When a couple of months ago, Rahul Gandhi, the Vice-President of the Congress party, walked into Kwality restaurant in Connaught Place, at 10.30 pm, there was expected commotion. But, Sunil Lamba, the managing director of the group, didn’t let the hubbub affect the other diners. He made sure to greet and seat Rahul in such a way that everybody else was left out of the clamour caused by a VIP visit. It’s small things like these that have made a restaurant like Kwality stand strong in a market of quick shuffle, for 75 years. To celebrate that, the next generation, Lamba’s sons Divij and Dhruv, will be initiating a make-over process sans the modern interior flare. The father and sons want to leave it as old-worldly-looking as possible.
The menu, too, hasn’t undergone any major overhaul in the last so many years . They simply didn’t feel there was a need for that. “At the time we launched, there was nothing in this area. There was little or no competition. In fact, after looking the requirements of the restaurant, my father, founder of Kwality, PL Lamba, would make ice-cream by employing the hand-cranking method and set out on his bicycle and go door-to-door selling them,” says Sunil. That’s how the business of popularising Kwality ice-cream started. Today, even thought a plethora of international makers have clutched the Indian market by offering customers premium ice-creams, Kwality still remains one of the national favourites.
Besides that, the one thing that’s really kept guests coming back are Kwality’s famous football-sized chhole bhature, made with a special handclapping technique. From politician Maneka Gandhi to film actress Nargis, it has had everybody hooked on. “People often ask us the secret behind it, and we always tell them, there isn’t one. Our chefs are well trained and they follow instructions clearly. Of course, a little bit of dexterity in terms of skill helps,” says Divij.
The trio loves this signature but restricts savouring it to once every few months. “In between, we get our fill of our continental speciality, which is Chicken Ala Kiev. It’s just exquisite,” says Sunil, then, coming close to our ears, he whispers, “Not more than the chhole bhature though,” he says with a smile reaching his eyes.