Restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani was the first to react to the news of Chef Manu Chandra and Chetan Rampal quitting the Olive Group of Restaurants began trickling in. “This is seismic! What a team! All the best to you all!”
His statement reflected the sentiment of the entire restaurant industry. Covid had claimed its first big victim from the world of Indian restaurants – the iconic partnership of AD Singh, Chef Manu Chandra and Chetan Rampal, the understated of the trio.
In the afternoon, Singh put out an announcement about the end of the partnership, both to the media and on Instagram.
“All good things must come to an end as goes the adage. Though what it does is pave the way for fresh beginnings and new legacies. It is with sadness that we announce the moving on from the Olive Family, its two partners Chetan Rampal and Manu Chandra.
Soon, it was followed by a statement put out by Chef Manu Chandra, only on Instagram. “So long, and thanks for all the Baos,” he wrote simply, before continuing to talk about the memories and time he has had at Olive.
“It is wrenching to walk away from the various spaces that I have built, and which have been home to these precious milestones in your life. And this departure is no less of a milestone in my journey as a chef. I will always be grateful for the memories – for that is all we have left as time moves on its inexorable march. So here I am, jumping out of that plane again, but secured this time by the greater ballast of proven success and hardwon experience, a wry sense of humour untampered with time, and still no greys. I step forward towards a far bigger canvas and greater ambition – to finally bring to fruition cherished dreams and ideas that were set aside to focus on the daily grind.”
The partnership has endured 17 years. In these 17 years, the three have created three iconic brands – the fine dine Olive, the gastropub Monkey Bar, Fatty Bao, and the bar Toast and Tonic, besides setting up a host of other restaurants such as SodaBottleOpenerWala, Guppy, The Fatty Bao, Monkey Bar, Toast & Tonic and The Grammar Room. Chef Chandrahas cooked for Lady Gaga and fed Masterchef’s Matt Preston a five-hour meal when he was in Bengaluru.
Both AD and Chef Chandra had predicted that Covid would take its toll. It has in ways no one imagined.
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