From roast lamb, beef steak, baked fish and Chicken a la Kiev to dosas, vadas, chaats and Chinese snacks. Saturday Club has straddled quite a few food fences down the decades.

The club on Wood Street, which once refused entry to a certain Mr Viv Richards for not being in appropriate attire, has over the years softened its stance a touch. So, while before 1971 it was compulsory for a prospective member to come in a dinner jacket to get introduced, any dark-hued lounge suit will do nowadays.

In keeping with the flavour of flux, the 104-year-old heritage haunt, one of Calcutta’s best-located clubbing destinations, has also embraced a more motley menu card.

“Food habits are changing all over the world and it’s only pertinent that the palate will acquire new elements at the club too,” observes Saturday Club president Shyamal Mitra.

Although the Tandoori Corner was launched as recently as 1997, the seeds of shift were sown way back in ’66 when Indian food was first introduced in the club kitchen in a small way. “Even then, it was essentially bland British fare which went down well with the sahibs,” says Kewal Nayar, chairman, catering committee.

The insipid stuff wouldn’t have tickled the taste buds of the home-grown mercantile milieu, but they fell in line as it was perhaps politically correct to stick to steaks and sizzlers rustled up by head cook Daniel and chief khansama Islam in those days. But for Chiranjilal Bhatt, in charge of the club kitchen now, the recipe is not so straitjacketed.

“Since a full-fledged Chinese card with a dedicated kitchen was introduced in ’94, the Sunday buffet lunch has become extremely popular. Now, there is late-night Chinese finger food too, a hot favourite with youngsters,” adds Vijay Burman, club vice-president.

To match the spring in the young steps, Saturday Club has also kicked off the popular pub nights on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Today’s F&B mix on the club premises bears out its emerging vibrant character. While the two multi-cuisine dining halls serve up a platter of continental, Mughlai and Chinese, the Lawnside Cafeteria houses a barbecue, a cola bar and a fresh juice bar, besides the Tandoori Corner.

The Camelia Tea Bar and the Veg Hut for South Indian and “UP-style snacks” are the new additions, even as the Light Horse bar has got a facelift.

“On the cuisine front, a lot of changes happened in the club around the mid-90s and the world order demands we should keep reinventing. However, as the spread gets more and more eclectic, the need to outsource will also grow, but that’s really the way forward for all the clubs,” feels Mitra.