Cricket World Cup’s cross-border flavour

Restaurants in Chandigarh are ready to woo guests from Pak with dishes from Lahore and Peshawar

Cricket World Cup's cross-border flavour

Restaurants in Chandigarh are ready to woo guests from Pak with dishes from Lahore and Peshawar

This week, Chandigarh has traded its trademark tandoori chicken for the Peshawari platter. Its streets smell not of tadka dal and aloo paranthas, but of fiery Frontier curries and kebabs.

Yummy: Chef Shabir Ahmed who was flown in from Lucknow, stands
behind a counter named Lahore Chowk at a hotel in Chandigarh.
Pic/imtiyaz khan

As people from Pakistan throng the city to witness the ICC World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan in neighbouring Mohali on Wednesday, the food menus here seem to have adapted to the current flavour - that of cross-border bhaichara.

"We have introduced fusion dishes such as Sialkot-style chhole bhature and Peshawari paneer paranthas," said Sumant Marwah, owner of the popular Pind di Shaan restaurant in the heart of the city. "This is garnering a lot of interest from Pakistani tourists who've visited us in the last few days. Most of them say we're doing a good thing by getting the cultures together," he added.u00a0

Another hotel, The Aroma, located in sector 22, has opened a separate counter named "Lahore Chowk" especially offering Pakistani food and flown in a special cook from Lucknow for this purpose. The counter serves vegetarian and non-vegetarian Lahore platter at a price of Rs 495 and Rs 595 respectively. Apart from this, the hotel also plans to start a two-day biryani festival. "We started this counter especially keeping the Pakistani guests in mind but demands among Indians were also overwhelming.

Special menus have been prepared with Pakistani food items. The next two days are important and we expect the business to increase unexpectedly. Since biryanis are the staple food of Pakistan, we are starting a festival with different varieties both Indian as well as Pakistani. Also if we find the response good we might continue with this counter for the local people in Chandigarh," said Manmohan Singh, the owner of the hotel and also President of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh.

Even dhabas are ditching their dal makhani for Mughlai mutton curries. "Jabse menu mein rogan josh daala hai, sales mein bhi josh aa gaya hai (The rogan josh has set the cash registers ringing)," said Sukh Lal, owner of one of the city's bestselling restaurants, Rasoi.

Pakistani cricket fans are pleased with the double treat in store for them. "Pakistani and Punjabi cuisines are quite similar, but it's nice to see that the Indian kitchen cares for our tastes," said Faiz Hashim, a 26-year-old management professional from Karachi. "I never expected such a warm welcome by way of the stomach," said Nira Alam, his wife.

Locals are equally pleased. "Achha hai that there's a change on the (menu) cards ufffdthings were becoming too boring at restaurants here," said LG Kartar, a teacher at Panchkula. Meanwhile, the teams from both the countries, too, are enjoying the Pakistani food they're being served at Hotel Taj, where they are lodged. "Peshawari Chicken Tikka is a great hit with many players of both the teams. They are relishing it," said Hotel Taj's Executive Chef, Neeraj Chaudhry.

Besides food, cricket lovers are also on the prowl for the cool World Cup merchandise up for grabs at major malls and market hubs in Chandigarh. Team India tees, trophy miniatures, Indian flags, caps and headbands with Stumpy - the official ICC mascot - are going off the shelves like hotcakes. "It's been just three days since I stocked Stumpy soft toys, and they're all gone," said Naresh Narula, a shop owner at the posh sector 17 market. While lifesize figures cost Rs 2,000 onwards, smaller knockoffs come for Rs 50.

'Uniform upsurge'
As far as the Indian team's uniform is concerned, Punjab, being a major hosiery producer, has no dearth of shops selling the stuff at hot bargains. "Just yesterday, I bought the Indian jersey at a steal - track pants and the shirt both for Rs 450, imagine!" said Sukhwinder Bhatti, a college student. Popular chains such as Big Bazaar at Zirakpur and Nike have also reported a sudden rise in the sales graph over the last few days.