The tectonic plates are shifting. Delhi’s are anyway. The culinary ones anyway. Basically, India’s best restaurant is shifting, in all probability. Chef Manish Mehrotra and his baby, Indian Accent -- nurtured in the nest of Rohit Khattar’s Old World Hospitality brand – are set to spread their wings.
All right, the bird metaphor isn’t working out so well. Much like the reservations at Indian Accent. “We used to have a waiting list of one to two weeks earlier,” says Mehrotra, adding, “Now you can book one day in advance.” This is good news for people who love their food and bad news for well, no one. The celebrated restaurant is among the victims of the highway liquor ban and it is feeling the hangover, never mind that there’s no booze in the vicinity.
Last minute cancellations are all in vogue as well. Even people who are keen to experience the Indian Accent are urged by their guest(s) to visit elsewhere thanks to the unavailability of liquor, wine and beer. This is in stark contrast to a pre-ban era when a reservation at Indian Accent was revered, nay hallowed, and an unmissable experience.
It’s in fact the experience enjoyed at The Manor hotel, where the restaurant is presently located, that is driving the management to distraction, instead of a new venue. “The surroundings we enjoy in this neighborhood, the gardens that the restaurant reposes in, and the privacy it enjoys, will be hard to find elsewhere,” says Mehrotra, implying the difficulty in finding a new home for Indian Accent. It’s not all grim though given the restaurant’s recent branching out to New York as well as its upcoming debut in London. Also, it's Indian Accent. Watch this space for the sequel. Or at least, the new address.
And no. It's not going to Gurgaon.
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