Meat Of The Bat

A few months ago, a team of chefs met Sachin Tendulkar's mother. They had heard from her son, an authority on fried Bombil, that nobody made it better than her. Could she please teach them? The chefs then travelled to London's Signor Sassi and asked the chef to show them how he made lobster spaghetti because it was one of Sachin's favourites. In London, they also visited Mango Tree to borrow the idea of Phad Thai Noodles, and they wrote down the recipe of champagne fish at Hakkasan. All for a good cause.

Two evenings before the first Test against the West Indies, a crowd gathers in Colaba when Sachin Tendulkar suddenly emerges from a Honda City. Dressed in the sort of black that ad men use to show dandruff, Sachin takes a quick single towards a building that says Tendulkar's. He stops briefly and turns. And almost the whole of Colaba says hello. Sachin is fulfilling another dream of the late Mark Mascarenhas, the man who showed him the money. Mark wanted a chain of Tendulkar restaurants. About a year after he made a call to hotelier Sanjay Narang, Tendulkar's is almost ready. It was designed the way Sachin wanted, with a multi-cuisine menu that marks his favourite dishes from oriental, continental and Indian cuisines.

It's a slice of Sachin's good life with a 12 per cent luxury tax. But it cannot be called exorbitant. The rates here are, "25 to 40 per cent cheaper than 5-star rates," Narang says. "Sachin didn't want a place where only the rich could go". For about Rs 600-700, two people can have a full meal here, which may sound affordable even to the Indian hockey team.

Not every inch of this 33-table, 4,500 sq ft restaurant contains a cricketing noun, though there is the Indian blue jersey on display, signed by the entire team, along with the cap, gloves and autograph of a man who is almost as famous as Sachin—Michael Schumacher. The restaurant, which can seat 92 people, has glass tables that carry quotes from people like Vivian Richards on what they think of the owner. There are a few gleaming beams supporting the roof that conservatives may say contributes to bad decor. The blue interiors, the cutlery with Sachin's signature, the well-stacked bar with a fine wine collection and a centre table called The Oval give it a distinctive feel.

Narang will not tell how much Sachin's stake is in their joint venture, which has been christened Gourmet Restaurants Private Ltd. "But it's substantial". The issue of this stake is something that Sachin says "is too personal". But nobody complains as he takes us around the eating place looking better-dressed than he usually is because of the occasion or because he is surrounded by journalists. "I am a big foodie," he says, "I cook reasonably well too." His doctor wife Anjali looks on with a smile that neither confirms nor denies possibly the only self-complimentary statement Sachin has made in the last 13 years. The restaurant has a children's section where young parents will deposit their noisy kids instead of expecting every diner to look at their wards with affection when they disturb them. Sachin's logic behind the section though is more emotional. "When Anjali and I go out for dinner, we are always in a hurry to get back home to be with the kids. So I felt this restaurant should have a kids' section where someone takes care of the children while their parents eat in peace."

Sachin was involved during every stage of the design and execution. He personally selected some crockery. "He was very sure of what he wanted," Narang says, "When we gave him three options, he decides in less than three seconds. His brain works very fast." The menu too is entirely centred around the kind of food he likes, which, thankfully, is very broad. In such simple times when a man is talking about his food and not cricket, a simpler question—"Sachin, will the restaurant serve Coke?" Pepsi's greatest Indian apostle replies with—"Which one do you like?"

Worldtel, the company that manages the world's greatest cricketer, says that the future of Sachin's branding will revolve around his core personality that over the years has accumulated a lot of sophistication. Tendulkar's falls in place, though the master has priced it a bit lower than he should have.

But trust the crowds to pour in when the restaurant opens by the month-end.