Colonial saga

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: It was a chilly winter evening when we stepped into Sola Topee, a newly-opened 42 seater restaurant in Gurgaon. As the name suggests, Sola Topee was a hat made of pith that was worn by Britishers to protect themselves against the harsh rays in the subcontinent.

The restaurant resembles a tent and is filled with interesting knick-knacks like an old typewriter, a telescope, an old gramophone, black and white photographs on the walls to old edition encyclopaedia books.

The menu resembles a scrap book. It is filled with old stamps, photographs, all memorabilia from the colonial era. The furniture has been sourced from The Raj Company, a Mumbai based firm that deals in colonial furniture. The waiters sport safari uniforms.

“Ours is a fine dining restaurant and we believe in serving some delectable Anglo-Indian dishes with an Indian touch,” stresses corporate chef Umesh Mattoo.

Chef Mattoo says that a lot of research has gone into the preparation of the menu. So you have items like Lady Curzon’s Mulligatawny (a curry flavoured lentil broth, Rs 75), Khidmatgar’s vegetable cutlets (crumb fried vege-table cutlets cooked railway style, Rs 100) and Kipling’s prawn cutlets (jumbo prawn patties flavoured with ginger, chillies, herbs and other spices, Rs 675).

We started off with the Company’s Tomato Soup (Rs 75), flavoured with herbs, tomato and spices. The appetiser was just right keeping the weather in mind.

The herbs provide a distinctive taste to the soup. “There is a lot of emphasis on the use of herbs and we want to keep the food light,” says chef Mattoo.

This was followed by a starter, The Saheb’s Aloo Bharva (roasted potatoes stuffed with paneer, nuts and vegetables, Rs 220). The snack was light though the potatoes could have been crispier.