Brewing through decades

One of the first few bars in Delhi was at Chandini Chowk. An unlikely location, but the bar still made profits owing to the American GIs that visited it during the World War days.

And it was this profit that was invested by the bar's owner Lala Hansraj Kalra in a stately coffee shop in Connaught Place called United Coffee House (UCH).

Started as a place that sold high tea, snacks and coffee only, UCH's prime location gradually made it the ideal hangout for gossipers and high society movers and shakers.

"The elite crowd would come here and gather for hours together. This was the place for Delhi's politicos and artistes to hold discussions over coffee and snacks," reminisces Akash Kalra, owner and grandson of the founder.

Slowly UCH expanded its menu to include Indian meals and so increased its walk-ins as well. By the end of the 1950s and the early 1960s, it became a full fledged restaurant with Indian, Continental and Chinese cuisine.

"Our clientele remained very elite through those years since the profile of people who visited CP those days were the ones who could afford brand shopping. So, it was a very cosmopolitan crowd," says Kalra.

But by the time Kalra joined the business, it was already 1990 and the standard of living had changed drastically.

From then to now UCH underwent a change in its customers. Its selling point, as Kalra says, now became "nostalgia, a vast menu and stupid food to suits all tastes".