Spice of Life relaunched with

The one-year-old Spice of Life restaurant, located just off Minto Park in central Kolkata and promoted by the Pauls of the Aparna group, has been relaunched in a new format as a boutique establishment focussed on seafood.

The new menu had been developed by chefs waned away from some famous seafood restaurants in India with focus on coastal cuisine from the west coast of India, and some items from the east coast.

"It cost us Rs 50 lakhs to do up this place all over again," said A K Paul, in charge of the 50-seater restaurant.

Spread over 1000 sq ft, the restaurant would soon be adding on 1000 sq ft more.

It had also applied for a bar licence which was expected to be processed after state Assembly elections ending May 8, 2006. "In a location like this, I feel a bar-cum-restaurant would push up revenues and I am expecting that average bill per person would then push up from Rs 100 at present to nothing less than Rs 300," said Paul. The restaurant at present offered three cuisines "" tandoor Indian, Chinese and coastal, with focus on coastal food.

The restaurant's popular items included lobster, squid, octopus and oysters.

At present, the restaurant was catering to 150 customers on an average per day.

Most of the revenue was coming from delivery to offices and homes within a distance of 3km, said Paul.