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Journalism of Courage
Drawn in droves by a friendly bhat and friendly masseurs, most Indians come back from Bangkok with smaller bank balances and bigger paunches. Thai food with its red and green curries, ginger and lemon grass flavouring and liberal dash of chillies is close enough in taste to Indian gourmet, not to turn off dogmatic desi palates. And as a topping, the lush colourful tourism ads have given Thailand that exotic tinge which adds to the VFM for a night out for Thai dinner.
The first one to catch on to this trend was Hotel President with Thai Pavilion. Though great food, soft lights and slim slant-eyed waitresses had the food critics raving, the prices keep most people out. And when Richard Dias set up Thai Ban a year ago at Turner Road, Bandra, he knew this very well. quot;Chef Ananda Solomon, chief chef, President, helped me set up Thai Ban. The working conditions there were so bad that I just had to quit and do something on my own,quot; says Richard with a bland face.
But this clash of egos in the kitchen which made him quit was the easy part. When he left in September 1996, he had only time and grand plans on hand but no money to set the ball rolling. So Arvind refrained from putting in his papers as he would have had no means to support his family if this venture took a wrong turn. But what he did do was go on leave for a month in which he worked on Thai Ban with Richard.
His fiancee, Michelle, who lives in Bandra, found the right place. They asked the corner paanwala about the owner of the place, walked into the guy8217;s house and signed the lease two days later. And the Rs seven lakh, which was the initial investment, was pitched in by Richard8217;s father. From there on things moved on a roller coaster. quot;I went a little slack after that because there was no pressure on me, I was my own boss. But Michelle would drag me to Crawford market to buy the kitchen stuff,quot; he says.
The cutlery, the cooks, the chairs, everything was in by early November except for a tiny detail 8212; the opening date, quot;It hadn8217;t sunk in yet, what we were doing. It was just a big adventure till then,quot; says Richard.
Then one day, around 20 November, 1996 Richard just picked up a date from the air and got the opening day banners printed for November 27, 1996. Arvind who was living in the kitchen those days, trying and retrying the menu, was obviously more than a little taken aback with the sudden deadline, quot;I didn8217;t know what to say. 27th was just around the corner and the place wasn8217;t even done up yet.quot;
With a seating capacity of only 24, Richard insists the restaurant is a hole in the wall, quot;Soryuz Talib, an architect friend volunteered to help out with the decor. He said he would do something called silhouettes. I didn8217;t even know what the word meant till then,quot; he says. The night before the opening Talib got to work with paint buckets and brushes and Richard and Arvind decided not to stay back because nothing on the wall was making sense to them. quot;I was sure my expensive paints were going to get wasted,quot; says Richard.
The next morning when the duo walked in bleary eyed into a sunset stolen from Bangkok, on a background of flaming orange and yellow, there were beautifully painted silhouettes of temples, pagodas and the Buddha.
But despite Talib8217;s ingenuity, the restaurant, with its staff of 12 people, remains too small to become a place to be seen at, according to Richard. quot;Models and actors come in, love the food, don8217;t understand why they are paying so less, but it is still not a place they would patronise too often.quot; But with the prices varying from Rs 20 to Rs 90 for the delectable dishes, there is a regular troop which keeps the place more than just about going.
Around 75 people drop in everyday and though Thai Ban hasn8217;t yet broken even, Richard is quite content with his profits. quot;A month after we started off, an article appeared in a newspaper about us. And for the next few months we had people waiting for over two hours in queues to eat here. It was madness, I can8217;t handle that again.quot;
But he hasn8217;t yet had his fill of the taste of success and though he won8217;t let out more about it, he has another grand plan 8212; making Thai Ban the best Thai food restaurant in the city.
