Kunal Kapur (born in
New Delhi), is an Indian celebrity chef and
restaurateur, most known as the host and judge of the TV series
MasterChef India Season 1, 2 and 3 on
Star Plus. Having Indian cuisine as his cooking style, he is presently the executive sous chef at Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon.
Born in New Delhi in a Punjabi family, he began cooking at home as a
young boy. Growing up in an environment of bankers, and while getting
ready to become a banker, he joined Institute of Hotel Management,
Chandigarh to pursue his dreams.
Having the early lessons about cooking from his father and grandfather,
he began his career around 2000, from the Taj group of hotels and worked
with many of its hotels in various cities across India. After a long
career at the Taj group of hotels, he is now the Executive Sous Chef at
the Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon. Kunal also opened a restaurant which has
achieved the Best Restaurant Award. In January 2008, he was rated as one of the Best Indian chefs in Delhi by
India Today and was also titled as "the next big guy in kebabs and curries in India"
Kunal has made television appearances both nationally in India and internationally. He hosted and judged the popular Star Plus television show MasterChef India both in season 1 and season 2and has also hosted and judged season 3 of the programnme.
He was invited as a guest judge on one of the episodes of Season 2 of MasterChef USA as well as a guest appearance in one of the episodes of Chef Pankaj Ka Zayka,on Star Plus Television, India.