On Pot Pourri shutting

Continental cafes like Café Basilico and Crepe Station have forced Pot Pourri to shut down. Why? Because they couldn’t get an alcohol licence.

Kishore DF ‘s Waterblue Restaurants & Food Service Ltd, with Nitin Tandon, opened their first restaurant, Pot Pourri, in 1994 in Bandra.

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“There was little else then, apart from Gaylord, Leopold and Gallops,” Kishore explains. “Recently, more continental cafes like Café Basilico and Crepe Station have opened. They’re air-conditioned and have alcohol, whereas we couldn’t get a licence at Pot Pourri because we had no A/C and it was such a small space.

“It was hard maintaining dish rates with the high rent. So we turned it into the Lemon Grass Café, a pan-Asian restaurant, which is more sustainable for that spot and already a powerful brand.” Bandra’s Pot Pourri closed in December 2009, reopening as Lemon Grass Café.