A couple of women are sitting and chatting over a drink at the bar, oblivious to everyone. It’s cosy at Tres, small but elegant. The garden looks equally inviting, but it’s cooler inside. The room fills up slowly on a Friday night. Most arrivals seem like regulars. An old couple is seated at the next table, welcomed and greeted with familiarity.
What makes the 10-year-old restaurant survive and succeed at a time when there is an explosion of restaurants and cuisines, and when many places have shut down despite good offerings and the might of big brands behind them?
The success of a restaurant is as unpredictable as that of a Bollywood film. Chef Jatin Mallick, the man behind Tres, agrees. He attributes his success mainly to the quality of the food he serves—European with a heavy French influence. Nothing is a replica of a classic. But if the idea is of a familiar dish, the final version is Mallick’s creation alone. A small neighbourhood place it might be, but the dining experience is top-notch. Immaculate service, elegant interiors and high-quality ingredients that are treated just right. How does charred seabass belly with a Kachampuli peri-peri glaze served on a bed of green apple-crab meat slaw sound? Or melting camembert cheese with fennel kumquat marmalade, caper berries, black garlic dulce de leche, grilled multigrain bread? The 24-hour Spanish porchetta with a fennel garlic rub, kale, butternut squash, sticky chilli sauce with crackling that gives way like butter under the knife is definitely not your average neighbourhood fare. The dessert menu deserves a special mention and a special trip just for the sweets. Mallick says he wanted diners to have a plethora of options. A teaser: mixed berries-vanilla crémeux tart with chocolate-hazelnut croquant, balsamic-red wine mixed berry compote and raw mango sorbet. Or baked cheesecake, with texture of raspberry, almond croquant, cranberry candy and raspberry sorbet. A family of four sharing the ‘happiness in a glass Tres special’ with fresh strawberries, strawberry crémeux, crème Chantilly, fruit cake, strawberry caviar with hot spiced red wine strawberry reduction draws envious looks from surrounding tables. What’s also envious is the fact that Tres is located in a quiet corner that does not look like Delhi at all. Where in Delhi can you find an uncluttered lane where you can park right in front of the restaurant you choose?
Reminds us of Chandigarh. Considered a tier-II town, it is by no means that for brands, be it hospitality or retail. Having the best of pan-India restaurant brands, and several of its own, the city has a buzzing eating out culture. However, most residents keep returning to old favourites that have been around much before the outside brands became popular. One of them is Pashtun, rebranded from Khyber but still popular by its old name. Offering north-western frontier cuisine with a bar in the basement, it is rare to find the restaurant empty. For the locals, it is like entering a favourite space. The place has maintained the same décor, the same chefs and servers and the same menu since it opened in 1990. Not that Pashtun offers cuisine that can’t be found elsewhere, but as at Tres, it is the food that does the talking first. Even in the rich gravies, there is an X factor, a delicacy of flavour, that keeps patrons returning. Owner Sanjiv Verma, who is a trained chef himself, says the restaurant was an instant hit when it opened. “There were not too many restaurants back then. And we were the only ones with an open tandoor kitchen. But it is consistency that has worked so far,” he says, adding, “The basic food of any region remains the same. Years back, Chinese cuisine became popular, then came the pastas and pizzas. Now we see a coffee and sandwiches culture. But people always go back to familiar flavours. The ‘mother taste’ remains strong.”
So be it Murg Wajid Ali or Raan Dera Ismail Khan or Aloo Dum Avadhi or the fruit punch in the two-page menu, every city resident has their own favourites.
This is the common factor in places like Tres and Pashtun and many others dotted across cities—that favourite haunt serving familiar dishes one always goes back to. Like Flury’s in Kolkata or the over four decade old Ritz Classic in Panjim, where locals know exactly what to order (the rice plate), each city has its own go-to places. Always packed, top-notch food, flavour-first—that’s the recipe of success.
