Chef Ranveer Brar

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BanQ Restaurant & Bar named 'Best New Restaurant' in the world by Wallpaper Magazine
By TuBoston.com

Boston MA, (Spring 2009): Restaurateurs Mark Raab and Hemant Chowdhry are pleased to announce the one year anniversary of BanQ Restaurant & Bar in the beautifully renovated Penny Savings Bank in Bostons South End. This celebration is highlighted by the recent announcement of BanQ being named Best New Restaurant in the world by the internationally acclaimed Wallpaper Magazine. We are so happy to be celebrating our first year and truly honored to have received this award, says Co-Owner Mark Raab. We are thrilled to be recognized internationally, but truly we are a neighborhood restaurant first and are beyond excited to share this with the South End and Boston. Additionally, the food at BanQ has never been better and the restaurant has truly found its stride, says Co-Owner Chowdhry. Co-owners Raab and Chowdhry brought Chef Ranveer Brar to Boston (from Claridges Hotel) to head up the restaurants innovative kitchen. Chef Brar has incorporated various influences from his training in Singapore, London and India to create the restaurants South East Asian and French menu, which continues to entice neighborhood patrons and foodies alike. BanQs sophisticated yet innovative space, designed by the award winning design group, Office dA, takes full advantage of the soaring ceilings and other architectural details found in the Classical Revival building constructed in 1917. During BanQs first year the restaurant has been featured in numerous publications in the Boston area press. In addition to local popularity BanQ has also been honored with awards from international publications including Best of the Year from Interior Design Magazine and Best New Restaurant from Wallpaper Magazine. Frame Magazine, Gala, Hospitality Design Magazine and FORM Pioneer Design are just a handful of the national and international publications BanQ Restaurant & Bar have been featured in. BanQ is open for dinner Tuesday and Wednesday from 5:30pm-10.30pm and Thursday through Sunday from 5:30pm- 11:00 pm (and will reopen on Mondays in the month of March). Banq is also open for Sunday brunch from 11:00 am 2:30 pm. Banq is also offering a special Bailout Menu - 3 course prix fixe at $29.95- available Sundays thru Thursdays from 5:30pm- 7:30pm. Banq is located at 1375 Washington Street, for reservations please call 617-451-0077.

LINK http://www.tuboston.com/article-1852-banq-restaurant-bar-named-best-new-restaurant-in-theworld-by-wallpaper-magazine.html

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Best new restaurant

NEWS

Designed by Office dA, in Bostons former Penny Savings Bank, Banq sets the senses swirling with its banyan tree-inspired aesthetic. Curved layers of birch form an abstract wooden canopy above recycled bamboo tables where chef Ranveer Brar offers up a menu spanning India, Vietnam, Thailand and France. Also try the weekend brunch.

LINK : http://www.wallpaper.com/lifestyle/best-new-restaurant/2968

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FEED (03 to 08 of 5/2010) 5 Courses with Ranveer Brar, Corporate Chef for One World Cuisine
by Louisa Kasdon | March 08, 2010 You'd think that a chef like Ranveer Brar - a chef who has helped open five-star hotels, who currently supervises six Indian restaurants (including Mantra, Diva, and Mela) in his work for the One World Cuisine restaurant and retail group, and who plans to open three new restaurants in the Boston area in the next four months - would find more pressing uses for his time than leading food tours through the aisles of Shalimar Gourmet Foods and Spices each Saturday morning. But this is what Brar loves to do: "teach respect for the grand tradition" of Indian cuisine and Ayurvedic healing spices. So each Saturday, he leads small clutches of the culinarily curious through the basics of the Indian grocery. His passion for his craft is pungent, intense like the scent of freshly ground cumin. As we creep through the aisles, stopping at the rice section, at the whole spices and the ground, Brar picks up a jar of ghee - clarified butter - and eyes it with reverence. "See how yellow? This is the best ghee for cooking. It comes from the milk of the water buffalo." How did you become a chef? It certainly wasn't my family's first choice for me. My family are big landlords back home, and cooking for a living was not appreciated in the strata of society that my family belonged to in Delhi or in Lucknow. But cooking, especially the street food of Lucknow, fascinated me. So, I ran away and lived with Munir, a street vendor, for eight months. He had one griddle for the bread and a grill for the kebabs. No one could find me. I was 16. What did you learn from Munir? He let me carry the charcoal for his stand and watch him cook, and gradually he let me grind the spices for his mixtures by hand with a mortar and pestle. But he wouldn't tell me the recipe for his spice mixtures. When he was ready to blend his spices, he sent me away on an errand or off for lunch. He said, "You will learn at the same pace I learned." His mixtures had been handed down to him from his father, and to his father by his grandfather, who was the royal cook for the nabob of Lucknow. Today, still, I cannot even come close. What happened next? A family friend saw me on the street and told my father where to find me. He said, "It's your life. Go to cooking school if you want." After that I began my formal education in cooking and topped the country in all three years of

Chef Ranveer Brar

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school. My mother was in the hospital once, and I cooked for my father. I heard him tell my mother, "The bastard really does know how to cook." Then I went to the Taj Hotel system and starting opening hotels, moving around and learning new tricks. What's your dream as a chef? To have a food studio of my own where I can combine my passion for food with my love of art and sculpture. I'd have four or five tables, or maybe just one big chef's table. What's the one spice you couldn't live without? Fenugreek changes everything. You can add all the spices to chicken tikka masala - ground cumin, ground coriander - but if you don't put in ground fenugreek, it will never taste the same.

Louisa Kasdon Louisa Kasdon can be reached at louisa@louisakasdon.com.

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Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007

`Art'y food
Chef Ranveer Singh Brar used fine tableware to display food

APPEALING FOOD Chef Ranveer Singh Brar demonstrates presentation basics Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder and Chef Ranveer Singh Brar makes sure people eating his food not only find it visually appealing but stimulates their taste buds as well. "The taste and quality of food cannot be masked, but by making it visually appealing, you enhance the whole experience," the chef said As he seared, grilled and sauted portions of cheese and fruit and created pieces of art, he explained how important it is to bring out the artist in you while trying to make food visually appealing. "Sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do next. I work spontaneously," he added. Ranveer Singh conducted a two-day demo on food art over wine and cheese at the newly opened Villeroy and Boch Store. German tableware brand Villeroy and Boch have finally made its presence felt in India with it's first store in Hyderabad and the chef used the innovatively shaped tableware to display his artistic talent. The chef continued to demonstrate how simple food can be made to look good as he dressed up the plates with loads of Gruyere, Parmesan and Brie and used simple garnishes like reduced balsamic vinegar, tomato concass (sauce), friend strawberries and green apples, dried spaghetti and herbs. On doing food art at home, Ranveer says to look into your fridge and see what colours you have. "Take a green tomato for example. Instead of thinking of it as raw, use it for its colour. The best canvas is a white background, but even metal plates can be used. The most difficult background to work on is printed crockery nothing shows up on it. So, for printed crockery, emphasise on height. Colour will hardly show up, so aim to built up on the plate." Cutlery and crockery aside, two noteworthy pieces at the store are the award winning coffee cups designed to hold a spoon on the rim of the cup, while the square shaped saucer is large enough to hold your petit fours. Another piece that found many fans amongst the participants at the cooking demo were the handy rectangular cocktail

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plates. The plates have two holes on the left side, one to wriggle your finger in and grip the plate, and the other to hang your wine goblet. At the end of the interactive session, everybody had one complaint they all felt extremely cheesed out! RENUKA VIJAY KUMAR

LINK : http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/01/31/stories/2007013100950300.htm

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| Saturday, December 23, 2006 |

RANVEER BRAR, EXECUTIVE CHEF, THE CLARIDGES Winter mushrooms, or Christmas mushrooms, as they are called, along with roasted chestnuts make for this wonderful Yuletide yummy. Chef Ranveer Brar, executive chef at The Claridges recommends savoury strudel to infuse just the right kind of festive spirit into a Christmas meal. The pie-like crusty texture of the strudel makes it a must-have savoury at Christmas. You can either have it as a vegetarian main course or a tidbit and its great for a traditional brunch, lunch or dinner.

Savoury Strudel Ingredients: 3tbs olive oil; 2 onions, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 500gm tomatoes, peeled and diced; 120ml red wine; 200gm button mushrooms, washed and sliced; 150gm winter mushrooms, sliced (fairy rings or cockscomb); salt to taste; freshly ground black pepper; 250gm filo pastry; 100gm butter, melted; 100gm roasted chestnuts, roughly chopped; 50gm cheddar cheese, sliced Method: For the filling: Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onions and cook with the lid on for about 10 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, basil and the wine. Simmer for 20 minutes without a lid, keep stirring until it thickens. Add mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and all the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and season to taste. For the strudel: Set the oven at 200C. Lay out a sheet of filo pastry and brush it with a little melted butter. Sprinkle with a third of the nuts. Put another layer of filo pastry on this, brush with butter and sprinkle with nuts. Repeat with two more layers of filo pastry, brushing each with butter. Spread the filling thickly on top of the layers of pastry, leaving a 1-inch border on all four sides. Fold the edges over. Roll it up lengthwise like a Swiss Roll, trying not to let it break. Brush with melted butter and garnish with shreds of filo pastry. Put the strudel into the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden-brown. Transfer to a serving dish. Serve glazed with cheddar.

LINK : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061223/asp/weekend/story_7173216.asp

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March 30, 2008

D I V E R S I T Y B OS T O N S P RI N G 2 0 0 8

A chef's global touch

Ranveer Brar mingles ingredients and flavors from across Indian, South Asia, and France to create something completely his own.

For a cuisine he calls global food rather than fusion, Chef Brar has gathered cooks, bakers, and dishwashers as diverse as his vision. (Richard
Schultz )

Ranveer Brar landed in Boston last August, a self-described culinary nomad from India on a quest to fulfill his dreams. "I needed to feed the fire," he says, sitting in the dramatically designed BanQ restaurant, where he is chef. BanQ, on Washington Street in the South End, opened in mid-February to rave reviews, bringing a particularly exotic world view to Boston's dinner plate. And Brar, with his stellar resume, is working his magic in the kitchen. When he was 25, Brar became the youngest ever executive chef of a five-star hotel in New Delhi. But he wanted greater challenges. "I was too young to start

Chef Ranveer Brar

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talking big and quit cooking," says the chef, intense and eloquent about his food. The lure of America's open culture, with its adventurous diners, drew him, as it does so many. That open-door attitude enriches Boston, where a young chef like Brar, now in his early 30s, can mingle ingredients and flavors from across Indian, South Asia, and France to create something completely his own. Boston tutored the young chef as he wandered the city those first months, running along the Esplanade, exploring the Boston Common at dawn. The city's contrasts fascinated him: the Hancock Tower across from 18th century Trinity Church; "the most expensive dogs" on one side of a South End park while on the other a homeless man huddled in the freezing cold. The menu Brar created for BanQ reflects his musings about these contrasts. His appetizer menu celebrates yin and yang, "elegance and earthiness." On one plate, veal breast and rice are shaped into croquettes, the earthy element, and matched with a refined French mimolette cheese and a quince jam. His subtle spicing is evident in a date and tea-smoked quail, or in shortribs braised with lemongrass and cumin. A major part of any chef's job is to build his cooking team. For a cuisine he calls "global" food rather than fusion, Brar has gathered cooks, bakers, and dishwashers as diverse as his vision. Channi Sidhu, an Indian, works the tandoor, turning out delicious herbed naan that are served to arriving diners minutes out of the oven. There are Asian cooks, a baker from Hawaii, several Latinos; some of the food team is even from New England. BanQ's diversity runs deep: one owner, Hemant Chowdhry, is from India; the other, Mark Raab, is from Milan. Even the architects who designed the restaurant's signature undulating canopy of Baltic birch, have far-flung backgrounds. Monica Ponce de Leon is a native of Venezuela, and her partner Nader Tehrani, of Persian descent, was born in England. Brar's own culinary education occurred on two levels. Born into a landowning family in Lucknow in northern India, he was expected to manage the family's farms. Instead, he found himself drawn to street food vendors, especially one in particular. "This kebab guy was a big part of my life," says Brar. "He had only one eye, he was very rude, but he had the best food." Not yet 18, Brar signed on as his apprentice, carrying sacks of charcoal up and down three floors each day before he was allowed to even touch the food. Brar went on to culinary school, but still felt drawn to this kebab cook, who would use 50 spices "balanced so perfectly that you tasted what he wanted you to taste." After years of working with the old man, Brar finally felt confident that he had perfected the spicing. Now Brar has brought his knowledge of spices to Boston, where he continues to experiment with his menu. The future holds dishes that are neither more Asian nor more French; they're not tied to any one place. "Just more experimental," says the young chef, whose journey to discovery promises to deepen and broaden Boston's culinary scene, as well.
LINK: http://www.boston.com/jobs/diversity/spring08/ethnic_chefs_global_touch/

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In the Kitchen with Chef Ranveer Brar

Ranveer Brar Executive Chef at banQ Restaurant Boston, Massachusetts

Chef Ranveer Brar, 32, is the Executive Chef at banQ Restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts. Hailing from India, Brar started his career at the young age of 17 under the tutelage of a traditional kebob vendor. He then fine-tuned his skills as the Executive Chef of several high-end hotels, including The Claridges in New Delhi, before settling in Boston. The banQ menu, a blend of French, South Asian, Southwest Asian and Japanese influences, truly represents a fusion of Brars culinary education, experience, travels and creative flair.

What is the main focus of your cooking?

The main focus of my cooking is flavor balance and providing a global outlook to food, while at the same time keeping it understandable and relevant.

Is there a particular nutritional focus of your menus? We believe in fast cooking methods, like wok tossing and stir frying, to maintain maximum nutrient retention.

What is your relationship with local farmers?

Chef Ranveer Brar

produce and local seasonal availability. I am learning every day.

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I am new to New England, so I have been in constant touch with local farmers to learn more about

Are you incorporating locally grown foods into your dishes? How? We use a lot of Vermont cheese in our food. We use chevr in our signature beet salad, and cheddar to glaze our winter vegetable tarte tatin.

What are the major concerns today of your patrons when it comes to dining out? And how are you addressing them? The freshness of our ingredients is a major concern. So is value for money in this economy. The customer does not want to take a risk, so they often order familiar food off the menu. We address this concern by offering the familiar and adding a unique spin to each dish. What steps does your restaurant take toward conservation? We have a clear policy on conservation. Even before we opened, we only had energy and water efficient equipment installed. We recycle all back-of-the-house paper, if any. Its also a dictum that we do our internal communication by email, including notices and memos. All our floors and tables are made from recycled bamboo.

How important is traceability? Traceability lends the power to diagnose and improve, and helps us avoid repetitive mistakes. In the food business, traceability gives us an edge, allowing us to monitor food hygiene so, in the off chance of foodborne illness, pathogens can be tracked to the source. How important is sustainability? For any business, sustainability is key. Sustainability ensures a secure tomorrow in the food industry. As we learned in culinary school, the practical chef always succeeds. These days, it is practical to go green. Its good for business and good for the Earth.

LINK : http://www.foodnutritionscience.com/index.cfm/do/monsanto.article/articleId/244.cfm

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Fast Food: Guacamole, genever and more...

By Kerry J. Byrne / Fast Food Wednesday, July 28, 2010 -

Stix to your ribs Youll love Mumbai Chopstix, the 2-month-old Back Bay eatery that blends Chinese techniques with Indian and South Asian spices.

Photo by Ted Fitzgerald

Chef Ranveer Brar offers crispy bhindi and sweet corn soup at Mumbai Chopstix.

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Global Wine Lovers Dinner

Ranveer

Brar

BanQ/

Boston

Born in Northern India, chef Ranveer Brar spent his youth on his familys farm before his passion for food led him to become a French-trained chef heading up Indias top kitchens. Now the chef at Bostons hip BanQ, Brar will prepare his globally influenced cuisine at the Beard House, paired with an array of international wines.

Fri, 04.24.2009
07:00 PJBF Members $125

General Public $165 Event Location: JBH eest 12th Street Call 212.627.2308 to reserve.

NYC

LINK : http://jamesbeard.org/index.php?q=events_beardhouse_042409

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From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 7, Dated 19 Feb 2011

NEERAJ TYAGI on FOOD Ranveer Brar, now executive chef at BanQ in Boston, remains one of the most innovative masters of culinary art Ive come across. His nuanced exploration of spices and textures has allowed him to develop a signature style, bringing together flavours from South Asia, South West Asia and France in an exquisite blend that lets all these diverse traditions mingle without losing out on their uniqueness. The Lost Flavours of India, a food festival conceptualised by him, delved deep into different Indian culinary traditions to bring even their lesserknown secrets to the plate of the connoisseur. TYAGI IS THE EXECUTIVE CHEF FOR THE CLARIDGES, NEW DELHI

LINK : http://www.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=hub190211mastertakes.asp

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Video links http://how2heroes.com/videos/profiles/about-ranveer-brar