The quintessential Irani chai experience, with accompaniments like Osmani and tie biscuits, and alu samosa, has been recreated into a five-star ambience by Taj Banjara, which soft-launched an in-house restaurant ‘Chai Shop’ recently.
“The whole idea behind this restaurant is to have an easy-dining concept within a five-star hotel and attract a cross-section of people. Getting this place into a buzzing mode with people from intellectual and literary fields like artists, painters and writers is the aim,” says Ranju Singh, general manager of Taj Banjara, the iconic and the oldest five-star hotel in Hyderabad.
Irani cafes are Iranian or Persian-style cafes, originally opened mostly in Mumbai and Hyderabad by Persian immigrants to India in the 19th century, serving Irani chai, a blend of brewed tea leaves, boiled and sweetened condensed milk.
The Chai Shop menu carries a selection of light fare such as Irani and Sulemani chai, Tootak, Keema ke Garley, Irani Haleem, Bun Omlette, Vada Pao, Keema Pao, Glassy (ice cream with faluda) and Chole Kulche, with the prices starting from Rs 55.
“We didn’t want to go very authentic on Hyderabadi or Mumbai Irani dishes as such. Our idea is to get clues from there and make the cuisine and decor according to that,” adds Sumeet Sood, executive chef.
At Chai Shop, which Taj Banjara claims to be the first-of-its-kind in any star hotel in India, laminated frames of yesteryear Bollywood stars and blockbuster movie posters adorn the mellow-painted walls. It also has a jukebox that churns out over 1,500 songs, both old classics and the latest albums.
Like most Irani hotels in Mumbai, according to Singh, the Chai Shop also serves beer, for Rs 75 a pint, as college students too would be a part of their cross-section catchment.
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“The menu pricing is not introductory. It is a conscious pricing strategy that we have done. The average spend per person at a hotel (depending on its star rating) ranges from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,850 (inclusive of taxes). What we are looking at, at Chai Shop, is Rs 250-300. It is the number of volumes that we want to attract,” Singh says.
Taj Banjara is expecting Chai Shop, which has a seating capacity of 44, to help attract more footfalls. “Right now, the Chai Shop is attracting 15-20 people a day. My expectations, once it is totally launched in a month's time, is a minimum 120 people dining here in day,” he adds.