Where Will You Find Soda Bottle Openerwala & The Wine Company?

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

SODA Bottle Openerwala must be the most unusually attractive name that anybody could have come up for a restaurant and AD Singh has done exactly that for his Irani café slated to open at The Hub in a couple of months. But his is not the only concept restaurant that awaits the opening of The Hub, the country’s first ‘food mall’ conceptualised by DLF at its Cyber Park in Gurgaon.

Yo! China-dimsumbros duo Ashish Kapur and Ajay Saini, who have sold over 10 million dim sum at more than 50 locations across 14 cities, are making their first foray into ‘wine dining’, graduating from the mass to the class market with The Wine Company. It will be the country’s first wine-centric restaurant located in a wine shop. You’ll have to buy your bottle of wine and then get your meal paired with it. And of course, there’ll be sangria flowing like water. Kapur and Saini promise to rid wine drinking of the high prices and the stuffiness associated with it. Their price, they say, will be the lowest in Delhi-NCR. It’s nice to know there’s one restaurant that doesn’t want to squeeze the wine lover.

The other notable brands at The Hub will be Stryker, without doubt one of the most successful hangouts in the city, in the avatar of Soi 7; the seriously competing Made in Punjab and Dhaba by Claridges; Canton Spice Company of Baba Ling, the teddy bear-like popular owner of Nanking (in my opinion the best Chinese restaurant in Delhi-NCR); and the redoubtable Panchavati Gaurav, which will be the first foray into Delhi-NCR of the much-acclaimed chain of thali restaurants serving predominantly Rajasthani fare in malls across Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Sangamner (in Ahmadnagar district), Raipur and Jabalpur. Interestingly, it shares the wall of The Wine Company. An unusual act of cultural engineering by DLF! Other names to look out for are Hard Rock Café, Nando’s, Starbucks and California Pizza Kitchen.

The Hub will also have a food court with the usual fare — McDonald’s et al — but the real action will in the floors with the stand-alone restaurants. Gurgaon couldn’t have asked for a better treat and Delhi of course will be digging in.

Dhaba All Set to Go Places with Stand-Alone Brand

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

WITH average daily sales of Rs 2 lakh (and with weekends delivering Rs 3 lakh-plus a day), Dhaba at The Claridges, Aurangzeb Road, serves up delicious returns for every inch of its 1,800 square feet (and its total area, by the way, includes the dispensing kitchen). It has been pulling it off since 1984 with a kitschy decor, old Bollywood numbers, cheek-by-jowl seating and the legendary draw of its Balti Meat. But as Dhaba prepares for its 40th birthday next autumn, it is getting ready to spread its wings.

Dhaba has been a consistent heavy hitter since 1984 on the
strength of its authentic menu and the warmth of its ambience

The new stand-alone brand, Dhaba by The Claridges -- opening at DLF Place, Saket, and The Hub, the country's first 'food mall' at DLF Cyber Park, Gurgaon, before the year-end -- will have completely different vibes. For starters, the two outlets will occupy larger space (4,000 square feet at DLF Place, Saket, and 2,400 square feet at The Hub) and have more seating (120 and 100, respectively). The key differentiator, though, will be APC (average price per cover) -- Rs 700-750 with one beverage (beer at these restaurants will be priced at Rs 100).

The music will be contemporary Bollywood. The servers will sport short kurtas, cargoes and Aldo shoes to convey of Indian cuisine going global. The menu will be studded with instant hits such as sheermal rolls, bun maska omelette and fruit-flavoured lassi (some of the flavours are unusual: jamun, pear, plum and kiwi).
The Great Kebab Factory, a UMAK Hospitality product which has spread its wings to 18 locations (including Bangkok and Muscat), has shown the way for five-star restaurant brands seeking to establish an independent identity for the country's growing mall market. Dhaba by The Claridges comes backed by an impressive lineage. The only way it can tank is by not delivering its promises, which look highly unlikely.