Why there's only one Bukhara: The mystique of the iconic restaurant endures

I first ate at the Bukhara way back in 1986. That too Sikandari Raan cooked by the legendary Chef Madan Lal Jaiswal. Honestly, I had never tasted a lentil dish quite like Dal Bukhara till then. I was amazed that dal could taste so delicious. The menu was fairly spartan — the Barrah Kababs were there, and even back then, it boasted Tandoori Aloo, the Naan Bukhara and Phirni. The experience of an open kitchen was a novelty in the 1980s. The interiors — a harmonious blend of rustic elegance, featuring stone walls adorned with traditional carpets, rough-hewn trestle tables, wooden stools, along with the warm glow of copper pots and urns, contributed to the restaurant's unique aesthetics. The Hussain painting that hangs on one of the stone pillars these days was yet to be gifted by the mercurial artist to the famous eatery. 

 

The F&B team at Maurya wanted the now-famous wooden menu to be re-designed. I was a rookie at the ad agency HTA then. Anil Channa, the general manager of the hotel, was there himself at lunch to brief me. To my untrained and still inexperienced advertising mind, fiddling with the wooden menu seemed like an unnecessary exercise. The Bukhara, launched in 1978, was already an iconic restaurant — Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi were regulars in those days; and no India visit was complete for a visiting Head of State without a meal at Bukhara. Ajit Haksar, the legendary chairman of ITC, had launched Bukhara (or so the folklore goes) to serve better Indian food than Delhi’s famed Moti Mahal. The new restaurant had exceeded all expectations, becoming India’s No 1 by far.

 

The menu discussion thankfully got nixed halfway through the lunch when Chef Jaiswal questioned the need to change it. Mr Channa was now in two minds. I was too junior to voice my opinion and preferred to keep my own counsel. Slowly, a consensus built up around the table that the wooden menu was a part of the symbols, sights and sounds of the Bukhara. That decision has remained unchanged for 38 years, thankfully.

 

My next big assignment on the Bukhara was a couple of years later. A decision had been taken at the ITC headquarters to franchise out Bukhara in New York. I was appalled. Where was the need to have a second Bukhara? After all, there is only one Taj Mahal, just one Eiffel Tower … wouldn’t opening up another Bukhara dilute the charm (and uniqueness) of the original restaurant? But who was I to question the wisdom of the client big-wigs? My creative partner, Gullu Sen, and I were introduced to the Kashmiri gentleman chosen as the partner. He wanted to “launch the original Bukhara with an American accent.” I disliked the drawings of the interiors. Most elements of the Bukhara at the Maurya were proposed to be “tweaked”. And yes, we were told to redesign the menu — the wooden platter, it was felt, would not work in the Big Apple. Gullu created a beautiful menu using the turbans of various Afghan clans as visuals. Everyone at ITC loved it. Privately, I still thought that the American adventure ought to be aborted — the Bukhara was too precious a property to be replicated elsewhere.

 

Within a year of its launch in New York, the Bukhara was shuttered. Despite a good start, the restaurant never really managed to emulate the success of the original. Business was so lukewarm that the franchisee threw in the towel in less than 12 months.

 

ITC top brass were stunned. There was a lot of introspection and a lot of soul-searching. A decision was taken that there would never be another Bukhara. Restaurants with an almost identical experience, and menu, in other ITC properties would be called Peshawari (and Royal Afghan). The Bukhara offering would remain pristine. Bukhara has never served rice — never will. There are no pickles ever on the table. Naans are never served half. No butter chicken, no gravies.

 

Despite the American setback, efforts were still made in later years to launch Bukharas in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ajman, Kathmandu, Singapore and Montreal. All failed. Since 1997 there is only one Bukhara. The original Bukhara. A long due lesson had been learnt. Finally.

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Roger Federer, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Prince Philip, Tony Blair and many many more celebrities have been hosted by the Bukhara over the past four decades. They came because of the mystique around the restaurant. And its unreplicable charm. Because there is only one Bukhara.

 

May that never change.

 

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The author is Chairman of Rediffusion