What fun is a wedding if the guests are not wellattended to? Khatirdari as we refer to it inIndian parlance has touched a new high withluxury catering taking over the already on-offer elaborate table spread at weddings.

“India is a poor country but Indians are rich,” laughsacclaimed chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent. King of Indianfusion, he, under the umbrella of the Old World Hospitality-promoted Indian Accent at Home, is taking the luxe diningexperience a notch higher. But Mehrotra is not the only one.There are also the likes of Ritu Dalmia, Marut Sikka and severalothers who are happy feeding wedding guests.

“Luxury dining is the new word for catering,” adds IshaanSarkar, CEO, SelectED Events and Dining (by the Select Group

Get ready to transform your dining room or lawn into Delhi’s finest

restaurant with master chefs preparing ahand-crafted menu in your kitchen whilethe service team ensures a memorableevening for you and your guests. This is

what luxe catering is all about

by NAVNEET MENDIRATTA

DININGGOESLUXE

EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCEEXPERIENCE

destination wedding for five days and that can bequite a handful. We prefer to do segments withother chefs,” he adds. In terms of exoticdestinations, Mehrotra shares that he has cateredto places as far as Florence and Milan. “We did asit-down for 90 people in Florence (St Regis). Itwas very exclusive and intimate,” he shares.

PRESENTATION

“We go to our client for the firsttime with a teaser. So the clientgets a feel of what we have to

offer,” says Sarkar. Word-of-mouth is a great way to connect and

though people are adventurous and wantsomething different, there is always a segment thatwants traditional favourites. No stone is leftunturned to make the guest feel special.Personalised menus, welcome bouquet of cupcakesand cookies with the picture of the guest in theirroom and personalised notes add to the charm offine-dining.

PRICE WISE

“We charge lumpsum, depending onthe number of functions andcounters that we are putting up.

To put it simply, we charge for the chef ’s services.The host has to provide us the kitchen, suppliesand services other than the hospitality,” Mehrotrashares. The exception is Delhi NCR, where theydo entire events. On an average, Indian Accent atHome does about 50-60 events in a month,catering for numbers less than 100.

Price points for SelectED on the other handstart from `2,800 to `3,000 (plus taxes) perperson, depending on the menu that you choose.“The choices are plenty and if we have a menu of40-50 items, we offer around five dishes from ourside extra. There are times when a client is notconvinced that a certain dish may work and we aresure of the same,” he says.

of Companies) that offers luxury dining, including elaborate sit-downs to groups withnumbers not less than 14 people. “The idea is tooffer an exotic experience in an equally exclusivelocation. Now that location could be as close asyour own backyard or a distant location,” shares Sarkar. In one of the really exclusive events,the SelectED team set up an exclusive dining affair for 14 Korean guests in their own gardenwhere they served exotic Indian dishes course-wisein silverware.

Their food, like the Indian Accent at Home, is also not served straight. Led by chefGaurav Mathur, an ex-ITC hand, the food isanything but boring. Their twist often has theguests wondering over a paneer tikka with jalebi ora gulab jamun tiramisu.

THE CONCEPT

Forty eight hours is what they need to set itup for you, say both Sarkar and Mehrotra.Chosen cuisine could be anything and

everything. The only difference is that Mehrotrarecreates his magical recipes from Indian Accentwhile SelectED brings in the cuisine you wantfrom the city of its origin.

“For instance, if you want biryani from

Hyderabad, we’ll get it for you from the source,add our touch and make it special for you,”promises Sarkar. Mehrotra shares with us hisexperience of having catered to a slot as odd as thetime between lunch and high tea, serving dishesthat would not feature in any of the other menus.“Now that was challenging and we loved it. Wekind of set up a 24-hour coffee shop for guestswho had either missed their lunch or wanted totry out something different and certainly not whatwas to be served at high tea,” he says.

Attention is paid to the smallest detail.SelectED even has shoe polishing machines placedright at the entry to make sure the servers do notwalk in with dirty shoes!

EXOTIC LOCATIONS

While SelectED, which came into beinglast November, has been carving aplace for itself in the domestic luxury

segment, Mehrotra has quite a fan followingoverseas. He was recently a part of a big weddingin Puglia, where they catered for the entire eventfor as many as five days! “Now that was one bigaffair. And the one to remember,” he says. “Theentire town came to a standstill. Honestly youneed a detailed infrastructure to cover a