Foodies alert! Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel & Towers has new obsessions with food and the good news is food enthusiasts can look forward to new and innovative menus being introduced in the restaurants as the 5-star property welcomed three new members to its family of culinary experts – Executive Chef Martin Braecker, Ashiana’s Indian Head Chef Anuj Sood and Vivaldi’s Italian Head Chef Daniele Bolognesi.
Chef Martin Braecker has joined the property as its new Executive Chef, bringing with him 20 years of culinary experience. He began his career back in his home country, Germany in 1987 as an apprentice chef in a boutique hotel. Through the years, he continued to hone his skills and carried out culinary assignments across the country including several Michelin star rated restaurants before spending four fulfilling years managing his family-owned boutique hotel. Decided that culinary was his true calling, Chef Martin took up the challenge to pursue a Master degree and graduated with the ‘Kuchenmeister’ Master Chef Degree in year 1999.
Thereafter, he ventured out to more challenging territories by joining international hotel chains and in 2005, he rose to the occasion by becoming the Executive Chef at the Hyatt Regency Manila in Philippines before he joined Kempinski Beijing Hotel in China. During his stint, he had the chance to be part of a team of chefs that was involved in the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.
At the age of 41 years and in his first Middle Eastern role, Chef Martin is in charge of the culinary operations of the 262-room Sheraton Dubai Creek with five food & beverage outlets including room service, six function rooms and a ballroom which seats 500 persons.
He also leads a culinary brigade of 45 chefs. Besides spearheading the culinary direction for the hotel, some of his responsibilities include developing menus, increasing the quality of food and food presentation at the hotel, implementation of new cooking techniques, ensuring adherence of the HACCP certification and creation of new and unique food promotions.
Specially flown in from Delhi, India, the award-winning Ashiana Indian restaurant is now led by the talented Chef Anuj Sood. He was the inspiration behind the recently concluded ‘7 Wonders of India’ food promotion at Ashiana.
Chef Anuj offers a glimpse into the regional foods of India and translates his passion for cooking into his food. He started honing his skills from his daily rituals of preparing home-cooked food with his mother and at the age of 27 years old today, he still gets inspired from his mother’s culinary repertoire.
Upon completion of his Hotel Management degree in Bangalore and Kitchen Management from Welcomgroup Management Institute in Gurgaon (India), Chef Anuj joined the ITC Welcomgroup – India’s premier chain of luxury hotels which is synonymous with Indian hospitality. The aspiring chef became the youngest chef to represent the company and India at a prestigious culinary event in New York, US in year 2007 and was nominated for the ‘Fine Young Chef Award’ last year. He has since made headlines in various TV shows in India.
With an extensive background in Indian vegetarian food, Chef Anuj will be revitalizing the menu at Ashiana and introducing a staple of new scrumptious vegetarian options.
Chef Daniele Bolognesi, the new Italian Head Chef at Vivaldi restaurant is nothing short of an Italian. Guests will soon experience his expressive Italian ways as he sometimes sings his heart out in the kitchen.
In year 1991, Chef Daniele started his career in Los Angeles, US and his taste for adventure saw him making his way through Italy, United Kingdom and Spain. He spent many of his good years in Valencia and saw himself opening a Mediterranean cuisine restaurant in the city before he eventually joined Hilton Valencia as the Italian Chef at the ‘BiCE Ristorante’.
Some of the highlights of his career include working in the 2-Michelin star ‘Etxanobe’ Bilbao Spain in winter 2003. He was also part of the catering team for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe Valencia in summer 2008.
His culinary prowess landed Chef Daniele an invitation to be the guest chef at The Gulf Hotel Bahrain. As fate has it, he fell in love with the Middle Eastern culture and decided to stay back and join Sheraton Dubai Creek.
