Oh! Delhi, Oh! Haka

DINING

Restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee is set to enter Delhi and make a fast-food foray.

Anjan Chatterjee's gourmet trail finally hits the capital at the end of February. After having talked about coming to Delhi for years, Chatterjee now plans to make his entry a double whammy. Mainland China will open doors in Greater Kailash II, while there will be an Oh! Calcutta located close to Delhi's Intercontinental at Nehru Place.

Chatterjee, the brain behind such restaurants as Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, The Great Indian Spice Trail, Just Biriyani and Mostly Kebabs, is hoping that the excitement of the twin entries will make up for the delay in coming to Delhi.

After all, it's been 10 years since Chatterjee opened his first Mainland China in Mumbai; since then, his Speciality Restaurants has established footprints in all the Indian metros (even multiple ones in some cases), as well as in A-category cities like Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Chatterjee has an explanation ready: "We have been thinking of the Delhi move for a long time. The problem, mainly, was with a place that was individual enough. I even checked out a lot of possible sites like Connaught Place, Chittranjan Park, Bengali Market, but it didn't seem to work." The sites he's located now will stand apart from the clutter of the main markets in their vicinity.

Even so, Chatterjee's foray into Delhi will be a relatively low-key one. The Delhi Mainland China will have 170 covers, which is much smaller than the 240-strong Calcutta outlet; Oh! Calcutta will accommodate 115, the same as in Kolkata.

As for menu prices, they will be a little higher than those in Kolkata "" but at around Rs 300-350 per person, these won't be the most expensive eateries in town. And no, no concessions will be made for the peculiarities of the typical north-Indian palate, Chatterjee promises. "To me, it's not just about Bengali food. Good food has no religion."

As if all that is not enough, Chatterjee is also busy with his first foray into fast food. Pegged as a "chain of quick-service Chinese eateries", the first Haka was inaugurated early this month at the City Centre mall in Kolkata.

Eight more are planned in the city, and in the next nine months Chatterjee plans to have 30 more across the country, serving quick and hygienic Chinese food at affordable prices.

From gourmet food to fast food seems quite a radical shift, but Chatterjee does not want to miss the revenue potential in sub-SEC-A+ eateries for the young (below the highest socio-economic class, that is).

Haka's emphasis on dry snacky food, youthful decor and loud percussion-based music ("To Hong Kong And Back", as the catchline claims) is designed to appeal to precisely that crowd. So confident is he of the potential of his new format that, in a couple of years, he expects as much as 20 per cent of his overall turnover to come from it. It's the power of volumes.