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This thaali is a generous fusion of dishes from both sides of the Vindhyas,the paneer butter masala sharing space with sambhar and the modak competing with gulab jamoon....

This thaali is a generous fusion of dishes from both sides of the Vindhyas,the paneer butter masala sharing space with sambhar and the modak competing with gulab jamoon. But what makes the Rs-80 meal exceptional is that the food has no chemical additives,artificial colours,taste enhancers or preservatives.

It is Indias first aam-aadmi organic thaali,or so says the promoter of Modak,an organic vegetarian restaurant in Bangalores chic Koramangala neighbourhood. Natural elements rule,from the salt to the brown rice,from the mango pickle to the honey-walnut ice cream.

Modak was launched earlier this month by Satish Bangalore,an IT professional who previously headed the Indian arm of insurance technology firm,Phoenix Global Solutions. Satish Bangalore and his enterprising wife Sheela also run two other restaurants,including a Japanese one,in the same building.

Not far from Modak,in the same neighbourhood is 64,a charming bistro launched a few months ago by two professionals from outsourcing company,MindTree. Round the corner is an outlet of Mast Kalandar,a chain of Indian vegetarian restaurants set up by husband-wife team formerly of Wipro and TCS,Gaurav Jain and Pallavi Gupta. Not far away is Oye Amritsar run by Umesh and Vimala Malhotra,previously of Infosys Technologies.

The restaurant business is the latest entrepreneurial fad to capture the imagination of Bangalores IT professionals. And nowhere is it more evident than in the upscale Koramangala suburbs,where cafes and restaurants set up by them thrive alongside software companies and the residences of Indias leading tech entrepreneurs.

Bangalore is only a microcosm of a bold,even brash India,where professional risk-taking launching a restaurant or setting up a spa is considered newly cool. It is the appealing combination of fun and passion that draws IT people to open restaurants, says Sameer Narula who co-owns 64 with his MindTree peer,Sanjeev Joon.

Bistros,pizzerias,gelato bars are all a radical departure from the world of computers and coding. The restaurant trend is hot because it looks deceptively simple from the outside, says Kripal Amanna,publisher and editor of trade glossies such as Food Lovers Bangalore and Taste & Travel. At least once in his lifetime every person has thought,wouldnt it be fun to open a restaurant? says Amanna.

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The restaurant business seems the likely choice of software professionals looking to un-tether themselves from their cubicle and embark on a creative adventure,says Gaurav Jain,CEO of Spring Leaf Retail that runs the Mast Kalandar chain. After 13 outlets in Bangalore in the last couple of years,the chain has recently launched in Chennai and Hyderabad.

Jain says many industry peers are furtive wannabe-restaurateurs who come to him for advice. Jain and Gupta themselves toted up experience after working on food and retail customers overseas while in the software field.

Some software professionals jump into the business because they are passionate about food,says Madhu Menon,a former IT professional who owns and runs the popular Shiok,which serves far-eastern cuisine. Menon discovered the joys of cooking when he was 13 and launching a restaurant became a logical career extension.

Other IT employees have plunged in sensing a demand for distinct types of food. Restaurateur couple Jain and Gupta said the idea of setting up a contemporary north Indian vegetarian food chain came from working in jobs that spanned time zones and not finding enough time to cook at home. Outside,we never could get the wholesome food we wanted at the price we wanted so this perpetual pain point inspired us to launch our chain says Jain.

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Satish and Sheela Bangalore have a loftier goal. They say they plan to extend the Modak chain to 80 outlets and also intend to launch a stand-and-eat Tulasi organic snack chain next year. These will plug in directly to the farm supply chain and help the rural poor,they hope.

Menon says that after years in the IT industry,the restaurant business has been a revelation. The processes,systems and quality checks all the ingredients that software professionals are used to translate quite differently in the food business. It is neither glamorous nor high-paying job and there are no days off, says Menon. He feels it is like riding a high-speed rollercoaster. On some days,he confides,he misses his old job.

Sameer Narula of 64 says that boredom drove him to open the bistro. He now looks back and says it must have been a moment of brain freeze. The basic licenses and clearances involved so much red tape that every day has been a huge learning. There could be nothing further from my old job, he says.

Passion may have driven many to get into the restaurant business but it is a career fraught with challenges says Amanna,the food professional. For every successful restaurant,he says,there are several that fail.