NEW DELHI'S Rohit Khattar is to the restaurants business what Raj Kapoor must have been to films. An absolute showman of a restaurateur. He is a man of unlimited creative energy. And a man of dynamic ideas. It is said that he has more new restaurants on his hands than he has fingers to count them on. I wouldn�t know. Though I know Rohit as a friend, and as a celebrity restaurateur, since 1994. He is quite amazing. I don�t think even McDonald�s in India has grown with the dizzying speed that he has. The Delhi press, which shreds socialites and politicians with the same pen, adores Rohit. I cannot pick up a newspaper from the capital and not find him on Page 3. He�s that kind of guy.

My first meeting with Rohit was at Chor Bizarre, his daring Indian restaurant in the old Hotel Broadway on New Delhi�s Asif Ali Road. It resembled a jaripuranawalla�s junkyard, but served the most outstanding Kashmiri food I had eaten outside Srinagar. Rohit was a caring host. Over lunch, which I had sitting at an ancient four-poster bed, I told him that the Goshtaba was like nothing I had eaten before. This is a Kashmiri speciality made of minced lamb dumplings in yoghurt gravy. Rohit, who is a Kashmiri, was pleased. He told me that the Goshtaba he made at his farmhouse was even better. And it was! Next time he came to Bombay, Rohit actually brought a dabba of the home-made Goshtaba for me. He�s this kind of guy, too.

I did not meet Rohit much after that. But I followed his progress. In 1996, he made a gigantic leap and took the Chor Bizarre to Mayfair in London. Yes, the complete junkyard but with a new set of objects d�art. The food was the same, but for his London patrons, he carefully matched every dish on the menu with three wines. Brilliantly, he also began using Chor Bizarre to showcase Indian arts, crafts, culture, and entertainment. He got Shobha De to conduct a creative writing workshop there and Ismail Merchant to show the rushes of his Cotton Mary. Feroze Khan previewed his Mahatma vs. Gandhi and Shabana Azmi celebrated 25 years in Indian cinema. Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal staged her Bizarre Comedy Evening and Amitabh Bachchan read excerpts from a book. Rohit introduced special menus for London�s theatre-going gourmets and Indian street food for gourmands. Soon, Chor Bizarre was rated among the Best 10 restaurants in London. Rohit Khattar took a bow.

Back home, he took over New Delhi�s India Habitat Centre (IHC) and breathed a whole new life into it. To its existing facilities for music, dance, theatre, films, and educative discussions and programmes, Rohit introduced the culture of eating out. He seized the opportunity and the infrastructure "to do everything under one roof". Introducing four spanking new restaurants and a bar, a state of the art gym, pool and spa, he turned the IHC into New Delhi�s foremost destination for cuisine and culture. The culture vultures were delighted with the change. And visiting artists, performers and intellectuals began making an evening of it at the IHC after their cultural shows were over.

I wanted to see the IHC in its new avatar. So when I was in New Delhi recently, I called Rohit. As hospitable as ever, he said: "Let�s meet for lunch! Where would you like to eat?" Then he suggested, "You like seafood? You do! Fine, let�s meet at the Oriental Octopus. Yes... Octopus! It�s got cuisines from China, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore. Rashmi (his charming wife) has done the interiors in orchid and steel colours. It�s funky and trendy. It�s the newest restaurant at IHC. You�ll like the place."

And I did. I found it post-modern, ultra chic and happening. A quick peek at the menu before Rohit arrived revealed cuisines from eight countries of the Orient at unbelievably affordable prices. Too bad, the restaurant is for IHC members only. But Delhiites are enterprising people, everybody knows somebody who is a member, so I guess it�s all right. Then Rohit bounded into the restaurant in orchid-colour shirt and tie, looking like the Oriental Octopus himself. I suspect he fixed our rendezvous here because the restaurant�s walls matched his clothes! He spent a few minutes ordering our food, then hauled me out of my seat and said, "Come, let me show you around the IHC."

And at a trot, we made a recce of the entire complex. Taking the stairs, entering staff areas, going into kitchens, rushing around a poolside, Rohit showed me his new restaurants and bar. "This is Lite House, look at the salads, the seafood, they�re part of an eclectic cutting-edge Californian spa menu designed to keep people sprightly." And, "This is Delhi �O� Delhi. Look at Lutyen�s Delhi from its (sixth floor) windows! Views of monuments from pages of history. And the food, the best India has to offer in regional cuisine." We checked out the bar, Past Times, an English pub with food to match every conceivable spirit, and Lite Zone, the state of the art gym with a beautiful pool and soothing spa, to which the Lite House is attached as a pool cafe. And then returned to Oriental Octopus, where lunch awaited us.

"How do you like the place," Rohit asked. "My forte is to be able to devise a concept for a restaurant and take it to its natural conclusion. My concepts are design-led and daring. I hire the best people. We follow innovative HR practices. We believe in our systems being market-led. Two departments report directly to me. Marketing, and project and design. I do the restaurant menus with the chefs. The complete copy, design, and the selection of food. I have an understanding of food and marketing. Yes, of interiors also. The concepts are mine, but I use interior decorators, architects. It�s always a collaborative effort. But I�m hands on."

Indeed he is. He studied hotel and restaurant management at the Michigan State University. And he ran restaurants for the Hilton in Dallas and for the W. R. Grace chain in Washington D.C. Rohit can cook as well, but hates to. He defended himself: "To be passionate about cooking, you must have time. I don�t! I prefer sticking to the other side of the table. But I know how food should be. My wife says I�m a great taster. I do blind trials in the restaurants. I�m putting on so much weight! I eat everything. Red meats are my favourite. But now, I�ve taken a kasam. I went to Vaishnodevi. No alcohol, no meats. Goodbye Tex-Mex food! No more breakfast. And no heavy lunches and dinners. But you must meet my chefs. I have the talent to pick them. My company, Old World Hospitality Private Limited, also gets chefs from abroad. From this year, I�m going to leave the operations to my Executive Vice-President Sandeep Tandon. I will only look at the new projects."

This is the same man who started out in the good old days by doing everything himself. In the first year of Chor Bizarre, when his staff included just his waiters and himself, he would go from office to office meeting people and carrying tiffin carriers of lunch. And when his Hotel Broadway had no restaurants but just dining rooms, Rohit, just back from Michigan, used to handle all the banquets� catering orders and go home at 3 a.m. He smiled at the memory. "I�ve grown one step at a time. Now I have 500 employees. I don�t know all their names, but at Hotel Broadway, I know the families of all the employees!"

Where do you see yourself two years from now, I asked Rohit. "Hopefully, I will be a formidable force in the hospitality business in New Delhi," he replied. "I want to be a trendsetter in introducing new concepts in restaurants. I want to expand my base in London, I want to enter Bombay. By 2003, I want to franchise my top brands, Chor Bizarre and Oriental Octopus. But not like McDonald�s with 50 outlets! I have to find trusted names that won�t run us down. I will design the places, set them up, appoint chefs, hire staff, offer marketing support, you operate the restaurants and do the rest. But I want to open 10 new restaurants in two years before that. I�m just a guy earning a living and trying to have fun." And uncovering the platters of food, the showman restaurateur served me himself. "Hey listen, I�m sorry there�s no Goshtaba here, but try this Penang Curry Prawn, it�s great VFM, you�ll like it."