Meet 10 legendary restaurateurs behind Kolkata’s iconic restaurants

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Day 1 of the summit began with the National Anthem and a soulful Ganesh Vandana by singer Sayani Palit. The host for the day was Mir Afsar Ali

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After Kallol Ghosh, the founder of Anandaghar NGO and Cafe Positive, introduced the organisations, a documentary was screened about their journey. NRAI then gave a generous donation of Rs 2 lakh to support HIV positive children at the NGO. The children of the NGO also presented a special dance performance for the audience

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A felicitation programme was conducted by NRAI Kolkata to honour 10 legends of Kolkata’s restaurant fraternity

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(Top) Nitin Kothari, second-generation owner, Peter Cat and Mocambo, was felicitated by Aseem Grover, founder, Big Chill Cafe, Delhi; (centre) Rajiv Ghai, owner, Kwality Restaurant was felicitated by Anurag Katriar, founder and MD of Indigo Hospitality and (bottom) Deepak Puri, second-generation owner, Trincas, was felicitated by Rahul Singh, founder & CEO, The Beer Cafe

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(Top) Sudip Mullick, fourth-generation owner, Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick was felicitated by Manpreet Singh, director, KS Hotels; (centre) Mrs Azhar on behalf of Kabir Md Azhar received the award from Abhimanyu Maheshwari, founder of ‘Zing Restaurants’, which operates a bouquet of brands, including Rang De Basanti Dhaba; (bottom) Satish Gupta and Rohit Gupta, owners of Kusum Rolls, were felicitated by Riyaaz Amlani, founder & MD, Impresario Handmade Restaurants

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(Top) Pratap Daryanani, owner, Oasis received the award from Sandeep Anand Goyle, director, Essex Farms; (centre) Aninda Palit, co-owner, 6 Ballygunge Place was awarded by Kabir Suri, co-founder & director, Azure Hospitality, and president of NRAI; (bottom) Sandeep Nawlakha, owner, Garden Cafe received the award from Sagar Daryani, NRAI vice-president and co-founder Wow! Momo. Tony Pradhan, owner of Kathleen's, was not present

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The lamp-lighting session was held in the presence of Mayor Firhad Hakim, Shashi Panja, minister of commerce and industry, West Bengal and Debashis Sen, managing director HIDCO and chairman, New Town Development Authority

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We spotted Anjan Chatterjee, chairman & MD, Speciality Restaurants, before his panel on ‘Building a Brand for India vs Bharat: How is it different?’ “Kolkata is slowly and steadily becoming a food and beverage hub. Over a period of time, it has evolved as one of the top food cities in the world,” said Chatterjee

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People from the restaurant fraternity of Kolkata joined in huge numbers. We spotted Anand Puri, second-generation owner, Trincas (top) and (bottom) food blogger Indrajit Lahiri aka Foodka