Anirudh Poddar and Aditya Ladsaria must be crazy. In a city that is shunning meat like poison, after police have unearthed a deep and wide racket of carcass meat from dump yards being sold for human consumption, they are planning to roll out non-vegetarian items – egg, fish and meat -- from all the 13 outlets shortly.
They will be offering items, such as Prawn Agliolio (Prawns sautéed in garlic and olive oil), Chapli Kebab (Spicy, minced chiken kebab), Kadak Sheekh Kebab, to keep the meat lovers happy.
But then, Poddar and Ladsaria, have gambled against commonsense and won earlier, too. In 2010, they launched a chain of tea bars – named Chai Break – at a time when the city only had coffee chains.
Eight years, down the line, however, Chai Break is about to reinvent itself as a multicuisine cafe dining chain, where tea will occupy just a corner of a large table, moving away from the centre stage that it occupied all these years.
“We won’t really say give the sip a slip, but we will recommend our new items such as Mushroom Galawati, Puff Bruschetta, Thelagadi Chakhna,” says Aniruddh Poddar, co-founder, Chai Break.
Besides an array of flavoured teas – both hot and cold – this all day casual diner has an exhaustive food menu including salads, pizzas and pastas.
Sensing competition with the onslaught of international and national brands in the city’s F&B sectors, this pair of bright entrepreneurs decided to reinvent the image of their brand. Hence the unveiling of a new logo, stressing more upon the ‘break’ part rather than the ‘chai’ in the nomenclature. “We are competing with international brands and also planning to go pan-India. So, we want to offer a good break rather than only chai. The new menu, too, is in sync with our aim and has more variety and items from international cuisine,” says Aditya Ladsaria, co-founder of the cafe chain.
We tried their thin crust pizzas, which are crisp and melt in your mouth. The newly introduced Chinese options surprised us with its taste and had us wanting for more. Special mention should be made of the desserts, especially Sweet Nachos Sundae made of nachos and ice cream laced with caramel sauce, and Lava Cake in Cups, which has just the right amount of chocolate, making it desirably gooey without tampering the taste. The Monte Carlo dessert, which is a mousse-based sweet dish, is also worth trying. The menu looks interesting with something for everybody and non-vegetarian dishes will soon be available in all its 13 outlets.
Chef Sudipta Saha, tells us that many more innovative desserts are in the offing including infused purple tea based mousse, mihidana cheesecake and éclair tempura, which sound deliciously interesting. Since Chai Break is planning to introduce liquor bar in its Salt Lake Sector V outlet, it will give Saha greater scope to further tickle our taste buds by exploring molecular air gastronomy. “We will introduce crab meat phuchka and molecule chaats along with various other delicacies,” grinned the burly chef without further spilling the beans. The frozen fresh fruits and juice section is equally appealing with no added flavours or preservative.
As the brand plans to go non-vegetarian, we couldn’t resist asking the chef how he would ensure quality meat, given the recent furore that Kolkata witnessed over carcass meat racket. “We are procuring whole meat from good brands to ensure quality. We are not taking any cut, cured or minced meat from any vendors,” assures Saha.
But the Chai Break partners are in no mood to take a break right now, with further plans of expansion, taking their brand beyond Bengal. “We are planning to make an inroad in the East and our 14th outlet will open mid-May in Guwahati followed by another 12 in cities including Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Patna and Siliguri,” informs Ladsaria. The cafe brand bagged a fund of rupees five crore from a Mumbai-based Angel funder, Venture Catalysts, and has been valued at worth Rs 50crore. If they can maintain consistency in terms of quality and service, taking a chai break will be a distant dream for these school friends-turned-business partners.
Chai Break: A multi-cuisine casual cafe-cum-diner
A meal for two: Rs 700-800, including GST
Timings: 8 a.m. - 2 a.m.