A flight above Perch off Carter Road, and we are headed to Napoli by Shatranj that reopens today after eight years. The first stint had lasted 25 years, at a time when the Carter Road ‘Khau Galli’ buzz was non-existent. Owner Ashok Datwani reminisces how the residential area would fall quiet by 7 pm. “If you wanted to take a taxi, you’d probably have to walk half a mile. This was 1989,” he recalls, adding, “Trattoria had been running in a café format for a few years. At the time, people were not familiar with Italian fare; even the names sounded funny,” he says. That he was doing something right came in the form of a compliment from Captain Nair of Leela Group of Hotels, when he dined at Shatranj with his family. “He told me the minestrone soup was as good as what he had tasted in Milan two days ago. I will never forget that,” reveals Datwani.

The reopened dining space of Napoli by Shatranj