The power dining list

Anoothi Vishal on people who made the most impact on the F&B industry this year.

Anjan Chatterjee of Speciality Restaurants: For being India's biggest restaurateur. Mumbai-based, Kolkata-bred Chatterjee makes it to this year's list not just because he is the biggest (and has grown considerably bigger this year at a turnover of Rs 125 crore plus; 34 restaurants) but on two other counts.

First, an advertising campaign that had all of us sit up and take notice because it isn't, after all, every day, that a mere restaurant"" even a chain "" starts advertising itself on the national telly.

Mainland China, Chatterjee's flagship brand (there are three others, including Sigri, Indian fine-dining that took Pune by storm this year), did just that. Second, well, because Mainland China, is adding another outlet in er...Beijing! Carrying coals to Newcastle or downright cheeky, call it what you will but for me, it is simply a measure of the man's confidence.

As an adman with big Bombay accounts in his kitty, advertising for his own restaurant was a natural idea even if he believes that "it cannot sell a restaurant". As for Beijing, he had been invited to do an Indian restaurant there but decided to do Chinese-Chinese as, he says, he had a point to prove.

Jack Aw Yong, executive chef, projects, Hyatt International: For popularising the Peking duck! What sushi was to Indian imagination in 2006, Peking duck has been in 2007. Never ones to take to the meat easily, (tandoori) fowl-loving palates were seduced by perfect presentations and preparations at The China House, Grand Hyatt, Mumbai and The China Kitchen at the Hyatt in Delhi, arguably the best restaurants that opened this year.

And the credit must go to Yong. Riding on the success of his hugely popular Made in China concept that reworked traditional northern Chinese recipes (Beijing's best, the brand is present in several other cities in the East), Yong confronted the challenge of the chilli chicken and veg manchurian and set in place reasonably authentic menus that were surprising hits.

The piece de resistance: Peking duck "" made from the "right" birds (an organic farm owner was sent to Beijing to train) and cooked in the right (imported wood) oven.

Dhiraj Arora of Shalom, the bar, and Soul Vacations, the hotel: For branding "soulfull"! Before Shalom came to Delhi (since then, it has gone to Goa too) and inspired several pretenders with all white-interiors, we didn't quite know how to sip our mojitos in style. There were only the five-star bars or dingy drink-and-dance places.

Arora, who owned No Escape, one of the first few "pubs" in the city, but had spent countless days before that contemplating the evening life of Bangalore, changed all that.

Since then, Shalom has managed to keep its power clientele (including the Gandhis) intact but this is not why Arora makes it here. Instead, it is because of the innovative ways in which he is expanding his brand. From just a bar, albeit a good one, there is now a "philosophy" in place: Shalom peace concerts, CDs and a boutique hotel in Goa that notched up an incredible 150 per cent jump in revenues this year.

Abhay Kewadkar, Head of winery division, UB group: Makes it to this list... not for Bouvet Ladubay! Kewadkar, one of the most respected names in the Indian industry (he was the country's first winemaker and the man behind Grover Vineyards), made a jump into the big league this year by joining the UB group ostensibly because he wanted to get more serious and bigger.

While the Bouvet Ladubay wines that the company launched this year after acquiring the Loire Valley winery are not the best this year, Kewadkar makes it to this list for his exciting career move which has finally made him much more visible. He now oversees a division that is buying up vineyards in the US, South Africa and Australia among other places. Cheers!

Italian wine people for flooding our market with their best: Thanks to a major push by the Italian Trade Commission, big importers like Brindco and restaurateurs like Diva's Ritu Dalmia (who has the largest Italian wine inventory for a restaurant in India), the wines were much seen and sipped.

The best of Italian wines were made available for tastings and there were visits by high profile winemakers, including the flamboyant Angelo Gaja. Gaja is known for its classic Barbaresco, of which only 300,000 bottles are produced a year; now sold in India at Rs 3,000-14,000 a bottle.

(Inputs by Arati Menon Carroll)