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(We welcome reviews of this restaurant.)

Vithal Kamats has opened three restaurants in Odisha in Puri, Cuttack and Dhauli (outskirts of Bhubaneswar). Several others are in the pipeline.

The one in Dhauli has the following whereabouts:

Location Address	:	Dhauli , Near Uttra Chowk
Contact No./Email Id	:	0909009351 / dhauli@vithalkamats.com
Unit Manager Name	:	Mr. Srinivas Dalai
Seating capacity	:	Non Ac-60
Meal Price	:	160 INR for 02 persons
Cuisine Served	:	North Indian, South Indian & snacks
Other Facility offered	:	Huge parking, clean toilets for ladies & gents, Open from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM

The one in Cuttack has the following details:

The 1,000 sq.ft restaurant at Buxi Bazar can seat 50-60 people and offers dosas, idlis, dahi vada, vada pav and the usual South and North Indian delicacies. 

The one in Puri is at Mahodadhi.

Besides these new ones are scheduled to come up in Konark, Bhubaneswar and Satpada (Chilika).

Hyderabad House has outlets in XIMB sqaure and Surya Nagar Bhubaneswar. New ones are coming up in Cuttack and Bapjui Nagar, Bhubaneswar.

Dalma, restaurant with Odia cuisine started from Bhubaneswar. It now has spread its wings to Bangalore and this month it is supposed to open a branch in Rourkela. The address of its locations are:

DALMA – Bhubaneswar

157, Madhusudan Nagar

Sachivalaya marg

Unit-IV

Bhubaneswar-751001



DALMA – Bhubaneswar

Maruti Mall

KIIT Square

Chandrasekharpur

Bhubaneswar-751016





DALMA – Bangalore

37, 6th Block,

100ft Road, Kormangala,

Bengaluru.

Phone- 080-41660921.





DALMA – Rourkela 

Shivani Complex 

Panposh Main Road 

Near Mayfair Hotel 

Rourkela (To open in September 2010)

Its Bangalore location is getting rave reviews from Bangaloreans. See the reviews at http://food.sify.com/articles/Dalma-235061 and http://www.bangaloresrestaurants.com/2010/07/weekend-raid-4-dalma.html. Following is an excerpt from the later:

Dalma is an Odissa cuisine restaurant and part of a chain that is quite famous in Bhuvaneshwar. Its been open a relatively short time but has become a phenomenon of sorts. Come a little after 12.45 pm and you will end up waiting for place. The food is homely.

… The meal was brilliant …

Hope Dalma succeeds further and has locations all over India. Also, hope other Odia entrepreneurs come up with other concepts and spread it across India. Any thoughts on what those concepts could be?

Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.

From the irresistible Hyderabadi biryani to Pather ka Gosht. From Mutton Pasinda to Mirchi ka Salan. Denizens of the city would now not have to travel to the land of Charminar for a taste of the delicacies.

For, Hyderabad House has opened at Xavier’s Square bringing with it a wide array of culinary delights exclusive to the kitchens of the Nizams.

The reputed restaurant chain has laid a platter full of Nizami and Nawabi vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare. The lavish spread of rich and aromatic Hyderabadi cuisine that has gained popularity world over would be offered at prices that would suit most sections. A whole course meal including the biryani would be available for a couple at prices as low as Rs 300, CEO of the Bhubaneswar restaurant Jeet Singh said.

… “We do have home delivery services but plan to open at least seven take away outlets across the city for ease of the food loving public soon,” Singh said.

This is a good restaurant and very popular in Hyderabad which can be judged from the fact that it has 22 outlets in Hyderabad. It has good inexpensive food.

Following is an excerpt from a report in hospitalitybizindia.com.

Kamat Hotels India Ltd (KHIL) which owns and operates hotels brands like The Orchid, VITS, Lotus Resorts and Gadh Hotels … has acquired the heritage palace ‘Mahodadhi Niwas’ in Puri and also the Eco Resort at Ramchandi, near the Sun Temple in Konark, in addition to the Parikud Palace and Rambha Palace, which are located near the Chilka Lake.

Of the three heritage properties acquired by KHIL, Mahodadhi Niwas opened for business on November 28, 2009. In the first phase, Mahodadhi offers 12 rooms and an additional 60 are expected to be developed over the next phase. KHIL is presently involved in restoring Parikud and Rambha Palaces, which will be commissioned in a phased manner in 2010.

… KHIL intends to strengthen the portfolio of its heritage brand – ‘Gadh Hotels’ in the state. We have already acquired three palaces from OTDC on a long-term lease and their restoration work is currently in progress.” As a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity, KHIL has also undertaken cleaning and conservation task of Chilka Lake.

KHIL’s F&B arm Kamat Restaurants Pvt Ltd (KRPL), which operates the ‘Vithal Kamat’ chain of vegetarian quick-service restaurants is also making inroads in to Orissa. KRPL has recently commissioned four company-owned outlets in Orissa, on the Bhubaneswar-Puri highway.

Update: Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Kolkata-based Speciality Group of Restaurants, a leading restaurant chain in the country, plans to introduce its restaurant brands like Oh! Calcutta, Sigree and Machaan in Orissa by March 2010.

The group is also exploring the possibility of opening standalone restaurants that would exclusively serve the Oriya delicacies.

Specialiy Group, which is run by more than 2,500 people, has set up the Mainland Institute of Oriental Catering in Kolkata keeping in view the group’s increasing requirement for hospitality professionals to meet its expansion plans.

The group is also keen on setting up an institute in Bhubaneswar. … China restaurant in the city is the 53 rd restaurant opened by the Speciality Group of Restaurants. It is the second restaurant of the group in the city after Haka.

Mainland China is the flagship brand of the Speciality Group with 17 standalone outlets in the country. This restaurant is present in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik and Baroda.

The other restaurant brands of the Speciality Group include Sweet Bengal, Just Biriyani and Mostly Kabab.

Haka location in Bhubaneswar is:

Haka-Bhubaneshwar
MLC-Aditya Park,
10, Bhouma Nagar,
Unit No. – 4,
Bhubaneshwar – 751 001.
Tel        :   (0674) 6943954/55

An Economic Times news report mentions that Mainland China is opening at Hotel Crown. Following are some excerpts.

Speciality Restaurants [SRPL] the country’s largest chain of fine dining eateries of reputed brands on Monday will open Mainland China – the flagship brand of the group with 23 standalone outlets in the country, at the Crown Hotel, here.

Though the Group has already got its footprints here with the opening of Haka – one of it’s ‘casual dining’ brand, the Mainland China is all set to offer exotic Chinese delicacies at an affordable price.

“Bhubaneswar is the much happening state capital in the east. The opening of Mainland China will go a long way to satisfy food connoisseurs looking for vast spread of rare delicacies from the varied regions of China. We have an ambitious plan to open at least half-a-dozen restaurants in the state capital, Puri and other small towns with an investment of about Rs 15 crore”, SRPL founder Anjan Chatterjee on Sunday told “The ET”.

It also plans to invest abut Rs 50 crore for an entertainment and food park near the Infocity here. The company has already acquired one and half acre land from the state government.

… Meanwhile, SRPL has set an ambitious target of investing around Rs 200-250 crore through both the organic and inorganic routes to become a 100-resturant company in the next one year from its present strength of 52 restaurants.

It also has firmed up plans for backward integration in the form of trained manpower and food processing. Aware of shortage of skilled and trained manpower to manage restaurants in the country, Mr Chatterjee is planning to set up a Restaurant Management School here.

“We have a Speciality Catering College at Kolkata for our in-house requirements. I am looking for vertical knowledge based schools which can run one-year course to manage restaurants. Managing hotel and managing restaurants are two different things”, he observed.

… “We will first launch select ready to cook Mainland China poly packs followed by ready to eat food. We have identified Khurda Food Processing Zone, near Bhuabneswar for packaged food items”, Mr Chatterjee reveals saying that the expansion plan will be funded througha mix of debt and equity.

• Chungri Masala
• Baripada Mudhi
• Mansa Machchar Besar
• Dahi Machha
• Poi-Kosala Saag
• Dhenkanal Ghuguni
• Santula
• Janhi Masala
• Katak Dahibara
• Manik Raita
• Pitha
• Salepuri Rasagola
• Kendrapara Rasabali
• Chenapoda
• Chhena Payesh

The above Oriya delicacies are being  currently offered at the Hotel Kalinga Ashok Bhubaneswar in their family restaurant ‘Phulbani’. Non- vegetarian thali meal is Rs 120 and vegetarian thali meal is Rs 100.

While South Indian food types and Punjabi food types are commonly associated with Indian cuisine, various states of India have their own specialties. Orissa has its own cuisine, besides the world famous roshgollas. Following are some links.

• Cookbooks:
  • Purba: Feasts from the East: Oriya Cuisine from Eastern India, Laxmi Parida. [Barnes-n-Noble]; [Amazon]
• Recipes in the web
  • Oriya Kitchen
  • Surf India
• Newspaper articles on Oriya Cuisine
  • Hindu, July 28, 2004
  • Hindu, June 18, 2005
• Locations of some Oriya cuisine restaurants
  • Dalema (3 locations in Bhubaneswar: Unit IV, Master Canteen, near KIIT)
  • Dalma (old Bhubaneswar)
  • Odisha Hotel (Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar)
• Restaurants with Oriya Cusine in their menu
  • Restaurant in Swosti hotel
  • Restaurant in Swosti Plaza
  • Phulpatna Restaurant, Hotel Toshali Sands, Puri.
  • Orissa Bhavan, 4, Bordoloi Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110 021.
  • Utkal Bhawan, Kolkata

Following are pictures of the menu of the Dalema restaurant near Master Canteen.

Following is a picture of a vegetarian plate of Oriya cuisine. Its very different from a similar plate of south Indian thali (plate) or north Indian thali.

Following is the exact address (with phone number of the two Dalema locations). The third one from where the above pictures were taken, is the one near KIIT.

(Postscript: I have no relation with Dalema, except that I am a satisfied customer,and next time I am in Bhubaneswar I will definitely visit one of their locations. I have also eaten at Odissa hotel in Saheed Nagar. They use copper utensils.)

Pioneer reports on this. Following are some excerpts:

Club City, a leading food court chain known for its unique food fusion concept, opened its 19th outlet at Swagat Palace at Bhouma Nagar on Sunday.

… he food chain successfully mixes Indian delicacies with that of American European, Chinese and Mexican food flavours. Initially, her outlet could manage to bring four food concept brands out of the total 15 — Dosa Plaza, Sanghai Post, Chillzzzz and Club Thai. Dosa Plaza is India’s largest menu of Dosa making and would cater to nearly 27 varieties of Dosas, while Shanghai Post would deal with delicate Chinese items. Chillzzz and Club Thai would offer varieties of Mocktails and shakes along with delicacies of Thailand .

Deepikaglobal has another report which talks about Club city’s further plans.

… about seven more outlets would be opened in Orissa to cater to the customers growing demand of ‘fun dining’ experience. The new outlets would be opened in Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar, he added. … The CEO also added that the traditional Oriya cuisine would soon be included in the menu.