Chef Manoj Kumar in the kitchen during his years at Crowne Plaza New Delhi Rohini, where he helped build Spice Art into a recognised IHG dining brand.
Hotel restaurants are often treated as amenities, places that exist because a hotel needs somewhere to serve dinner. Spice Art, the Indian specialty fine-dining restaurant at Crowne Plaza New Delhi Rohini, set out to be something more. Chef Manoj Kumar was part of the team that made that happen.
He joined in November 2010 as Jr. Sous Chef and became part of the founding kitchen team for the 116-cover restaurant. Working on a pre-opening is a different discipline from stepping into an established kitchen. Nothing is inherited: the prep routines, the station layouts, the training and the standards all have to be created before the first guest sits down.
Food safety was part of that foundation. Spice Art achieved ISO 22000 certification from BSI within six months of pre-opening, a benchmark that many operations reach only after years of running. His own preparation matched the task: between 2010 and 2012 he completed a food safety management implementation and auditor course covering ISO 22000.
The restaurant’s reception was strong. Spice Art won the Times Food Award for Delhi & NCR in the Noteworthy Newcomer Restaurant category in 2012, and was featured in GQ India’s list of the Top 17 New Restaurants. Over time it grew into a recognised IHG brand name for Indian specialty dining, a notable outcome for a concept born inside a hotel.
After a short spell as Head Chef at USHNA in Abu Dhabi in 2012, he returned to Crowne Plaza Rohini in October 2012 as Sr. Sous Chef. His remit widened to running kitchen operations for the 128-cover all-day-dining restaurant as well as Spice Art. He delivered menu enhancements across Spice Art, Mosaic and Connexons, and ran a calendar of signature festivals: Hyderabadi, Amritsari, Dakshin, Himalayan, Pan-Asian, international street food and Christmas celebrations.
Festivals like these do quiet but important work for a hotel restaurant. They give regular guests a reason to return, give the kitchen a chance to showcase regional depth, and give the hotel something new to talk about. Combined with certification and awards, they helped keep Spice Art visible in a crowded Delhi dining market.
The Spice Art story shows what a hotel outlet can become when safety, menu quality and recognition are treated as part of the opening plan and not as afterthoughts.
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