Today I had the opportunity to visit the newest restaurant in South Madras 'Mast Kalandar'. The outlet is the brainchild of IT professionals who wanted to start something on their own. So after successfully establishing 8 outlets in Bangalore, they have now entered Chennai.
My first impression of the place was that it was bright and vibrant. The colours were inviting and there was peppy music in the air. But what struck me was the relatively unseen format to order and serve food. You walk in to Mast Kalandar, pick up one of the massive menu cards and order at a counter. The order is then served at your table. The hospitality industry refers to this as the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) format.
I had seen this model in the USA, but not in India and was therefore very curious to know how it was working in India. I had the chance to speak to Gaurav who is one of the founders of the restaurant. He says this format helps reduce costs and that benefit can be passed to the customer. This is how it works.
A normal restaurant with seating for 50-75 people would need at the least 8 order takers/ waiters. By adopting the QSR format Mast Kalandar has been able to cut this number down to 3-- Two order takers at a counter and one on the floor. Only the initial order needs to be placed at the counter. All running orders are taken at the table by the one on-floor waiter/ order taker, explained Gaurav.
Now, coming to the food.
We ordered a Thali, Kebab platter and Punjabi Paneer which came with Dal Makhni and Naan. The thing that stands out about Mast Kalandar is the Dal – both the yellow dal and the dal makhni. Both were light yet tasty. You couldn’t say if they were home cooked or restaurant made. Gaurav later told me that Mast Kalandar does not add any additives or preservatives and that dishes are freshly made every few hours. That explained why I could finish an entire generous portion of dal makhni – No baking soda or salts in the food. Same is true of the mixed vegetable that came with the thali. The kebabs were well done.
However, one item did not quite satisfy my taste buds. The Paneer. Hailing from Delhi, I am partial and almost fanatical about how my Paneer needs to taste. Therefore, both the Punjabi paneer and the tandoori paneer (part of the kebab platter) did not make the cut. They did not match the standards set by the other dishes on the palate.
A meal for two comes to about Rs 300. Add the appetizer and dessert, and you could be paying between Rs 400 and Rs 500 a couple. Infact, except for one Thali meal no dish at this restaurant is priced over Rs 100.
Compare this with a restaurant like The Dhaba (which is a few km down the road from Mast Kalandar) that charges you Rs 700- 800 (meal for two) and you know why Mast Kalandar will become popular. And yes, they take orders for takeaways too.
We had read about the reviews on this place and thought will order a dinner for home delivery since we live in Adyar less than a mile away from the Hotel. The person who picked up the phone was courteous enough , took our order and assured that the food will be delivered in 45 minutes. This was at 7.30 PM tonight , we went about our stuff and by 8.30 , I really was hungry and called the number back. Then the whole problem started , the phone kept on ringing or was busy but no reply. We sent text messages , no avail. We waited till 9.00 PM , a good 90 minutes after we originally ordered and then actually went out to try get dinner from somewhere., Adyar , on a Sunday evening , is an extremely tough area to find a Hotel to eat , so we had to drive all the way to Kooturpuram to find a small joint , that was clean and actually the food was not half bad. And , the best joke is that at 9.45 PM , someone from a different number called up and threatened us if we wanted the food or not. When asked why no one picked up the phone for the last 2 hours there was no reply forthcoming apart from the vague explanation that the bike broke down.
ReplyDeleteBottom line , in all my years of ordering and eating out , have never seen such an unprofessional behavior. Please give this restaurant a miss!!
@Smith Thank you for your comment, We did not try the take away option and probably won't.
ReplyDelete@Gaurav you may want to look into this. May be it was just a one off case but still I think you have one angry customer here.