Mosque Road- Bangalore's Gastronomic Paradise - Christ University

Department of Hotel Management, Christ University, Hosur Road, Bangalore 560029Vol. 3 (8), AUGUST 2013RepertoireWelcome, all! With Ramadan, Independence Day and the unstemmabletide of the monsoons, there is an air of celebration all around. In this edition, weexplore one of Bangalore’s lesser known icons– Mosque Road. Also read aboutsome of the educative workshops conducted in the Department of HotelManagement this month, and take a trip through Belgium. Enjoy!-Avin Thaliath, Editor-in chiefView the New AKSHAR video on youtube by click on the YOUTUBE Link Below :Mosque Road- Bangalore’sGastronomic Paradise- Behzad Tarapore &Poorvi IyengarAn Islamic dominated area, tucked in the middle ofit are some of Bangalore’s famous Mughali cuisinejoints, Mosque road seems to be an area where onejust cannot get lost until the month of Ramzan .Apart from the religious value that it holds amongstthe Islamic community Ramzan is greatly associatedwith an array of food. Every year mosque roadduring Ramzan would be lit up and have a few stallsselling the season’s yummiest food, but this year forthe first time enteredanother league, having almost 120-130 food stallsalongside with all the restaurants in the area settingup stalls outside their establishments.Although an Islamic festival this year the stalls onMosque road had 70% of the people from otherreligions enjoying the delicious delicacies on sale.The estimated foot fall on weekdays was 1.5 to 2lakh, whereas on weekends an astonishing 4 lakhpeople, crowd around this single junction. With allthe feet stomping, pushing and pulling are thesestalls which start business just before sunset andclose shop at 2.30 am. To set up a stall during themonth of ramzan on mosque road no priorexperience nor license is required, a sum ofRs.33,000 has to be paid upfront to the organizersas rent for the next 30 days. At an average eachstall earns Rs. 23,000 per day. If for instance a stallselling the all famous shawarma rolls has aninvestment of 1,08,000 which includes the rent,equipment and all working cost, he would sellapproximately 250 rolls a day at the rate of Rs.50each and earn a profit of approximately Rs.3,75,000.It’s no place for a vegetarian but a paradise formeat cravers, the average meat consumption by all

stalls is 900kg per day, with dishes ranging fromjuicy sheikh kebabs to authentic hydrabadi haleem.To our surprise one of the most crowded stalls wasthe Bhatkal fish stall serving whole pomfrets andprawns marinated with their secret red masala andthen grilled on a sighdi. Although banned inKarnataka, camel meat was one of the fastestmoving items. The star of this year and the dishwhich pulled the most crowds was the pathar gosh,where beef is slow cooked on slabs of treated stonefor up to 7 hours. The sulemani chai with hotsamosas was the favourite for the muslim peoplearound right after they break their fast. The sweetswhich were given a pass by many still managed tograb the attention of a few, the rice kheer and fruitcustard were just two of the many sweetpreparations. To wash down all the yummy foodthe drink which was flowing the most was Arabicgrape juice which had pieces of grape pulp alongwith the must.The ONE stall which we visited in the end left ourjaws wide opened, just because the variety of dateswhich were all imported, when we tasted thesedates they were in a league of their own. When weinquired about his stall we were astonished. Theowner of the stall told us that he works only duringthe month of Ramzan, he makes an investment ofRs. 75,00,000 to import the dates and his stall alonehas a turnover of Rs. 2 crore and makes sure all hisdates are sold within the month of Ramzan . Alongwith the dates he sells malai chikki which is thepeople’s favourite.The day before Eid, mosque road returnedto its everyday’s hustle only waiting for the monthof Ramzan to return next year.Photo Credits– Upamanyu UrsClick on the link to view the video on YOUTUBEClCulArt– The World of Beer-Marquiz MiltonIn a land where wine istaboo, and drinking isconsidered a sin, we haveCul-Art fighting a bravebattle, to educate thecountry on the art , and science of producing andconnoisseuring alcohol. Cul-Art 2013 is the 3 rdprodigy of the series of workshops held every yearon alcoholic beverages. Started off in the year 2011,with a workshop on Old World Wines, followed byNew World Wines in 2012, Cul-Art 2013 providedan in-depth insight into understanding andappreciating “Beer”.The session was well-structured, with expertsfrom the industry and prominent academics sharingtheir expertise on the vast subject of beer. Thesession started off with Prof. Sushil Dwarakanath,Head of Department of Hotel Management, giving abrief intro to Cul-Art, followed by Fr. Arun C.Antony inaugurating Cul-Art 2013. After theformalities were out of the way, the workshop beganwith Prof. Jaykumar and Prof. Zachariah giving adetailed presentation on the history of beer, and itsdevelopment over a period of 12,000 years! Nextup, we had prof. Sushil, who gave the workshop alighter note, by sharing with us certain excitingalbeit weird facts about beer that completely blewyour mind. Who knew thathops were from the samefamily as cannabis!Post-lunch, the session waspresided over by industrialexperts. First, we had Mr Sanjay Roy, who headsthe sales and marketing for the United Breweries,followed by Mr Gurpreet Singh who heads the salesand marketing for the kingfisher group. Theirpresentations gave the participants an understandinginto the various methods used by kingfisher toadvertise their product.

The session wound up with a fun round of quiz,with exciting gifts given to all participants withcorrect answers. Our final speaker for the day wasMr Gaurav Sikka, Owner and MD of ArbourBrewing Company (ABC), a brew-pub located onMG road. He brought forth to the class, a conceptnew to Bangalore, but quite a popular trendabroad. Mr Sikka spoke on the advent of brewpubsand micro-breweries to the city. Heenlightened the participants on the art ofappreciating the lesser known beverage of Ale, andhow Ale is catching on in a market currentlydominated by the more popular Lager.Cul-Art 2013 lived up to its reputation in manyways. As a country, we drink alcohol for the solepurpose of getting drunk. It is the effect of thebeverage we appreciate, rather than the beverageitself. Cul-Art, is successfully changing that attitudewith every one of its workshops.SWEET CHARIOT-Lara WilliamsTwo words for an entrepreneur, a sole proprietor, aperson living life from rags to riches, from having ahole in the wall to building himself an empire, aname that has sweetened lives of many andcontinues to flourish. “GLEN WILLIAMS.”The founder of sweet chariot – the house of cakesand pastries- working his way from having a smalloven for baking cakes to having the best machineryfrom all over the world to cater to his countless,loyal customers.Sweet chariot was established in 1981 as a tiny cakeshop and now there are 62 outlets all overBangalore city. Glen Williams’ younger sister cameup with the name of ‘Sweet Chariot.’ it was first runby glen Williams, his younger sister, Katy and TonyMonteiro who is now his brother in law, settled inAustralia. Katy Williams and her husband, tony leftsoon after sweet chariot was up and running andhanded it over entirely to Mr Williams. The firstoutlet was on brigade road, it still stands tall eventoday. He then took it to different heights and hasbuilt a decent set up as of now. The second outletopened in Bangalore, in 1988 which was a success.After that more outlets were opened at regularintervals. The first café opened in 2001 onresidency road and is still flourishing. In 2004,Sweet Chariot took over Java City which was closingdown and nursed it back to life. He then openedother outlets in Pune, in 2006. Sweet chariot isknown for its cakes and pastries, especially knownfor their black forest cakes, lemon tarts and chickenlasagne. Sweet chariot has got its presence incooperates. It manufactures a wide range of bakeryproducts like biscuits, cakes, doughnuts, pastries,breads, buns and a lot of savouries like samosas,sandwiches, puffs, quiches, pizzas. Some of thecheese used is made in house which is used for thepizzas and quiches, etc. He even makes his ownchocolates. glen Williams is always innovative andcreative, coming up with new products everycouple of months. The menu is always beingrefreshed and new items and being included fromthe test kitchen in Koramangala.About 55% is owned by franchises and 45% iscompany owned. It is a fine mix of cafes andtakeaway. There are five manufacturing units,three of them are under the name of sweet chariotprivate limited, and the other two are RheasConfectionery and the Williams Bakery. A typicalday at the bakery has two shifts for production, oneof which starts at 6 in the morning and the productsare dispatched by 9am. The second starts at 12noon and is sent for distribution at 2:30pm.To sweeten up your insides and keep your belliesfull , drop by sweet chariot for a delightfulexperience of a mix of sweet and savoury items.