If you’re ever looking to track down Vikrant Batra when he’s not at home or at ‘office’, a particular nook at the Café Delhi Heights in Gurugram’s Cross Point Mall is probably your safest bet, at least according to the man himself. Don’t tell him we told you, but as the restaurateur says, “It all started from this seat, on this corner, at this entrance of the restaurant. This used to be my office, my ideation space, my strategy area, and my place to chill as well as to plan ahead.” This multi-purpose destination is an unassuming corner table at the first Café Delhi Heights to open.
Only the upholstery of the sofa has been changed, but every other thing has remained the same all these years. And yes, we may have a corporate office in Naraina now, but earlier, all the team meetings, menu planning, marketing strategies, expansion plans, all used to happen here. From the day the restaurant opened on June 1, 2011, this was my place of business for the next 24 months,” says Vikrant. Indeed, it’s been quite the journey for the Batra clan since those heady days. Vikrant and his brother Shammi are the sons of Usha Batra, (the doyenne of Delhi caterers and progenitor of the iconic Batra Banquet brand of West Delhi), who have gone on to open their own celebrated café chain, as well as other stand-out, stand-alone properties.
While Shammi is the businessman, Vikrant’s expertise lies in concept planning and execution, so perhaps it comes as little surprise that the middle of a restaurant is the best place to get his creative juices flowing. “Now at this stage (Delhi Heights itself has 25 outlets, and counting, with other restaurant concepts in the pipeline as well), in an attempt to corporatise, I go to office in Naraina, every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, while on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, I do my rounds, trying to visit as many of our restaurants as I can”, says Vikrant, going on to add, “But whenever I’m a little down, need my own space, or just figure out my own future plans as well as that of the brand, I come back here, to my first ‘office’, this restaurant table.
And if someone else is already sitting there, it sucks but well, I’ll just have to wait till they’re done, so I can sit at my spot.” Indeed, a friendly rivalry has developed between Vikrant and one the restaurant’s earliest customers, now a regular who is well aware of the former’s seating preferences. “Whenever we’re both at the restaurant at the same time, whoever’s arrived earlier is the winner since that person’s managed to grab the table, and the loser just has to sulk on another table.” The bonhomie isn’t limited to just Vikrant and his customers. “When I come here, it’s not like I’m the owner.
I do everything from serving to sitting at the cashier’s counter to going up to customer’s tables and making sure that they’re having a good time. Similarly, there’s this sense of casual camaraderie between the staff and customers, many of whom have become firm regulars. Most of our staff has stayed with us over the years, and have been cycled around the different outlets, moving up from junior servers or commis cooks to outlet and area managers or sous chefs, and they also all have their own favourite Cross Point memories, stories.”
Clearly then, there’s something special about the space. But did Vikrant notice it when he first came to check out the area? “It’s weird that that never struck me before. Now that you’ve asked... When Shammi and I came here for the first time, this mall was totally empty, apart from the Looks salon next door. And now that I think about it, why would the two of us, with years of catering and backend F&B experience, choose this untested space in a virgin mall to open a new restaurant?” wonders Vikrant. Maybe, just maybe, the law of attraction, we think.