Winters remind him of jalebis. Those little, crisp intertwined circles dripping with sweetened syrup are his favourite childhood memory. Recently, Inderjeet Singh Banga metamorphosed it into something more dynamic. At his recently launched restaurant Prankster, they come in the form of a Jalebi Platter with an assortment that includes jalebi crisp, jalebi pearls, jalebi dots and chena jalebi churros. It was the first thing he conceived to include in the menu. “We’ve outdone ourselves with it, or at least, I am trying to not be biased,” he simpers.
The restaurant has been designed on the premise of ‘foodie university’ with a library, mixology lab, amphitheatre, parking lot, classroom, canteen, hostel room... even a forbidden lovers point that every campus has. If you have complaints, you can visit the principal’s room as well.
The food here comes infused with little tricks. Take the Pao Bhaji Zinger, for instance. For a table of four, they place four cubes with just three zingers. Everybody is supposed to quickly pick them up. The one left without it has to play the game of truth and dare. “It’s just a fun way of dining out,” says the owner. Other interesting options are Flat Gappe, Sambhar Cappuccino with Dosa Crisp and Jodhpuri Paratha with Think-Tank Masala.
The drinks here churn up nostalgia with flavours such as hajmola and paan shikanjwi. “One of the popular dishes we enjoyed in our college days was beer wali maggie. At Prankster, we’ve created a drink out of it,” says Banga. There is also something called Babaji Ki Booti, a version of Long Island Ice Tea. “One of our signatures are Purani Dilli Collins, which is a mix of hajmola syrup, gin, sweet lime juice, lime juice and Sprite. Another one is called Masala Chai Sour, which is a mix of whisky and fresh masala chai with egg white,” he says
End it with what could be one of the best items on the menu, the Pranked Rose Kheer with fresh roses and mewa. Another one is the Pineapple Pastry that they make with 100 per cent dairy cream and layer it with custard and pineapple.
The name Prankster immediately resonated with Banga when he thought of it. He is a master prankster. There’s one that he’s been pulling of audaciously till date. “When I wanted to get married to this girl, who is now my wife, the age difference between us—she being four years elder to me—wouldn’t have gone down well with my mother-in-law. So I changed my date of birth from 1979 to 1976 in some of my documents to prove I was old enough. We’ve not come clean even now,” he snickers. Well, we hope she’s not reading this.