Who is Rohit Khattar 2.0?

 2022 is no longer about being an ‘invisible restaurateur’. With a new company in place, the man behind Indian Accent and Comorin is creating multiple brands under different key chefs

At the fag end of 2019, just before the pandemic altered the world and the world of restaurants irrevocably, restaurateur Rohit Khattar, 58, owner of the acclaimed Indian Accent and Comorin, called me up one afternoon. He wanted to make his apologies for not being able to attend an event around Business on a Platter, my then new book on the business of restaurants, in which he is a case study.

To be honest, I had hardly expected him to participate in the panel discussion (between the country’s top restaurateurs), knowing, and having written about, his social shyness and reluctance to appear in public. As he signed off, he chuckled and quipped, “You can always put an empty chair with a name tag saying ‘invisible restaurateur’!” referencing the sobriquet I’d given him in my book.

Cut to 2022. Khattar seems the opposite of invisible. After an awards ceremony in New Delhi that he is seen attending, he lands up not just socialising with but inviting winning chefs from different restaurants in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to Indian Accent for a lavish meal. A few days later, we find him at another awards ceremony — this time in the world of beverages. Then, I run into him at Megu (which, incidentally, made its maiden appearance in Asia’s 50 Best List recently), wearing a favourite indigo shirt with a pineapple print. Later, the shirt makes another appearance at Garima Arora’s Gaa in Bangkok, while he dines on durian, kadhi, condiments with Australian super chef and restaurateur David Thomson. All this within the space of a little more than a week.

“What’s happening?” I ask. So out of character is all this is for a man who has cultivated an image for elusivity over the quarter of a century that I have known him.

“This is Rohit 2.0,” he laughs.

Rohit 2.0 is not just about a revamp of image. It is about a revamp of business. Khattar exited his substantial business at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre last year, leaving his team of senior chefs and managers, including managing director and school friend Sandeep Tandon, to continue running the premier hub — but as part of the Habitat and not of any company owned by him. Now, he is ready to expand operations.

“Post the pandemic, I realised that I need to focus on my ambition as a restaurateur much more. And that won’t happen with just owning one, two or three restaurants, but having multiple brands in multiple cities to be helmed by different key chefs,” he tells me. Apart from two Indian Accents in New Delhi and New York, and Comorin in Gurugram, Khattar owns brands like Chor Bizarre, the All American Diner, and Oriental Octopus. The last two have shut at the Habitat but are expected to sprout in other locations, as and when he finds suitable venues. (Khattar also owns Cinestaan Film Company, a boutique studio, with productions such as Mirzya, Kaalakaandi and Bombay Rose to its name.)