Cinnamon city hotels win record 135 awards at Culinary Art Food Expo Competition 2019

Cinnamon Lakeside’s winners with Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts Head of Food & Beverage/Culinary and Cinnamon Lakeside General Manager Rohan Fernandopulle

Cinnamon Red’s winners with General Manager Terrence Fernando

Cinnamon Red’s winners with General Manager Terrence Fernando

• Lakeside wins Most Outstanding Colombo City Hotel Team, 1st Runner-up Most Outstanding Overall Hotel Culinary Team
• Grand 2nd Runner-up, Most Outstanding Overall Hotel Culinary Team
• Six distinctive category awards

Cinnamon’s city hotels – Cinnamon Grand Colombo, Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo, and Cinnamon Red Colombo – proved their culinary excellence at the Culinary Art Food Expo 2019 with a record-breaking 135 awards in total, which included 33 Gold medals, 54 Silvers, 42 Bronze medals, and 6 signature distinctive category awards for outstanding culinary and F&B expertise with flair. 

Cinnamon Lakeside, the premier resort in the city, also won the overall coveted Most Outstanding Colombo City Hotel Team award, Most Outstanding Overall Hotel Culinary Team (1st Runner-up), and Most Outstanding Overall Hotel (2nd Runner-up) titles. Chef Duminda Sujeewa also walked away with the prestigious Most Outstanding Culinary Artist award at this year’s competition. 

Cinnamon Grand, the premier five-star corporate hotel, claimed the special awards for Most Outstanding Overall Hotel Culinary Team (2nd Runner-Up) and Most Outstanding Cheese Platter.

Cinnamon Lakeside participants secured 64 medals in total (16 Gold, 31 Silver and 17 Bronze), Cinnamon Grand, 62 (17 Gold, 22 Silver and 23 Bronze) and Cinnamon Red, South Asia’s first lean luxury property, three (one Silver and two Bronze).

Over 3,000 chefs from resorts, hotels and restaurants in Sri Lanka and other countries battled it out at this three-day competition, testing teams in various categories such as practical live, static display and beverage. The event saw the participation of 32 international culinary judges from 14 countries and teams from the Maldives, India, Australia, Philippines and Abu Dhabi.

“We are extremely proud of these accolades won by our Cinnamon city chefs and F&B teams. These coveted awards are a validation of their hard work and a display of their inherent talents to craft innovative signature culinary masterpieces, along with beverages that have been created with true Cinnamon flair,” said John Keells Holdings Executive Vice President and Sector Head (Cinnamon City Hotels) Mikael Svensson.

He said the three city-centric Cinnamon properties are amongst the most preferred hotels in the Cinnamon chain. “We take pride in imparting knowledge and perfecting skills to continuously raise the bar in the culinary landscape through our eclectic food and beverage offerings. We applaud the efforts made by the Chefs Guild to provide exposure for the development of those in the industry and for the future of the profession,” he added.

The annual competition is organised by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka together with World Association of Chefs Societies and CDC Events & Travels. 

For more details on the winning teams, visit www.facebook.com/CinnamonGrandC, www.facebook.com/cinnamonlakseside and www.facebook.com/CinnamonRedColombo