People confined to their homes can now enjoy food from star hotels without venturing out and breaking the lockdown.
Three star hotels—Park Hotel, Hyatt Regency and JW Marriott—have opened their so-far-closed kitchen, brought out fresh menu and started delivering food to doorsteps.
Most loved dishes from JW Kitchens (Indian and Mughlai) and Vintage Asia (Chinese and Thai) have been put on Marriott’s special menu—From our Hearts to your Home—and are being delivered by the chain’s own band of people in its own vehicles. Though the number of dishes is curtailed, the hotel management said appetizers to snacks, such as sandwich, roll and pizza, to full-course meals were available for online order between noon and 9 pm.
From biryani, kebabs, club kachoris and samosas, to a special Bengali spread of chingri malai curry and kosha mangsho, to pasta and wood-fired pizza, there’s something for everyone on the lockdown home delivery menu drawn up by chef Sharad Dewan of Park. Chef Vikas Singh of Hyatt has added five varieties of tea in their ‘Stay In, Order In’ menu that includes Indian, oriental and continental favourites.
Fine-dining establishments as well as other eateries pointed out that online order had more than doubled. Sweet shop chain Balaram Mullick claimed its delivery orders had incrsaed by 10 times than normal. “We are on our toes, packing sweets for orders on food delivery app. Given the demand, I have also started delivering Bengali thali lunches,” said owner Sudip Mullick.
Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta have also started taking home delivery orders for the past two days. “We are doing a limited menu but even then, we are flooded with orders,” said spokesperson Debashish Ghosh.
Three fine-dining restaurants, Afraa, Sonar Toree and Orient, had started delivering food to households this week, and Conclave, Capella of Altair, East India Room and Loafer’s Café and Uno Pizzas would follow suit, said Nitin Kohli, spokesperson for Ambuja Neotia Group’s hospitality sector. “Select Tea Junction outlets will also start delivering tea and snacks from Wednesday,” he added.
Some restaurants, like Oudh, have apparently been receiving more orders from north Kolkata than south. Owner Shiladitya Chaudhuri rued that supply of mutton that came from Bihar, was drying up and it might lead to loss of business. “Our home delivery menu has been restricted to a few biryanis, gravies and kebabs but the orders are encouraging,” he said. Low supply of raw materials is also bothering Mama Mia Gelato, which has been delivering ice cream from five outlets. “We source our raw materials from Bangalore and other places by flights. We have supplies for 10 more days,” said owner Adhiraj Thirani.
Flury’s has started delivering through apps as well as its own system. “We are taking bread and cakes to big housing societies in the mornings; the rest is through apps,” said chef Vikas Kumar. Bar B would also send food home in a couple of days, said owner Rajeev Kothari.
Source: Times of India
