Kitchen Heroes don't wear capes

Media One Hotel’s stewarding shift leader (food and beverage), Anowar Hussain, won Kitchen Hero of the Year award at the eight annual Caterer Middle East Awards, which took place on June 1 at Conrad Dubai.

Originally from Bangladesh, Hussain impressed the judging panel with a range of accomplishments since joining Media One Hotel in September 2010.

These include completing the Product Awareness and COSHH Training (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health), which helped him develop his knowledge and he has now made great efforts in increasing overall hygiene and cleanliness in the kitchens with the team.

Hussain was commended for his confidence during Dubai Municipality inspections plus the external HACCP audits as his diligence and good performances have helped Media One Hotel to achieve great scores during his watch.

Accepting the award on behalf of Anowar Hussain was Media One Hotel steward supervisor Vijesh Puthen.

Speaking to Caterer Middle East, Farida commented: “Anowar is very supportive of his colleagues - he works hard to save costs at the company and his team ensures all equipment is set up as required in all our events. Anowar is the one handling and arranging events – it's a real leadership position.”

Hussain was also applauded for his voluntary contributions, including the Media One Cares initiatives, in addition to the walk to support breast cancer ‘Pink Walkathon’; visiting SenSes Residential School to help; and visiting the Dubai charity START to assist children with disabilities to paint pictures.

Hussain has also attend classes to improve his English skills, on a voluntary basis.

Farida added: “He is part of Media One cares, recycling cans, paper and plastic – he is personally interested in recycling, but this is also a companywide interest and he gives great ideas for recycling initiatives to our whole company.”

He has successfully completed a programme of training and an assessment, which concluded the course awarded in Basic Food Hygiene.

The shortlist of nominee’s for Kitchen Hero of the Year Award also featured Irisjoy Lugatiman of Roberto’s Restaurant and Lounge, Ismail Kureshi of Central Butchery JLT, Raashid Tekkepeediyakkal of Noodle House and Rami Hammoud of C&I.

Sponsoring the category at this year’s awards was Al Rawdah – present to deliver the award was Al Rawdah head of food services Paul Farhat.