Three sisters and a common passion – cooking, starts up ‘Our Story – Bistro and Tea Room’
The café brings the concept of wood fire cooking to give food a tinge of aroma and taste of the days gone by. The menu, though not extensive, rich with a selection from all around the world, to reflect the varied yet synchronised taste of the three sisters. Thus, they started ‘Our Story – Bistro and Tea Room’ in the capital city of New Delhi recently.
Conceptualised by sisters, Meghna Rathore, Mohita Shahi, and Mausami Singh, the idea behind opening this place is to share the memories and life’s experiences at a place far from the maddening crowd.
“There is an emotional and sentimental connect with it. It connects to our story. We always wanted to take it back to the grassroots level and connect it at the parents’ level. So here we are, at Our Story – we have managed to do just that. The ambience too is such that people are reminded of their childhood days,” says Meghna, Director of Our Story – Bistro and Tea Room.
The Café is thus the story of the three sisters who want to share their experiences and choices with the world alongside providing a place to those who have their stories to share.
It is Meghna’s dream, and Mohita and Mausami have come together to help her convert it into reality. Essentially, the sisters have got together to share their love for food, a mix of the food from a bygone era and the contemporary world.
“We want others to get back to their childhood too. There are jhulas, mango trees, etc., which people can relate to and the moment people step into the place, their memories come alive. They feel as if they too belong to that place,” says Meghna.
An orthodox upbringing
Hailing from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, the sisters belong to a traditional Rajput family. A teacher by profession and a food connoisseur, Meghna started cooking in her ancestral village at the age of 12. “It was my father who kindled in me the love for cooking. My family loved good food and that gave me a perfect reason to create new recipes.
“I was always driven by the fact that I need to create my recipes to perfection. At our café, therefore, all ingredients are fresh and have a different flavour to them,” says Meghna.
As children, the siblings always had the desire to do something on their own. With an agriculturist father and a housewife mother, the siblings were always taught to be independent. It was a rather modern growing up for them. In the next six months to one year’s time, the sisters are hoping the place stabilises and their story grows on people around them.
Mohita is a public relations professional, who fights against all odds to achieve what she sets her eyes on. Mausami believes in positive action and is an intellectual thinker, who has invested in the restaurant’s creative zones.
Learning curve
The founders say that the major challenge was working to a timeline, which was a task by itself.
Having said that, the founders are happy that they could indeed stick to a timeframe. They intend to start new physical outlets in several cities, but are currently happy working on the existing one.
Meghna is happy about one thing. “Looks like we have been able to provide people the right kind of connect to their yesteryears. Whoever comes here can relate with one or the other thing in our café,” says a pleased Meghna.
As the founders say, the café is “a place where time stands still and dreams are brewed with precious moments and a dash of nostalgia, making it a perfect place to rendezvous with friends and family.”