Coming all the way from the land of golden sand dunes, desert safaris and the perfumes of Arabia, this store tucked away in the quiet mall, Crossroads 2, is not a mirage but a must visit oasis of sheer delight. Bateel stands for class and exclusivity. It is owned by Saudi Arabian Royalty. "It has an extensive network divning various countries from Dubai to Malaysia, Indonesia, England and India," Hufrish Bahl, owner and franchisee for India explains as we enter the shop.

Dates and fancy packaged goodies fill the place. The counters display sumptuous date biscuits dressed in pistachios and nuts, hand made chocolates, petit fours and wrapped chocolates. The golden hue of the store and the aroma of fresh vanilla in the room enticed us into an extended date with the lady behind it all in India. "I have always been a woman of leisure and it was by a chance encounter that Bateel fell into my lap. I am enjoying my responsibility as the head in India and I feel a sense of direction and purpose. Life has just begun for me at 40," she giggles. The chirpy Parsi lady who is married to Rajiv Bahl and by whom she has a lovely daughter Naionica, looks more like a passionate teenager herself and raring to go. Surprisingly, she never appreciated dates before she tasted Bateel in Dubai (She shuffles between Dubai and Bombay for her husband's business). It is quite paradoxical that she is averse to indulgence in chocolates. She is very proud of her team of eight people. "I feel like we have grown together in the past three years, since we launched in India. I had to train at the unit in Riyadh myself, before training them. They have not only grasped the business but won over our customers as there is a positive feedback from my clients. All this, despite being uneducated and hailing from very modest backgrounds.  I do realize that there is something special about Bateel that has made them stick with it". It is quite a miracle that she heads something like this, without a formal background in entrepreneurship. In fact a professional was going to run it until he backed out and she stepped in. "We won the contract that other head honchos were vying for because of our dedication to marketing Bateel in a non-commercial manner. Word of mouth propaganda is the best way of spreading the goodness of Bateel. All I want to do is promote dates from Saudi Arabia, the way the Swiss are known for chocolate and French for their cheese," Hufrish emphasizes.

About Bateel

Bateel began as a vertically integrated company with farming, processing, manufacturing and premium retailing functions; every facet of the business from development to final sale is overlooked by them.  It is fascinating to learn that the date processing plant is located in the sunny desert in Alghat on the outskirts of Riyadh, where the date tree farms are. Bateel produces a whopping 20 varieties of dates in balah, tamr and maknooz form. After having bagged the coveted SASO Award for excellence they are one of the few companies that export freely to the United States.

Besides dates, they have a chocolate factory operating in the Middle East churning out some exotic varieties of chocolates. Date filled premium chocolates of Bateel origin from France have a sharp hint of cocoa. The factory also produces delectable date based pastries, jams, confitures and conserves. Just recently, the Bombay store has begun retailing a date bar which is honey, dates, pistachios bathed in rice flakes, providing an instant rush of energy after a tiring day. All the retail outlets are located in posh localities, the world over and Dubai has a chic café called Bateel too. "The Middle East, now has a rampant café culture which only exists in five star hotels in India. Boutique cafés are not very big here," Hufrish exclaims.

We learnt that Bateel has fast become a style statement with a strong prestige element. Each aesthetically wrapped gift weaves a special message. Besides lavish spenders like Gujaratis and Marwaris, the magic has spread to corporate houses as well. The best variety of date is the Kholas which has a natural caramel flavour. There is Khidri with complementing flavours like caramelized pecan nuts a sheer delight. There are also prized varieties of Bala (unripened) and glucose Dhibbis. The ideal temperature for storage is six degrees celsius. It was indeed shocking to discover that the ordinary dates sold in India are hugely infested due to miserable preservation techniques!

 There are petit four style biscuits galore, some dipped in chocolate and others sprinkled with pistachios. The date paste filled chocolates are truly decadent. The shop also stocks  a dash of Turkish delights and almond draguees, both European sweet-meats. It was a sinful escapade and rather indulgent mid-morning snacking. The charming date impressario told us about her expansion plans to the suburbs, Delhi and Bangalore before the year end. Inshallah to that!