It's Time to Party

That people ate, drank and danced at swanky joints across Delhi this past weekend might not surprise you.

But it wasn't always this way.

Years ago, most urbanites looking for a meal outside the home had choices at opposite ends of the spectrum -- restaurants in five-star hotels or fast cheap eats at roadside dhabas. The liberalization reforms of 1991 allowed franchises like McDonald's and Pizza Hut to enter India, but they also spawned homegrown competition. Pizza Corner, for example, serves spicy pies catering to Indian tastes, while Café Coffee Day offers curried vegetable puffs and paneer sandwiches alongside chai and coffee.

Proper sit-down restaurants are now opening at a rapid pace in major metropolitan centers. Besides Indian cuisine, of course, there's Chinese, Thai, Italian and a genre repeatedly described to me as "conti" until I figured out that "continental cuisine" had fallen victim to Indians' tendency to abbreviate. ("No probs" is something I have heard at least a half-dozen times in the last two weeks.)

Many times, the eclectic cuisines are served under the same roof or in a buffet, sometimes the same plate.

That's the case at Q'Ba, the relatively new restaurant/lounge/bar where I spent Saturday evening with two of its partners. (Disclosure: one is a cousin by marriage, Atul Kapur.)

Over grilled paneer, kebabs and mojitos served on a terrace, Kapur and partner Harpartap Singh described the mission of the three-floor establishment. Dance music blasted on the floor below -- from "La Bamba" to Bollywood favorites -- for a corporate party celebrating a joint venture between Reuters and the Times of India to create a new news network. 

"Customers here are looking for a change," Kapur said. "They are sick of the five-star hotels."

For one, those places intimidating, said Singh. "A lot of people in Delhi are not going to the five-star hotels," he said. "They may touch the wrong knife or fork."

It wasn't so long ago that Delhi-ites would gather at someone's house for a few drinks and then go out to dinner, Singh recalled. "That breaks up the party," he said.

Like businesses everywhere, these entrepreneurs clamor for a unique identity and niche market.

"We want to give you the feel of being on a cruise ship," manager Faiz Ali Khan said, as he gave a tour of Odyssey, a restaurant decorated in mostly blue in the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon.

At night, the lounge charges a $25 entry fee per couple. A bottle of Corona is about $7.

"Young people really are so busy now that they really want to enjoy," Khan said.

By S. Mitra Kalita |  October 24, 2005; 4:55 PM ET  | Category:  In Delhi
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