Thank you for finally bringing Monkey Bar to Calcutta!

(Laughs) We’ve been looking at Calcutta for a long time. We had shaken hands with Raju Bharat of Kenilworth around four years back. We liked the property and we were thinking of coming here with two-three brands like Olive Bistro and SodaBottleOpenerWala, and from there, grow. But unfortunately, after one of the meetings and after we had shaken hands and everything, we got our lawyers on the table and I genuinely believe that two lawyers cannot close anything! So the whole thing blew up, else we would have been here already.

What do you think of this location?

This (Fort Knox, 6 Camac Street) is a great location too. A lot of people don’t like going to hotels so in a way, this is free-standing, it’s off Park Street. Do you think this is a good location?

It’s rare in Calcutta to get a view like this…

There’s nothing like an Aer Bar or sky bar here?

A sky bar will open in Quest mall…

I saw that space, it was huuuuuge. It’s very tough to make those places work.... Calcutta’s always been on our radar. Bangalore’s gone well because Manu (Chandra) is based there, and Bombay-Delhi are the two cities I live in. Chetan (Rampal) also lives in Bombay. But between the rest of India — Chennai, Hyderabad, Calcutta — it is actually just the opportunities that came through. It so happened that Hyderabad came through before Calcutta. And Chennai didn’t work out because they have excise issues worse than Calcutta.

What are your memories of Calcutta? Your twin brother Arjun studied at IIM Joka…

My parents were based here as kids so my mum’s best friend is from Calcutta. I started reconnecting with Calcutta when I was doing a lot of jazz in the early ’90s and a lot of musicians were from here. Pam (Crain) used to come sing for me, and Carlton Kitto, and of course Don Saigal used to come flirt with all the chicks (laughs out loud). There’s a feel to Calcutta from those days, which is not there anywhere else.

We are a very sports-mad family so when my brother Arjun was in IIM, this was maybe some 30 years ago, we stayed at Tolly, we played golf and baddy. I remember once I came into Calcutta round 5.30 in the morning because the train was late or whatever, and Calcutta was so beautiful as we drove around certain parts. And today, I think because of the rain, the colours of Calcutta were like that trip in my mind. Stunning! The old British parts of Calcutta, when you drive around, it’s majestic. 

Who are your friends in Calcutta?

There’s Varun Thapar, who’s more a Delhi boy but the last four years he’s been here on family business. One of my closest friends who married one of my closest friends as well is Archana Vijaya. And her best friend is Dhruv Bhalla, who is vice-president at Srei, so he’s actually helping Archana and me throw the party (launch party on 
September 7).

There’s so much buzz about Monkey Bar opening in Calcutta. You must be used to this!

(Laughs) This must be our, what, 30th restaurant now. In fact, this is the first site I had not seen before. Today’s my first look at it.

So what do you think of it?

I was a bit disappointed with the coming-up-by-lift situation but I hear it’s a regular thing for this kind of audience in Calcutta. [Other party and pre-game dens like The Myx and BSE are also accessible by lift only.] The space is magnificent. And no matter how much the city has spread, this part I hear is still very much the hub. We’re very excited to be taking steps into another city that’s been on our radar for so long. Among our top 10 cities, only Chandigarh and Chennai are left and the company’s vision is that these 10 cities can sustain our growth across the brands we have.

The financial year 2016 has been especially aggressive as you’ve opened the most number of outlets — nine...

What happened is that for a long time, good real estate wasn’t coming to us. Because I think in the early days our industry wasn’t appreciated by landlords as much. In the last few years the market has matured and a company like ours is suddenly becoming high priority. A lot of people with good properties see us. That’s very tempting and while we want to grab it all, we can’t go too fast.

Many of your brands have moved towards a casual and affordable format, especially in the last four years… like SodaBottleOpenerWala, Olive Bistro, Monkey Bar…

When we opened Olive in 2000, it was the coming of age for quality standalone restaurants. Indigo (Rahul Akerkar) opened around the same time, so did Diva (Ritu Dalmia) and Sunny’s (Arjun Sajnani). We took the quality of the best five-stars and put it into friendly formats. And that was the first big wave.

Then in the eight-10 years after that, it again started changing. Youngsters didn’t want the formality of an Olive. They were looking for more casual cafes. So because of that, around four years ago, we started diversifying the company, building the new brands. It was about the same time I convinced the board to open up a new company (Olive Cafes South, in 2012) with Manu and Chetan or we would have lost them. Their vision was, of course, younger and so the spaces they opened were younger and the prices, more easy.

A lot has been written about how you made ESOP (employee stock option plan) available for prized employees…

The thing is, in our business, the high premium is people. Am sure it’s the same everywhere, especially at the top of the quality chain. And a good person can make or break anything. Chetan is home-grown. Manu got a lot of exposure from America even before he came back. We had a chef called Saby (Sabyasachi Gorai) from Calcutta, brilliant guy. So the three of them were really the pillars of the company at that time. But the projects we were trying to make happen with Saby, that space didn’t come to us. And the projects we started looking at came to us. So this company got started first and then around that time, Saby left us.

Now we have Sujan Sarkar, who’s partnered with us for Ek Bar. He became fairly successful and popular in London but as an Indian chef, unless you’re doing Indian food, you’re never going to make it on the world stage. Though he was doing great Western food, everyone thinks… Indian guy, you know, you can’t cook great Japanese or Western. So he was tempted to come back to follow that dream and joined us. He does amazing Western food for us in Olive, Delhi, and we partnered and started Ek Bar, India’s first Indian cocktails bar. Beyond these names, there is a bunch of solid people who have been with the company for years. So we started the stock option concept for our top managers. They haven’t seen any money yet but one day, there’s a good chance because the company’s going fairly well.

So there are two things the company has done, one is to genuinely make partnerships with people who work for us, and two, the ESOP, which I think makes us attractive for senior restaurant people. 

Is it true that Sachin came to you when he wanted to open his restaurant Tendulkar’s?

Yeah, that’s the only regret in my life actually. Sachin had a manager called Mark Mascarenhas [who died in a road accident in 2002]. So Mark set it up because Sachin expressed interest and he was a passionate foodie. We met at The Bowling Company, my chain of sports bars. While we were talking, such a great crowd gathered downstairs that Mark had to take Sachin and go because there would have been a security problem. Then unfortunately, my board at that time was very slow to move, very reluctant to pass on it. So then Sachin tied up with Sanjay Narang and I was like, ‘Damn, damn, damn!’ I genuinely believe that Sachin and I could have made a chain of sports bars.

Talking of sports, you’re pretty fond of golf?

Actually I’m fond of a lot of sports. Since my daughter Zoe, 5, was born, I haven’t played because it takes a lot of time. Now I’m also running a much larger company so I can’t justify that to myself. So my down time from work is with her. Now I’m more into badminton, tennis, gym and a swim. I do a sport around five days a week. Also, the thing that saves me a little is a good book because I do travel a lot. 

You look pretty fit!

Well, for a guy in this business, it’s a bitch. You’re always tasting, if not your own menus, then you’re always going to new places to see what they are doing. 

Which among your brands is your fave?

I really can’t pick a favourite so I’ll tell you my favourite cuisine. Of course, everyone’s favourite is their mom and wife’s food — having said that my wife hired a Gujarati Maharaj a year ago and I’m sitting like a good north Indian boy eating Gujju food at home! It’s driving me crazy so now I’ve become a delivery champion at home. But my fave cuisine is probably Japanese. It’s interesting because when I was opening Guppi by ai, I lost three kilos. That cuisine works at so many levels. I think it’s underappreciated. We might even come to Calcutta with that because there are so many expatriates working here. 

Any other brand you’re thinking of bringing here?

Well as soon as the word spread that we are here, a lot of the good real estate companies are chasing us. I’ve got a meeting with somebody tonight — it’s a little confidential — he’s coming here and he’s got a space that I like as well. So I think you’ll see a lot more of us! 

 

 

ad singh

Full name: Aditya Singh
Year of birth: 1960
Place of birth: Delhi
Schooling: Cathedral and John Connon School, followed by Jai Hind and St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. A scholarship to study Electrical Engineering at Lafayette College, took him to the United States  
Best known as: The big daddy of the standalone restaurant world in India
In numbers: Eight brands and 18 outlets under Olive Bar & Kitchen, and three brands and nine outlets through partnership under Olive Cafes South. 

 

AD: The last...

Celebrity you hung out with: Vikram Chandra the novelist was there last week. Now Netflix is making (his book) Sacred Games into a TV series. We’re old friends so we took some time out
App you used on your phone: Zomato
City you travelled to: Bangalore
Restaurant you ate at: The Open Box in Bangalore 
Thing you shopped for yourself: Belts from Diesel at UB City, Bangalore
Person you dialled: Probably my driver
Facetime was to: My wife Sabina and daughter Zoe, who are in Shimla at the moment. I’ve never been away from my daughter for so long, by the third night I’m usually back. This is the first time I won’t be seeing her for almost a week. Facetime helps a bit but she’s like a monkey so she won’t sit 
Film you watched: We watch a lot of children’s films so it was Pete’s Dragon
Book you read: A strange book, which won the International Booker prize (given to translated books) this year. It’s called The Vegetarian by Han Kang 
Song you listened to: Tainted Love (playing in the background at Monkey Bar as we speak)
Midnight snack: That is my weakness. In Bangalore, there’s this lovely brand called Cafe Noir so I often stop there and pick up apple tarts and lemon tarts so that was my last midnight snack! My greed for food has totally shaped my life. I have a hell of a sweet tooth, that’s why I opened my first brand Just Desserts
Time you were called Aditya: If someone called me Aditya in a party, I wouldn’t react! In school, my brother (Arjun), sister Ayesha and I, we became AR, AY and AD, and AD stuck on. 

 

 

AD’s STARRY STORIES AT OLIVE

HRITHIK VS SRK: When Hrithik Roshan started becoming big, everyone was talking about him as being the new Shah Rukh Khan. The general perception was that these two guys hate each other because of the intense rivalry. So I was at Olive (Bar, Bandra) one night and Shah Rukh was sitting at one table. Suddenly, the entire space went ‘Bzzzzzt’ because Hrithik walked in. It was electric. What was going to happen? Was there going to be a punch-up? Was one of them going to walk out? But Shah Rukh just got up, they did jhappi and stuff, smiled and went back. And the entire crowd realised that this intense thing built up was actually just wild media speculation.

BOLLY’S BIGGEST BRAWL: The Shah Rukh-Salman fight was also at Olive in Bandra and everyone knows about that one. [It was Katrina’s birthday in 2008 and she was then with Salman.] 

HOW RANBIR WAS ALMOST DUNKED INTO A FISH POND BY SALMAN: One day, Rishi Kapoor brought in this scruffy youngster. This was Ranbir, just back from New York or something. A few nights later, on a Thursday because our Thursday nights  are so big, Salman was at the bar drinking, his brothers were around. And Ranbir was hanging around. Salman didn’t realise it was Rishi’s son so he got irritated. He picked up Ranbir and he was going to dunk him in a fish pond that we have. And the fish were looking up in despair at this thing going on! His brothers came up and told Salman, “Bhaiya, this is Ranbir, Rishi chachu’s (or whatever they call him) son.” And then Salman dusted him, gifted him his watch, and apparently went to his house the next day and apologised. 

SALMAN’S KAT CALL: Once Katrina came in with a bunch of girls, sat on a big table outside. There’d been rumours about them fighting and Salman was not with her. Then a little while later, Salman came in. He went to the bar to drink a bit and then to everyone’s astonishment, in a packed Olive, he decided to woo her filmi-style. He put a rose between his lips — or whatever, some flower he picked up — and he was dancing by her like that, making her laugh, and wooing her in that filmi way! And the entire place couldn’t believe it! Katrina was initially cold but by the end she relented. They walked out together, at least.

IN THE SPIRIT OF IT! One day we had a really big actor taking the stage at Olive for an adda session. I was there that day and normally, these guys talk for 15-20 minutes. But this actor would just not leave. He was on that little stage in our courtyard talking for three hours. Later I asked my boys, “How did that happen?” And they said, “The Coke we were serving him was Rum and Coke, so he got into the spirit of it!”

 

 

 

What F&B brand would you want AD Singh to bring to Calcutta? Tell t2@abp.in