Privilege Club

With many swish fine-dining places popping up across the city,the concept of exclusivity is assuming new dimensions. The once-popular Private Dining Rooms (PDRs) have now become passe,and in its place,concepts like minimum bottle spends and VIP tables are slowly coming in to focus. What it means in the layman’s term is that each restaurant sets aside a select number of tables,where,with prior reservation,you get personalised attention and a limited amount of alcohol (usually a bottle or two) included in the cover charge,while the food costs extra.

Hype at Shangri-La hotel,Ashoka Road has refined the minimum table spend concept depending on the number of people in the group. “People no longer walk into a bar only to dance. They want to experience a social evening with friends,” explains DJ Assad Namazi,co-owner. For a minimum group of six people,a table at Hype can be priced up to Rs 36,000,which includes a bottle of your preferred alcohol. “For six people,the price becomes pretty economical. In addition,we are offering the services of a bartender exclusively at the table,” explains Namazi,whose Delhi outlet,launched in October,has 10 such tables.

Lap,actor Arjun Rampal’s swanky night-club at the Samrat Hotel on Kautilya Marg,has varying slabs of Rs 35,000,Rs 50,000 and above Rs 1 lakh for their tables. “This is only open to members on a prior booking basis and includes a complimentary bottle of Dom Perignon champagne for the guest,” says Cyrus Dalal,the spokesperson. Apart from the free bottle of spirits,guests can order anything for up to the price of the table. Anything extra,is of course added to the tab separately.

Tabula Rasa,at Square one mall,Saket,encourages a table sale of minimum Rs 45,000 on crowded nights,which includes a complimentary bottle of Grey Goose vodka. Likewise,during weekends,Shiro,at Samrat Hotel,reserves the third level of the restaurant,as the VIP area. The price of admission is pegged at Rs 24,000 (which covers the price of two bottles of Grey Goose vodka). With the additional cost of food,the expense at a table easily comes up to Rs 35,000.

The client profile,say proprietors,include corporates,politicians and the occasional film-star. Despite the hefty price-tags,the lure of exclusivity is apparently drawing in bookings. “Mostly we have had advance weekend bookings,” says Rafi Subhan,assistant general manager,Shiro.

If alcohol is not your chosen poison,Circa 1193,the new pan-Asian restaurant overlooking the Qutub Minar,has also cemented plans for a ‘chef’s table’ which requires a prior booking of 48 hours. It will entail a customised four-course menu,to be served by the head chef. “The advance notice allows the chef to understand the preference of the guests and create something unique,” says Wasiqa Soni,co-owner,who is working out the premium to be paid for the concept which rolls out in January.

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