chef Jasbir Kaur. “He really is an Indian icon and it’s extremely exciting, and an incredible coup, for us to bring him down to New Zealand as head judge for the upcoming Australasian Tapas Champs.”

Now in its fourth year, the nail-biting event will see 30 talented chefs from both sides of the Tasman fire up their cook tops and battle it out for the grand title of Australasia’s Tapas Champion. The winner will represent Australasia in the final of the 6th World Tapas competition in Valladolid, Spain on November 9, with the hope of being crowned the world’s best tapas chef.

“After a two-year Covid hiatus it’s so exciting to be bringing this high-octane event back to Auckland, and it’s an incredible opportunity for New Zealand and Australian chefs to make their mark not only here, but on the international stage too.”

Organised by top Auckland cookery school Ignite Colleges in collaboration with Spanish company e-Spain and the City Hall of Valladolid, Spain, the competition takes place on August 22 at Ignite Colleges’ state-of-the-art cookery school in Manukau. Competitors will have just 25 minutes to create ten portions of original, innovative tapas showcasing local cuisine, and will be judged on presentation, flavour, originality and business potential by a panel of esteemed chefs and foodies including Chef Kapoor, renowned Kiwi chef Simon Gault, Spanish tapas chef Angel Moreton, Chef Karl Seidel (Nestle), Chef Robin Massey (UNOX), Cuisine Magazine editor Kelli Brett, and Hospitality Business editor Kimberley Dixon. Event sponsors include E-Spain, Ignite Colleges, Great Taste NZ, UNOX, Nestle, and Hospitality Training Trust (HTT).

Chef Kapoor, for one, can’t wait to see what our masterful chefs dish up for him: “I’m expecting breakthrough ideas and recipes, innovation, excellence and presentation, all while retaining the essence of tapas,” says Chef Kapoor. “I’m especially interested to see what tapas recipes food lovers in New Zealand curate.”

Australasian Tapas Championships 2022:
When: 9am, August 22
Where: Ignite Colleges, 98 Kerrs Road, Wiri, Auckland

More about Chef Sanjeev Kapoor:
A household name in millions of kitchens across the subcontinent, Chef Kapoor is on the Reader’s Digest list of 100 of India’s most trusted persons, and has been named ‘Best Chef of India’ by the Indian government. A multi-award-winning chef extraordinaire (including a Padma Shri in 2017), he has written over 150 best-selling cookbooks, has his own brand of food products, and in 2017 made it into the Guinness Book of World Records by cooking 918kg of khichdi (a south Asian rice and lentil dish).

More about the Australasian Tapas Championships:
This annual competition was launched in New Zealand in 2018 by New Zealand chef and current vice-president of the NZChefs Association, Jasbir Kaur. In 2017, following a stint working at Michelin-starred Disfrutar, Chef Kaur was invited to compete in Valladolid’s 2017 World Tapas Competition. She impressed judges so much that they tasked her with finding the very best tapas chef across Australia and New Zealand each year to represent Australasia in the competition. The event has now become a calendar highlight among talented chefs keen to make a name for themselves not just in Australasia, but globally.

© Scoop Media