IMAGINE MY surprise when entrepreneur Rahul Sanyal of Rara Foods, which has just opened its first restaurant, Dimcha and Dao, in Greater Kailash I, New Delhi, turned out to be all of 23 years old! A graduate in business studies, Sanyal has been associated with the food world for the last two years, working with a company that opened communal food courts. It gave him a taste for the business. Always a foodie, he had little interest in his father?s line of work, but was determined to prove his mettle on the field before a loan to start his own restaurant was granted to him. One may be quick to dismiss Sanyal?s foray into the restaurant business; after all, it happened too easily. I know of professionals who slaved for decades before opening their own eateries. But a meeting with Sanyal dismisses all those prejudices one may have about him having it ?too easy?. He works hard?much too hard for a 23-year-old; 12-hour workdays with a break at least 18 months away. Would he do it any differently, I ask. ?Yes,? he replies. ?Probably not get into the restaurant business. It?s very stressful.?

But Sanyal is only half-serious because Dimcha and Dao is a special place and he knows that. Dimcha is an Asian tea room on the ground level, which seats 15 people and has a modest yet diverse menu of over 20 varieties of dim sums and teas that were specifically handpicked by Sanyal from China. I ask him why he chose those specific teas as I sip the Dimcha special?a flowering tea with a mild, almost indistinct flavour. He picked the teas, he tells me, mostly because they smelled good and, in the case of the Dimcha special, made for an interesting experience. It?s this disarming lack of pretension, his selection of menu and a tea list that comes with simple logic that makes the dining experience at Dimcha unique, as well as a tasty one.

The live kitchen at the restaurant has four chefs working on the dim sums in clear view. Sanyal believes tea rooms work with younger people who want healthy dining options?especially at lunch time?and are done with the ubiquitous Subway sandwiches. I try seven of the 20 items on offer and the standout for me is Char Sui Chicken Bao, a delicious five-spice-flavoured barbequed chicken bun that breaks open easily and has the charming appearance of candyfloss. Sanyal tells me that the yeast used to give that cloud-like feel has been developed in his kitchen for over a month. Slowly, he begins to speak like a restaurateur. Other notable entries are Spicy Sea Food Dumpling, served steamed with homemade chilli oil, and the spinach and prawn roll, a light prawn mousse rolled in spinach. I switch to the chrysanthemum tisane that prompts me to make a reference to the fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It is aromatic and restorative, aiding in ?the digestion?, as Poirot would say.

A level above Dimcha is Dao, the fine-dining Thai food restaurant. With comfortable seating and an ambience that boasts of wooden carved panels from Thailand, Sanyal leads me to a table and insists I try one of his special drinks. A level above is a soon-to-be-opened lounge bar that is going to have the best cocktails, he promises. The Watermelon Kimono is a pink, fruity concoction with a vodka base and watermelon juice as mixer. It?s delicious. The food is, once again, excellent, though I go for the familiar: pineapple fried rice and a Panang curry. The Thai chef that Sanyal ?poached? from a fancy hotel more than delivers, but I am more interested in the clientele the restaurant attracts. It?s buzzing and full of women. I point this out to Sanyal, asking him if his girlfriend would be insecure. ?My only girlfriend is this restaurant,? the 23-year-old tells me a little dolefully, as he looks around. It?s only been a month and business is already good.

Advaita Kala is a writer, most recently of the film Kahaani. She is also a former hotelier having worked in restaurants in India and abroad