Get Ready to Welcome Indigo Deli at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, But What Happened to Indigo?

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

Mumbai's star restaurateur,
Rahul Akerkar, has not had the
smoothest of starts in Delhi,
but he's hoping to make up
for lost time and keep his
staff morale intact by launching
Indigo Deli at the Ambience
Mall, Vasant Kunj

IT'S A PITY most people assume that Indigo Deli, which is formally opening tomorrow (May 30) at the Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, is Indigo Delhi. If Mumbai's star restaurateur, Rahul Akerkar, had the freedom to act according to his Delhi expansion plan, he was to launch Indigo, the restaurant that's won every award and accolade possible, sometime in mid-January.

He was to make a grand opening at the urban renewal project, an arts and entertainment space that was to have transformed what used to be an open drain opposite the Hyatt Regency, in the shadow of Netaji Nagar. And he was to roll out Indigo Deli, starting with the second floor of Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, in the space formerly occupied by Zambar, only after Indigo settled down as "a 'back-to-basics' address that will serve up eclectic modern European fare, coupled with an expansive bar and a private dining section". Indigo Deli will be next door to Pizza Express, which is the next high-profile opening to watch out for at Ambience Mall.

But for some mysterious reason, the area, which was blessed by the Sheila Dikshit government and is being developed by the father-and-son duo of Sanjeev and Samegh Batra, has been in suspended animation ever since Dikshit got a drubbing in the Delhi Assembly election, even though Delhi Metro has been constructing buildings next door at a frenetic pace. Was the previous government's showcase project not a priority for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation that followed? If that were the case, why did Lt-Governor Najeeb Jung not push it after the fall of AAP? No one is ready to share the real story.

"You know how officials work," was Sanjeev Batra's first response when I asked him about the delayed project. "But we will be up and running in a month," he added. Batra has been the man behind such significant heritage rejuvenation-cum-restaurant development projects at Mehrauli such as Olive Bar & Kitchen and The Kila, where blueFROG has re-opened, though after giving up the associated cafe and restaurant spaces.

Batra said that when it became clear the urban renewal project wasn't taking off according to the time-table they were working on, Akerkar came to him and shared his desire to launch Indigo Deli before Indigo. He had hired staff for Indigo and they had been trained in Mumbai, but they had no restaurant in sight, which was clearly a dispiriting prospect. He had to do something to retain his staff, which was why he fast-forwarded Indigo Deli, which is best known for its salads, burgers, sandwiches and ice-creams, and of course, its delicatessen.

"I feel a tinge of sadness, but when Indigo finally opens opposite the Hyatt Regency, the grandness of the setting and the cuisine that has given the restaurant its share of international acclaim will have their desired effect," Batra said, striking a hopeful note. For the sake of the city, we wish him luck! Delhi deserves an Indigo, as much as it can do with an Indigo Deli. Neighbouring Mistral's Mayank Tiwari has serious competition on his hands and even Chili's may experience some loss of lustre.

Olive Bistro Opens at DLF Cyber Hub; Olive Mehrauli Gets Winter Menu With Sujan Sarkar's Picasso Touch

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

This quirky chandelier promises
to be a conversation point at
Olive Bistro, DLF Cyber
Hub, Gurgaon

OUR Republic has just celebrated its 65th birthday and tomorrow is a working day. For most of us, it will be just another day; for AD Singh, it will be a day of managing one more restaurant.

Olive Bistro has opened at DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon, right on top of Soda Water Openerwala. Looking very much like a stately restaurant from the 1920s, it has a sprawling balcony protected from the elements by a foldable umbrella of awnings. Just right for this season, now that the sun seems to have made a comeback. I am also told that its USPs are going to be a first-of-its-kind pizza menu and never-before-seen granary breads, which are made with brown flour and malted wheat grains, added for their distinctive nutty flavour. And the picture of Olive Bistro's unusual chandelier accompanying this blog post, which I owe to a Facebook post by Singh's Guppy by Ai business partner, Rohit Grover, proves that like all AD Singh restaurants, its design will have a quirky theme that promises to become a conversation point.

When Singh had said in an interview with me last August that he was going to launch 20 new restaurants by 2014-end, I half-believed him. With Olive Bistro opening after Guppy By Ai, Soda Bottle Openerwala and Monkey Bar, I don't need more convincing. Adding to my faith in Singh's ability to pull off this dasavatara act is the new winter menu unveiled at Olive Kitchen & Bar, Mehrauli, by Sujan Sarkar, who just got married after his return to his mother country following a successful stint in London. If the dishes that Sarkar has lined up for the winter menu taste as good as the pictures, I can assure you we have a new star in our city and he's going to have us eating out of his hand.

Sujan Sarkar's wood oven-roasted baby pumpkins
with green beans (above) and pear tarte tatin
(top) are some of the picture-perfect dishes that
the newly-wed chef has put on Olive Bar &
Kitchen, Mehrauli's new winter menu

At the rate at which independent restaurateurs such as AD Singh and creative chefs like Sujan Sarkar are raising the bar for excellence, I don't see five-star hotels, the old bastions of fine dining, continuing to be relevant to the universe of Delhi-NCR's foodies. That's bad news for an industry already struggling under the twin loads of debt and mounting operating costs. They have three options: reinvent (a distant possibility because of their bureaucratic management structures), re-engage (maybe they can retrieve their dwindling F&B market by selling their restaurant spaces to inventive chefs and visionary entrepreneurs), or perish.

Keep reading to check out my reviews of Olive Bistro and Sujan Sarkar's winter menu. I have had my dinner and yet, I can hear the rumblings in my stomach.

When Singh had said in an interview with me last August that he was going to launch 20 new restaurants by 2014-end, I half-believed him. With Olive Bistro opening after Guppy By Ai, Soda Bottle Openerwala and Monkey Bar, I don't need more convincing. Adding to my faith in Singh's ability to pull off this dasavatara act is the new winter menu unveiled at Olive Kitchen & Bar, Mehrauli, by Sujan Sarkar, who just got married after his return to his mother country following a successful stint in London. If the dishes that Sarkar has lined up for the winter menu taste as good as the pictures, I can assure you we have a new star in our city and he's going to have us eating out of his hand.

At the rate at which independent restaurateurs such as AD Singh and creative chefs like Sujan Sarkar are raising the bar for excellence, I don't see five-star hotels, the old bastions of fine dining, continuing to be relevant to the universe of Delhi-NCR's foodies. That's bad news for an industry already struggling under the twin loads of debt and mounting operating costs. They have three options: reinvent (a distant possibility because of their bureaucratic management structures), re-engage (maybe they can retrieve their dwindling F&B market by selling their restaurant spaces to inventive chefs and visionary entrepreneurs), or perish. Keep reading to check out my reviews of Olive Bistro and Sujan Sarkar's winter menu. I have had my dinner and yet, I can hear the rumblings in my stomach.

To read about Sujan Sarkar, copy this link:

http://indianrestaurantspy.blogspot.in/2013/11/three-new-pedigreed-chefs-land-in-delhi.html

To read about AD Singh's business expansion plans, copy this link:

http://indianrestaurantspy.blogspot.in/2013/08/ad-singh-goes-lean-to-roll-out-20-new.html

Indigo Delhi Opening to be a Part of Urban Renewal Project Across Hyatt

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

A PATCH of land across the road from the Capital’s Hyatt Regency hotel, skirting a busy road that’s called Africa Avenue, overlooking an old colony of government officials (where yours truly grew up, is transforming into a retail and entertainment zone where Rahul Akerkar’s celebrated Colaba restaurant, Indigo, will have its first outpost in Delhi.

Heritage real estate developer and chartered accountant Sanjeev Batra, who gave the cowlands of Mehrauli a new chic identity by turning around the stables of an old haveli into a restaurant space where Delhi’s first Olive Bar & Kitchen opened about a decade ago (and blueFrog more recently), acquired the patch of land from the Delhi Government about four years ago. Overlooking the busy Ring Road and Bhikaji Cama Place business district, it was a meeting point of anti-socials, with an open drain on one side, a sleepy Coffee Home run by the Government of Delhi-NCT not far from it and a beehive of car workshops behind it. It took Batra months to clear the area, but with the firm back of the Delhi Government and civic agencies, he was able to turn it around.

That was the project’s first phase. Batra had envisaged it as a recreated heritage zone, but then came his son, Samegh, after his higher studies abroad (University of Essex, UK) and turned the idea around to make it a contemporary space for young people to hang out. Apart from Indigo, the space will have fashion retail and handicrafts outlets, a performance area for art, fashion, theatre and music, and a park where families will be encouraged to have Sunday picnics with food hampers provided by Indigo and carts operated by the restaurant will sell hot dogs. There will also be a 200ft blackboard on the boundary wall for children to doodle on.

Rahul Akerkar makes his first foray outside Mumbai since
he opened his Colaba restaurant in 1999.
Image: Courtesy of www.foodindigo.com

“We want to create a space for citizens to savour the open-air pleasures that we enjoyed as children before the mall culture overtook the city,” says Sanjeev Batra. “The project will set the pace for the proper use of public spaces and the government has really backed us on it.” Samegh, his son, is the Managing Director of the House of Sunrydge, the company steering this urban renewal project.

Sharing his vision for Indigo Delhi, Rahul Akerkar, the man who opened the widely acclaimed restaurant in Mumbai in 1999, says in a media release: “Just as in Mumbai, Indigo in New Delhi  will be a ‘back-to-basics’ address that will serve up eclectic modern European fare, coupled with an expansive bar and a private dining section.”

Sanjeev Batra at his first development,
One Style Mile, Mehrauli, where Olive
Bar & Kitchen opened a decade ago

On his food, says the self-taught chef and entrepreneur, who got bitten by the restaurateur’s bug when he was dishwashing at a French bistro to pay his way through college in the U.S.: “The food is fundamentally ingredient-driven and contemporary in construction with strong and distinct flavours, with Indian and Asian influences.” Olive Bar and Kitchen loosened up the city’s stuffy dining culture when it opened at One Style Mile, Mehrauli. Indigo will complete this process of transformation.

Significantly, Indigo’s Rahul Akerkar and Olive’s AD Singh were once working together, running Just Desserts many moons ago in Mumbai, where Akerkar met his wife Malini. They have since gone their own ways, but now, they are in one city, so look out for the wheels of change working overtime.