New space, old charm

The iconic Samrat restaurant, which closed down after 45 years of service in its original location on Race Course Road, is back in a modern avatar on Church Street

TV Mohandas Pai, Raghavendra Rajkumar at the launch | Nagaraja Gadekal

BENGALURU:  In September of last year, the iconic Samrat restaurant, inside Chalukya Hotel closed down after 45 years of service, much to the disappointment of many Bengalureans. Four months later, the restaurant has been relaunched in a brand new location on Church Street with a modern makeover.

In a traditional ceremony, the new location was inaugurated by former actor Raghavendra Rajkumar, former Infosys director TV Mohandas Pai and Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar. 

While Samrat’s move to Church Street is likely to make the restaurant more accessible to a wider crowd, Santosh Shanbhag, the restaurant’s owner, believes that the quality of the food plays a more important role in the restaurant’s success rather than the location. “No particular location is better or worse in any part of Bengaluru. Church Street or the Chalukya name won’t guarantee automatic success.

These days people are very discerning and conscious about the way they spend money. So more than the location, the quality of the food matters. Regardless of where the restaurant is located, if the food on offer isn’t good enough, people won’t come to eat,” he shares, adding that they haven’t ‘fiddled with the original menu too much’.

However, the new location has made several improvements in the way some of its iconic dishes are prepared. For instance, the process of making ravae idli, one of the staples in the restaurant, has been tweaked to make it better. “People who tried the new idli say it’s better than the one served at the old location,” says Shanbhag.

Raghavendra Rajkumar on the restaurant

The family’s relationship with Chalukya Samrat is over 45 years old. Appaji [Rajkumar] used to frequent the restaurant regularly. In fact, even Puneeth [Rajkumar] had visited Samrat just a few days before he passed away. Since the restaurant closed down in its original location, I felt like an iconic part of Bengaluru was taken away. Thankfully, Santosh [Shanbhag] decided to open a new outlet in Church Street. I hope it becomes as successful as the original.