Madhu Neotia

How has the first year of Jhaal Farezi been?

It’s been a great learning year. When this property became available to us, my son Parthiv suggested we open an Afraa here, but we thought we’d open an Indian restaurant since we hadn’t done an Indian place yet outside the clubs. Initially we were planning to tie up with Indian Accent but when that didn’t happen we thought of doing our own Indian place, like our tribute to the legendary Sky Room. Over time we realised that though people like Indian food, they find it too heavy for lunch. As Jhaal Farezi turns one, we’ve decided to shake things up a bit. We want to use this venue as our R&D interface for all our restaurants. The ground floor was dedicated to street food, but we soon realised that people in Calcutta like to have their street food on the street! After much debate we are now turning the first floor into a cafe and we’ll see how it does.

(From top) Popular cafe food like pizza and spaghetti will be the focus of the revamped ground floor of Jhaal Farezi. Plus, a new dessert menu. Pictures: Sayantan Ghosh

The cafe craze just keeps growing…

Isn’t it?! We will make the cafe very people-friendly with Wi-fi and points to plug in laptops. A hookah bar is also coming up in the outhouse. That is Parthiv’s project. But we have told him to make sure it’s only herbal hookah.

So the parents aren’t involved at all in the hookah bar?

We are trying not to. Harsh decided that it’s a great opportunity for Parthiv before leaving for college. It’s a small project but it’s valuable work experience. He and his gang of friends are really involved, especially in the food trials. Parthiv has worked out the look. Harsh hasn’t interfered at all, unless of course some legal advice had to be given.

What’s on the cafe menu?

Popular cafe food like soup, salad, pasta, pizza, desserts and mocktails. A lot of events have also been planned around Puja and Diwali, including pop-up stores. Screening important games and music concerts is also on the cards. We want Jhaal Farezi to be the ultimate hangout place.

Any menu changes on the first floor as well?

We have made a few additions, edited out a few things and revamped the menu. Some popular dishes like the signature Jhaal Farezi vegetarian platter that was a superhit is still the star. We have edited out the other platters. People love the retro section, so that’s still there. We have also added a few Bengali and some south Indian dishes on the menu. Western dessert is not our strength, something just wasn’t clicking. So we have taken the help of Sneha Singhi of Paris Cafe to develop desserts for us. She went to our central bakery and did a collaboration.

Big birthday plans coming up?

Yes, on August 12. Women tend to get lost in the whole day-to-day routine, so it’s an event to celebrate independent women. Every woman is an achiever and because I can’t invite the whole world, we have invited a few ladies to celebrate our first birthday and unveil the cafe.