Ranveer Singh Brar (born 8 February 1978) is a Lucknow-born and bred Indian celebrity chef, Masterchef India judge, author and restaurateur. He is well known as the host of popular Television food shows and as a judge in two seasons (four & six) of ''MasterChef India'', alongside fellow chefs

Sanjeev Kapoor {{Infobox chef , name = Sanjeev Kapoor , image = Sanjeev Kapoor in 2016.jpg , image_size = , caption = Sanjeev Kapoor in 2016 , birth_date = {{Birth date and age, df=yes, 1964, 4, 10 , birth_place = Amb ...

(Season 4),

Vikas Khanna Vikas Khanna (born 14 November 1971) is an Indian chef, restaurateur, cookbook writer, filmmaker and humanitarian. He is one of the judges of Star Plus series ''MasterChef India''. He is based in New York City. Early life and education Khanna ...

(both seasons) &

Vineet Bhatia Vineet Bhatia (born 9 December 1967) is an Indian chef, restaurateur, author, and media personality. He was the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star. He opened two Rasoi restaurants, the first in Chelsea, London in 2004, and the seco ...

(Season 6) . He has set up restaurants in India and abroad and curated the menu of many more.

Early life and education

Born in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, India, into a Jatt Sikh family to Ishwar Singh and Surinder Kaur, Brar was inspired by the local Kebab vendors in Lucknow at a young age which led him to pursue his love for food. He did his schooling from HAL school Lucknow. His passion to learn the art led him to volunteer as an apprentice to one of them, Munir Ustad. Though his family initially resisted, they finally gave in, leading Brar to join

Institute of Hotel Management, Lucknow Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, Lucknow is a hospitality management school located is located in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was established in 1969, it is affiliated to National Council for Hotel Ma ...

, for a more formal initiation into the culinary world.

Career (restaurants and associations)

After completing his education at IHM, Brar began his career at the Taj Mahal Hotel. In 2001, at Fort Aguada Beach Resort in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, he opened "Morisco" a seafood restaurant, "il Camino" an Italian restaurant and "Fishtail" a small open air barbeque eatery. Back in Delhi in 2003, he was part of the newly opened Radisson Blu Hotel, Noida. He also became the youngest executive chef of his time in the country at the age of 25. He then left for

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, where he opened "Banq", a fine Franco-Asian restaurant. Banq won numerous awards including the Best New Restaurant in the World by the magazine "Wallpaper". The restaurant is now permanently closed. Following this, he was appointed Corporate Chef for the One World Hospitality Group, one of the oldest restaurant groups in Boston. Back in India, he joined Novotel, Juhu Beach, Mumbai, as the Senior Executive Chef. Brar designed a menu for the

MTV India MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owne ...

chain of restaurants, launched by

Viacom 18 Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an Indian media and entertainment joint venture between TV18 and Paramount Global based in Mumbai. It was founded in 2007 and owns various channels, as well as content production studios in India. History In ...

consumer products wing. FLYP @ MTV, the first restaurant opened in Delhi in mid-December 2015, with the next launch in Chandigarh, and the third instalment in Mumbai fall of 2017. He created and launched an 'artisan' line of meal kits in association wit
Haute Chef
in December 2015. He also launched a premium patisserie called ''English Vinglish'' in Mumbai in spring 2016 featuring fusion Indian desserts, breads and bakes. He opened an all-vegetarian fine-dining restaurant in Mumbai in Dec 2016 called TAG Gourmart Kitchen by Ranveer Brar, as well as the restaurant Mayura (now closed) in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada in 2017. Brar was responsible for the F&B conceptualization for the restaurants at the heritage property Alila at Bishangarh by

Alila Hotels and Resorts Alila Hotels and Resorts is a luxury hotel brand that operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Oman, China, and the United States. Alila became a part of the American multinational hospitality company, Hyatt Hotels Corporation in November 2018. ...

He was brought on board

Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flori ...

for curating gourmet Indian food on two of their cruise liners on their Singapore sailings. He also associated with

Thomas Cook India Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. is an Indian travel agency, headquartered in Mumbai, India, providing travel services including Foreign Exchange, International and Domestic Holidays, Visas, Passports, Travel Insurance and MICE. Founded in 1881 by Tho ...

for curating the menu for niche Indian travelers traveling abroad. Brar toured different cities in India alongside

Mercedes-Benz India Mercedes-Benz India Pvt Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Mercedes-Benz Group founded in 1994, with headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, India. History Daimler entered the Indian market and established Mercedes-Benz India Ltd in 1994. ...

via the ''Ranveer Brar Culinary Academy'', hosting cooking workshops and demos pan India, as part of the former's Luxe Drive Live campaign.

Television and digital shows

Zee Khana Khazana / Living Foodz / Zee Zest He has hosted various cookery shows on Zee Zest (formerly known as

Zee Khana Khazana Channel Zee Zest, formerly Living Foodz, is an international, 24-hour food and lifestyle television channel based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is a part of the Living Entertainment brand of channels, which is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprise ...

and ''Living Foodz''): *''Breakfast Xpress'' & ''Snack Attack'' * ''The Great Indian Rasoi'' Seasons 1 & 2 *''Homemade'' *''Health Bhi Taste Bhi'' *''Ranveer's Cafe'' *''Food Tripping'' along with Chef Gautam Mehrishi. *''Global Menu'' *''Northern Flavours - Meethi Masti'' * ''Station Master's Tiffin'' - In October 2018, he hosted a unique travel and food show based on

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

for Living Foodz * ''Himalayas the Offbeat Adventure'' - In 2019, he hosted this landmark travel show covering lesser known places, tribes and cuisines across the Himalayas Thank God Its Fryday - Zoom (Indian TV channel) Brar has hosted Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of ''Thank God Its Fryday'' in association with

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

India on Zoom (TV channel), where he visited iconic eateries across India and recreated his own versions of their famous dishes in the Philips Airfryer Masterchef India He was a judge on ''MasterChef India'' along with chefs

and

for Season 4 and Season 6 with chefs

and

Sony BBC Earth In the summer of 2018, he curated and presented ''Secrets Behind Food'' for

Sony BBC Earth Sony BBC Earth is an Indian pay television channel owned by BBC Studios and Culver Max Entertainment. The channel broadcasts BBC programming in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu through its four audio tracks available. The BBC entered into a join ...

comprising three shows: Supermarket Secrets, Food Factory Supersized and Food Detectives. Raja Rasoi Aur Andaaz Anokha - Epic TV Hosted 2 seasons of a back to roots and explorative food show for

Epic TV Epic TV is an Indian television channel that airs action, drama, comedy and narrative non-fiction and fictional programming with a focus on Indian history, folklore and epic genre. Launched by In10 Media Pvt. Ltd. on 19 November 2014, a compan ...

titled ''Raja Rasoi Aur Andaaz Anokha'' which saw him recreating food history and traditional recipes from across Indian regions set in an idyllic bungalow complete with traditional cooking implements Colors TV Featured as a Judge in a cooking based reality show on Colors TV (

) called ''Rasoi ki Jung Mummyon ke Sung'' in November 2017. Ranveer On The Road - Digital Series Launched a new mini-video series on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

titled ''Ranveer On The Road'', in July 2016, covering his culinary sojourn through Australia,

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

, Turkey and Thailand. Maa ki Baat - Digital Series Hosted a successful digital series on his social media channels titled ''Maa ki Baat'' He also has over 4.1 million subscribers on his personal YouTube Channel. Home Made Love - Digital Series, TLC Hosted a similar digital series presenting festival special recipes from homemakers across different cuisines for

TLC (TV network) TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the own ...

India YouTube channel You Got Chef'd - Digital Series, Gobble Co-hosted Seasons 2 & 3 of ''You Got Chef'd'' by Gobble in association with

Dewar's Dewar's () is a brand of blended Scotch whisky owned by Bacardi, which claims the brand's "White Label" to be the top-selling blended Scotch in the US. Dewar's is also the world's most awarded blended Scotch whisky with more than 1,000 medals ear ...

along with John Dewar's sons India brand ambassador Greg Benson. The show brings together celebs from the digital & reel world in a fun format, wherein they are challenged by Brar and Greg to complete 'tasks' to earn points and get ''Chefd'' Modern Love Mumbai, Amazon Prime Video Ranveer Brar co-starred alongside

Pratik Gandhi Pratik Gandhi is an Indian actor. He worked in Gujarati theatre before entering Gujarati cinema. He received wide acclaim for portraying Harshad Mehta in Sony LIV series ''Scam 1992''. He acted in several Hindi films thereafter. Early life Ga ...

in one of the 6 stories, directed by

Hansal Mehta Hansal Mehta (born 29 April 1968) is an Indian filmmaker. He started his career with television show ''Khana Khazana'' (1993–2000) and later moved on to directing films like ''Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!'' (2000), ''Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?'' (2002) and ...

. The episode centers around a gay couple finding their footing in a society that is not so welcoming of their relationship

Books

Launched his first book titled ''Come Into My Kitchen'' in summer 2016, an auto biography covering his journey from the streets of Lucknow, through Boston to Mumbai and his culinary adventures and memories in route. This was followed by a second book titled ''A Traditional Twist'' in association with Bertolli India, showcasing a myriad of recipes, both Indian and Global

Mobile app

Launched his own mobile app at the beginning of 2019, in collaboration with Hungama Digital Media which is a near exhaustive repository of all his recipes, presented in Text and visual formats.

Awards, associations and recognition

Brar is an Honorary member at the James Beard Foundation and recognised by the same for his culinary contribution. He has received recognition for his contribution to various cuisines by several institutions such as AIWF, AICA, as also the Mayor of Boston. In addition he has also represented India at the WPF. He has handled banquets at the Rashtrapati Bhawan and at the Prime Minister's residence, plus cooked for several Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities, both in the US and India. Ranveer Brar has been associated with several brands in the capacity of culinary consultant and brand ambassador. Brands he has been associated with are -

(past),

Bertolli Bertolli is a brand of Italian food products produced by multiple companies around the world with the trademark owned by Mizkan Holdings. Originating as a brand of extra-virgin olive oil, in which it was the global market leader, pasta sauces an ...

Olive oil (past), SunGold Kiwifruit in India marketed by Zespri International (past), Gadre Marine Export Pvt Ltd (past),

India Kitchen Appliances (current),

Parag Milk Foods Parag Milk Foods is an Indian company that manufactures, markets and sells milk and milk products. The company is India's second largest producer of cheese under its brand ''Go'' and the country's largest producer of cow ghee under its brand '' ...

(current),

Victorinox Victorinox () is a knife manufacturer and watchmaker based in the town of Ibach, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. It is well known for its Swiss Army knives. The Swiss Army knives made by Victorinox are made of a proprietary blend stee ...

(Current), among others. Ranveer Brar was awarded 'Indian of the Year' for Chef and TV Host of the year 2017. He also received LFEGA ‘Food Entertainer of the Year’ for 2018. In 2021, Brarwas awarded for ''Outstanding Contribution to the Food and Beverage Industry'' 2021 by Food Connoisseurs India Convention

References

External links

*
Harper Collins Chef profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brar, Ranveer 1978 births Living people Writers from Lucknow Indian chefs Chefs of Indian cuisine Indian television presenters Indian television chefs Indian food writers