Make it Large

According to Ajay Gauba,owner of the newly opened Buffet Hut in Sector 9,it’s a bit of both. “Diners want value for money and prefer a buffet that offers two of the most popular cuisines — Indian and Oriental,” he says. It’s interesting to note that before Buffet Hut opened,(the Hut offers an impressive spread of dishes at an all-inclusive price,starting at Rs 299 ) fine diner Sofrito was housed in the same property. The Mediterranean menu was a refreshing change but it didn’t send the cash registers ringing. The restaurant even went in for a menu makeover within months of its launch and introduced Indian cuisine,but soon had to down shutters. “We studied the market well and realised that a buffet is the most preferred choice for diners and we want to promote our restaurant as a family place,” asserts Gauba.

Speaking of sales,in Chandigarh if a restaurant manages to do well in the lunch hour,it’s a hit. Otherwise seen as a lean time,the lunch buffet is now pulling in larger groups,the kitty party ladies being the front runners. “A buffet is a serious business option for any eatery but I find that in Chandigarh it’s the number one choice for diners who want multiple options at one go,” remarked Pallav Singhal,Executive chef,JW Marriott Chandigarh. Thanks to a good mix of popular favourites — Indian,Continental and Thai — the Café@JW has picked up pace. While relatively new entrants like Mainland China and Kava in Sector 26 and Barryo Fiesta in Panchkula have made buffets their mainstay,the veterans in the Chandigarh food business are also following suit. In what seems like a well-planned move to be part of the new trend,Hotel Mountview has recently rolled out a lunch and dinner buffet at Rustles,their multi-cuisine restaurant followed now by A.B’s,a premier enterprise of the Hot Millions Group. “Our endeavour is two-fold,” says A.B’s manager Harjeet Singh. “We want to highlight one regional cuisine every month with a mini-food festival. April will be all about Kashmiri cuisine and it will be a part of our buffet as well as the a la carte menu. The buffet is priced at at Rs 399,excluding tax,in order to make it widely accessible,” he adds.

The pocket-friendly prices and the the increasing number of choices,should now give the diner little to complain about. “There has been a sudden rise in the number of restaurants in the city but eating out has become an expensive affair. A buffet makes sense as one is already aware of the bill amount,” quips entrepreneur Gurjit Kang,who dines out twice a month.