An unrivaled culinary connoisseur and a specialist of sensory kitchen experiments of the haute cuisine segment, Swatantra Gautam has been appointed as the executive Chef of Azaya Beach Resort in Goa.
With over 16 years of experience in the hospitality sector, Gautam has been a culinary pioneer who has set remarkable food and beverage benchmarks in the country. Prior to joining Azaya, he worked in the capacity of Corporate Executive Chef Name at DDG Hospitality (a unit of My Bar Delhi) where he was responsible for the entire kitchen operations, curating the entire menu and managing vendors. He has also worked with Welgrow Hotels Concepts Pvt Ltd. in similar capacity, taking care of specialty restaurants like Kylin (Pan Asian) and Sartoria (Italian).
Having done his culinary graduation from EIILM University, he immediately got an opportunity to work with Old World Hospitality at India Habitat Centre as Sous Chef under the leadership of renowned Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent. He gained immense experience at Oriental Octopus (Pan Asian), Chor Bizarre (Indian Cuisine) and Banquet Operations till Aug 2008. Then he grabbed the opportunity to work with DLF Golf Resorts Ltd., where he worked as Executive Sous Chef for almost 2 years. There he took care of F&B Production operations in terms of Banquets, Specialty Restaurant, Sports club Restaurant, Academy Coffee Shop and The Deck (open grills and Pizza).
Commenting on his joining Chef Swatantra said “I’m thrilled to join the exceptional team at Azaya. It’s really quirky and different and there’s nowhere else quite like it in Goa. I’m really looking forward to the challenge of building a strong team and new food offerings at Azaya. We pride ourselves on delivering unrivalled experiences and exceptional service at Azaya and hope to put my skills to good use”
The celebrated chef is passionate about his mission to familiarize his compatriots and international guests with the incredible range of Indian food. He has also won a gold medal in All India Chef Competition at Bhopal conducted by National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology.
