50% of menu slashed: 89-year-old Ambala restaurant retreats to 'bhattis' amid LPG cylinder shortage
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "50% of menu slashed: 89-year-old Ambala restaurant retreats to 'bhattis' amid LPG cylinder shortage")
Indian restaurants move to woodfire amid LPG cylinder crisis Photograph: (Credit: ANI)
Facing a dire LPG shortage, the owner of a pre-independence era restaurant in Ambala Cantt has slashed 50% of the menu and returned to traditional woodfire bhattis.
Standing tall through India’s colonial past is a restaurant in Ambala Cantt, serving food slow-cooked on woodfire since the 1930s. After transitioning to LPG gas stoves six years ago, they are now forced to retreat due to the ongoing cylinder shortage. With half a cylinder left, Maninder Sodhi, the owner, said they have set up three earthen cooking ranges, commonly called bhattis in India. This, he expressed, is the measure that had to be taken to tend to the dire situation. Being the third generation to take forward his grandfather’s legacy, Sodhi has left no stone unturned to get his hands on a cylinder. At a point when the country is facing issues with LPG imports, which transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the primary route, which is currently blocked.
After multiple calls to the local cylinder supplier went unanswered, the 63-year-old chose to use hard coke in place of LPG. “Though the calorific value of the material is low as compared to LPG, we have to make-do,” he said.
Also read: LPG shortage: Bought a Rs 9,000 commercial induction cooktop for Rs 23,000, says Mumbai restaurateur
Switching to a newer medium to cook also involves training, but Sodhi says he’s thankful that the kitchen team knows the knack, as they recently transitioned from bhattis. But the challenge remains with the newer employees. “We have to ensure that nobody’s livelihood is disturbed, and we need to keep going,” he added.
Kitchen without LPG: Challenges
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The owner noted that with LPG, the temperature can be adjusted by turning a knob, whereas with hard coke, it is different. “It is good for slow cooking, but with Chinese dishes and deep frying, this particular material can be tricky.”
Cooking is only the first step; the soot and ash produced by hard coke add to the labour after, in comparison, LPG is cleaner to use, he noted.
“Since March 10, many restaurants in Ambala Cantt have set up bhattis, I was told by the one who was making ours.” Restaurants across the country have been making amends to keep going. Even Sodhi’s restaurant had to slash its menu by 50 per cent. It’s now a menu minus soups and a few Chinese dishes, but their bestseller, butter chicken, is on the list as of now, he said.
