SWEET SUCCESS

A new crop of mithai stores is reinventing local treats for the 21st century

- AATISH NATH

If you’ve grown up biting into chikki and ladoos, barfis and pedas – it can often seem like though you have fond memories of the sweets, they’re now everything you avoid. Sweet, filled with fat and frequently made in spaces where you can’t judge the hygiene standards — until recently they weren’t ready for their close up on social media. Though that is slowly changing.

As the country has moved to rediscover its local traditions, it’s no surprise that after regional Indian food, its mithai that has been given a makeover by young brands in the country’s big urban centres. While some, like the recently opened Bombay Sweet Shop, have been launched by those with experience in other culinary endeavours, others like New Delhi-based Khoya, Berfila and Arq are driven by entrepreneurs and chefs.

Sid Mathur, the former head of food and drink at Impresario and founder of Khoya says about the idea, “It was actually just like we stumbled upon a gap. We realized that mithai had lost its place in our culture and people were almost embarrassed to give mithai now for weddings and they were always resorting to chocolates or cupcakes or you know, whatever it was, and it didn’t sort of make sense to us.” That’s a similar thought that crossed the mind of a lot of the other owners and chefs interviewed. The idea behind Mithai by Roseate, from the Roseate Hotel group as per Dr Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Roseate Hotels and Resorts was born out of customer inquiries. “Just before Diwali last year, there was a lot of demand from corporates coming by, saying that, you know, ‘can you do something different and special?”