Pastry Chef Sekhar makes Mercure Grand Hotel’s Arabic, Asian Nights memorable

Doha: Pastry Chef Sekhar Rapaka has recently joined the Mercure Grand Hotel with 17 years of experience in the culinary world.  

Chef Sekhar has worked in other regions like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He was based previously at the Novotel Hyderabad, India.

Having spent many years in the pastry department, Chef Sekhar said he has seen the food culture become increasingly interesting, competitive and incredibly international. 

“It’s about delivering the best desserts at exceptionally high standards, due to the guests’ requirements. In Qatar, I am seeing a transition and a willingness to be adventurous and many guests want to dine out for an experience,” he said.

“In fact, masterpieces have enticed many people, making it popular in many countries. I’ve always believed that wherever you go you have to impress the guests first. So wherever I go, I bring this out first. Not everything in the pastry world is sugar-coated, that’s why planning is very important before producing a creation. 

“I search for good food when I travel and find the authenticity of each local dish as one of the most important factors in choosing a favourite, such as what and how the local products were used. And having been exposed and used to all the top-of-the-line ingredients on a daily basis, for example in this region most authentic dessert’s key ingredients are saffron and dates.”

He added, “In the past years, I have prepared special birthday cakes, pastries and cake truffles for high-profile personalities from different nations. These are some of my major achievements in my career.”

Mercure Grand Hotel pastry team has participated in many local competitions and won prizes.

The Chef further said, “Quality and display is the most important thing, where people can identify us with what we can do. We also adopt seasonal themes, for example during the summer mango are the most popular fruit, and so we need to come out with dishes and incorporate this key ingredient.

“Besides, we also have our special theme nights where we need to create special desserts corresponding to the theme. On Thursdays we have the Arabic Night and on Saturdays we have the Asian Night which are served at La Brasserie Restaurant on lobby level.”