�I Went From GM To Waiter In Hours!�

LIKE a homing pigeon winging its way back, former Bombay hotelier and current Melbourne restaurateur Jaspal Gandhi comes every year, sometimes twice a year, to India. �I come because primarily my heart is still in Bombay, and that apart, I have friends and family still here, I need to visit them every now and then,� he says. He is a burly Sardarji who was born in Pakistan but bred in Bombay. His early claim to fame came from being the first Sikh employee at the prestigious Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay. Gandhi was a student of the Bombay Catering College under the famous Thangam Philips in the 1960s and his first job was at the Taj as a vacation trainee. He recalls R. M. Daruwala, the Rooms & Reception Manager (�there was no front office then�), telling him to trim his little goatee. But Col. Leslie Sawney, the CEO of Taj, who was a proper Punjabi, saved the day by stepping in and saying, �How nice to see a Khalsa!� Says Gandhi, �I could write a story on the Taj reception! Those were the days, I remember dressing up in white satin ducks and jodhpuris!� He was sent to England in 1965 along with four or five other boys from the Taj by the Food Ministry of India that had an arrangement with the Catering Association of Greater Britain. �We were sent for training to English hotels and clubs. I worked in the Reform Club.� Gandhi came back in 1967 and worked with the Taj again. �But I was attracted by the UK and returned in 1969.� He came back and joined the Ambassador Group, becoming its General Manager at 23, the youngest General Manager in a first class hotel. His stint with the Ambassador was Gandhi�s most productive in his career years. He counts his achievements which include setting up the country�s first flight kitchen, the Sky Chef in 1969, that had 19 international airlines as its clients, opening the Ambassador hotels in Delhi and Madras, putting up the Aurangabad hotel, opening the Duke�s Retreat at Khandala and the Croissant chain of delicatessens for the Narangs of the Ambassador Group. But in 1989, Gandhi left India frustrated.He simply and honestly felt there was no future here for him and his family.

Then began the Melbourne innings. He went to Melbourne because he had traveled to Australia before, he knew that it was easy territory, and that Melbourne was virgin still. Australia was really the land of opportunity in those days, and not the US as some people fondly imagine. �I landed at 8.30 in the morning and by 3.30 p.m. I landed a job as a waiter in a restaurant,� says Gandhi. There is dignity in labour in Australia. And the hotelier who had achieved and left behind so much in Bombay, felt no loss of pride in accepting the lowly waiter�s job. �Two months later, I got a job teaching hospitality in a college, and four-five months later in May 1990, I opened Bombay By Night � the best Indian restaurant yet in Melbourne. To do this I had to borrow money left, right and centre. I had an interest in Bombay, but Bombay had by then become difficult to establish a business in. There, in Melbourne, in one week you know what you want to do, you can raise the money for it, and you can start a business. A simple thing like a liquor licence that takes forever in Bombay, can be got in half a day there,� he explains.

And so Jaspal Gandhi now is the proud owner of Bombay By Night, a 100-seater restaurant, in which his wife Arvind and son Ravnish play important roles. Indians like Sachin Tendulkar have enjoyed his custom when in Melbourne. His staff includes two cooks. Saturday nights, he hires four waiters. Otherwise, Gandhi is everything from dishwasher to owner in Bombay By Night. �My brother in Bombay who has a 100-seater restaurant, employs a staff of 60, but there staff wages are very high � so I manage to do everything on my own,� he admits. He describes himself as being chef and restaurateur. �I can cook anything,� he says modestly, �because food has always been a passion and I come from a family of restaurateurs.� Every recipe on the menu is his. And it is a nice menu, not big and unmanageable, with a cross-section of Indian food from Kerala to Goa. He produces a flyer of Bombay By Night in which the virtues of its food have been extolled by the Australian food and wine magazines. �This is a treasure in the suburbs, modestly priced, simply decorated, and richly rewarding,� says The Age Epicure. And, �Bombay By Night is rapidly getting a reputation for doing the best tandoor in town � delicious and succulent meats rather than the dried-up offerings that often parade under the name,� by The Gourmet Traveler. �It�s the new twists on the old that make this restaurant�s specials so special,� adds The Age Good Food Guide. There must be 30 proper Indian restaurants in Melbourne and about 60 takeaways. Indian food is the flavour of the month. But Gandhi�s advantage is that he is a good communicator, he speaks the restaurateur�s language, and that�s half the battle won. �Lot of people open restaurants but they don�t talk the talk,� he says. And then he is a Sikh in Melbourne, which is a great asset. Plus his name stands out. �Gandhi is the most famous name from India,� he says.

And what are Jaspal Gandhi�s impressions of Bombay, the city he left behind in 1989? �It is a thumping city, no doubt, and you have to be well-off to enjoy normal life here. The hotels are doing well. But the restaurant industry is expanding in a disorganised way. Bombay has fantastic food now. I think the city has come of age.�

Quote

�To open Bombay By Night I had to borrow money. I had an interest in Bombay, but Bombay had become difficult to establish a business in. In Melbourne, in one week you know what you want to do, you can raise the money for it, and you can start a business. A simple thing like a liquor licence that takes forever in Bombay, can be got in half a day there.�