Sourav: A new innings

Calcutta, Sept. 28: Days before taking on the Aussies, the Team India skipper took guard on a different pitch yesterday, launching Calcutta?s ?first four-storeyed multiplex restaurant?, Sourav?s ? The Food Pavilion.

Steered by some of Sourav Ganguly?s closest off-field partners, through Abhishek Entertainment & Foods Pvt Ltd, the multiple-element, fine-dining destination on Park Street will open its doors to gourmands on Shasthi, October 19.

The glittering guest list for the Puja unveiling is expected to have a few good men from the skipper?s squad (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan), along with screen idols Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai.

The four-in-one combo ? One Day, Over Boundary, Maharaj and Prince of Cal ? designed by Mumbai-based architect Kapil Bhalla depicts ?four extremely important aspects? of the captain?s life ? friendship, growing pangs, family, stardom and fame.

?It?s a different line for me to get into, since all these years I have been involved in cricket only. But I sincerely hope we can successfully create a destination where one can spend quality time with the family,? Sourav said.

The Food Pavilion has plans for a mixed bag of events related to cricket.

As Sourav strides out to the food court ? where Sachin?s culinary ambitions have already got off the mark, we pit the on-pitch partners against one another:

Name: Sourav?s ? The Food Pavilion

Name: Tendulkar?s Gourmet Restaurant

Managed by: Sourav and his friends Manoj Jhajharia, Ajay Jindal, Sanjay Das, Kanishka Mazumdar and R.N. Jhajharia, through Abhishek Entertainment & Foods Pvt Ltd.

Managed by: Mars Group of Restaurants, owned by Sanjay Narang, Sachin?s partner in this venture

Menu: From fast food to multi-cuisine to Indian vegetarian to Anglo-Indian to South Indian, on a specially-designed menu card created on the lines of a cricket album

Menu: Fine-dining, multi-cuisine restaurant, offering Indian, Oriental, Continental cuisine

Souravspeak: From calling it The Food Pavilion to the names of individual levels, the process of selecting each name has been as delicate as selecting the cricket team before the most crucial match. It is a long-cherished dream and we have not left any stone unturned

Sachinspeak: (Sachin promises food he loves, but it?s Narang who does the talking.) Everything in the restaurant was chosen by him ? the colour, the d?cor, the food, even the designs on the aprons of the stewards was approved by him ? says the partner.