Past Forward

I had heard of meeting point, lovers point, sunrise point etc. But when I heard of Chai Point, I could hardly believe that such a concept was possible. In this coffee chain crazy country, where you can find a coffee joint at every nook and corner, setting up a dedicated tea shop is, if I may call, a risky affair. I got a taste of their tea when a colleague got a whole jug to office one fine morning. What’s the big deal, I said to myself. When offered a cuppa, I obliged. The moment I sipped, I literally said ‘Aha’. It was an Aha moment for me, and I guess for hundreds, or ten thousands by now, of satisfied customers. For some their day begins at this outlet located in Cyber Hub (Based on the runaway success of this outlet in Gurgaon they have set up shop in other places such as Huda City Center, Unitech Infospace etc.).         They have a variety of tea available - lemon, ginger, masala, green etc. in hot chai; lemon, ginger, apple, cranberry in ice chai. They c

The options for vegetarian food are somewhat limited. Apart from certain sections in menu cards, which are rather limited and certainly lack variety, there are only few restaurants that cater to this large section of the Indian society. And fewer still are restaurant chains serving exclusively vegetarian food. Panchavati Gaurav is one such chain.   I had been waiting for an opportunity to give it a visit. And it was dropped on my lap one afternoon when my visiting clients from Mumbai opted for vegetarian stuff. Instantly my inner inclination told me that the moment was splendid to kill two birds with one stone. I cheerfully took them to the ground floor of Cyber Hu b and once we were in front of the Panchavati I simply lingered on. The view from outside was inviting enough for them. It did not take much long to direct our steps inside.   For a Monday afternoon the restaurant was decently occupied, I would say about 70%. We settled on a table for 4 in the middle

  In these of multiple restaurants and mushrooming eateries, the customer is certainly spoilt for choice. Most restaurants miss the bus with respect to reaching out to the vast majority of eat-outers. But on the other side of the line are another set of unique restaurants where not only people are willing to go more than once, they are willing to wait almost an hour before they can step in.   One such restaurant is Dhaba by Claridges, located in DLF Cyber Hub . It has the unique capability of drawing huge crowds not only during the weekdays at lunchtime, but also for dinner on weekends. I got a taste of its popularity on a late September Sunday evening. On emerging from the parking, Cyber Hub looked like a carnival of sorts. The first sight was a huge bike, called the Freedom Bike, constructed with a variety of items bought on OLX (a popular website for selling and buying all kinds of stuff). Next to it at the centre, Emirates was hosting a quiz show for childre

It was a similar Sunday evening 24 years ago. A 10 year old boy’s imagination was aflutter with a miniature dream built carefully over a period of 1 month. His father’s enthusiasm had touched him and kept him awake for late hours almost every day. And that Sunday was the finale.   Italia ’90 was my introduction to the world’s greatest sporting event. I had kept a track of all the matches in the colourful poster which my father had gifted me. Yes, in those days such simple stuff was very precious and I carefully noted the goals against each team right from the play-offs till the semi-finals. I had collected as many player cards that I could from wrappers of a certain confectionary company, which was quite a craze with my classmates. I was super charged the whole day. On my father’s advice, I had my dinner early and went to sleep. Around the scheduled time, he came to my room and gently woke me up. Still with groggy eyes, I gladly followed him to our drawing room and we tuned i

After checking out Cyber Hub across its length and breadth, we were feeling quite hungry. We made one final round and since Indian and Chinese are generally the places we usually ending up choosing, we decided to try something different on the inaugural visit.   Nando’s was right before us and its vibrant exteriors made quite an attractive proposition. and we marched in. The staff was quite amiable and showed us around the restaurant, giving us the freedom to decide. We chose a reasonably large table at one corner with very comfortable seating consisting of sofa occupying one half and  chairs the other half. There was no objection or suggestion to move to a smaller table! The tables are spaciously placed giving an impression of leisure unlike other restaurants where space is treated as a premium and there’s just enough gap for moving around. One a late Sunday afternoon the restaurant was decently occupied.       We ordered their signature dish Peri Peri Chicken wit

The concept of office area intermingling with food joints is a very successful model and a win-win situation for both employees and the food joints. However commercial spaces being expensive, cost of operating restaurants are very high and typically only a few restaurants are able to sustain. Imagine if there was a dedicated open area, the size of a football ground, only for restaurants within striking distance of office buildings. Add to that entertainment spots, open amphitheatre with giant screen, sprinklers to beat the summer heat, promotional events and you will get a world class experience.   This is Cyber Hub for you – a one stop shop for some of the most sought after eating places. DLF claims it to be India's first integrated Food-Entertainment destination . It is strategically located within DLF Cyber City in Gurgaon adjacent to Building Nos. 8 and 10 and overlooking the National High 8. The beauty of the conceptual construction is evident from the view along th