Sid and Chand, co-owners of Sidart have sold "their first baby"...
New owner and current head chef Lesley Chandra takes over the reins on 6 September. They take a walk down memory lane recounting memories from the past 12 years.
Take us back 12 years to the opening of Sidart, in the middle of the GFC no less
(Chand): As a young couple we didn’t even realise what the true impact of the GFC would be and how it would affect a new restaurant and people’s spending habits. What did the stock market have to do with us? Corporates cut back on spending, and we had literally no customers as a new business. These were days where there was no social media, review sites or instant booking apps. We were relying on traditional food reviewers and word of mouth. We started working with Martin and Jay and Sid and I walked the streets of Ponsonby doing flyer drops with the restaurants menus to attract customers.
Any other opening stories?
(Chand): Sid thought he could just call the gas company to connect us a week before opening. But when he called Mercury they said, ‘oh you will need a new meter and it will take three weeks’. We ended up borrowing a friend’s camping stove and he used that for the first two weeks to cook!
In 2013 when Zoya was two years’ old we hosted a baby degustation created by Sid.
We always wanted a foodie child and got one with Zoya. We believed in exposing her to new flavours and not dumbing down the meals for her. When others heard of a toddler who would eat clams at Depot or Char kway teow they would ask us how. Chand had started a blog called adventures of Hospobaby that got her a regular writing gig in the NZ Herald’s Bite magazine (now Eat Well).
We had a baby degustation event at Sidart to show parents how you could include flavours like liquorice, pork belly and dates into your child’s diet without cooking separate meals for everyone. It was a pretty crazy affair with highchairs for the toddlers, bibs et al. Food definitely hit the walls with so many young babies and toddlers in the room. The event featured in Oh baby magazine too and we hope it made a few people laugh but also consider exposing their kids to different flavours and cuisines.
Tell us about your restaurant expansion in 2017. expanding the restaurant with the introduction of the Alhambra room dining room.
(Sid): Three Lamps Plaza is such a heritage building and is so special. When the Johanniks, our previous landlords sold the building to James Kellow he came around to us and asked us what we needed. We said more space… we were ready to grow. So, with James’ help we expanded into the tenancy next door to add a bar and The Alhambra room. When we were looking over archives in the property files, we discovered that way back, the space Sidart now occupies was once the stomping grounds of great jazz music and a beautiful restaurant called Alhambra. Hence, we paid homage to history we named the new room The Alhambra room.
And what about the brave menu format change to elevated / progressive Indian Cuisine?
(Chand): Sid always wanted to do elevated Indian cuisine. The success of Cassia and seeing how much people loved our interpretation of Indian cuisine we felt emboldened to take the next step. When we acquired The French Café in 2018, we decided it would be fitting to change Sidart to Progressive Indian cuisine so we wouldn’t have two formal restaurants doing the same style of food. The Progressive Indian cuisine concept has been so well received by guests. A degustation at Sidart now simply has more flavour packed into every course. A party in your mouth with every bite.
What about the chef collaboration with one of India’s finest chefs, Manish Mehrotra?
(Sid): When Elemental AKL first launched we decided that it would be amazing to invite one of the world’s best chefs who does similar progressive Indian cuisine. Manish Mehrotra chef of internationally acclaimed Indian Accent agreed to come and cook in collaboration with Sid over two nights. We worked with The Ponsonby Business Association and Eat Drink Love Ponsonby. Manish and his team stayed at the local Franklin 38 and dined at Saan too. A true Ponsonby Experience It was such an amazing experience for the diners as well as us.
Tell us about your many awards including the first in 2010 (Metro Best New Restaurant and Cuisine Top 50) to the most current – Viva top 10 (2020) and Cuisine Restaurant of the Year (2019)
(Sid): It’s feels great to be recognised for the work we do for both of us as restaurateurs as well as for our dedicated team.
Awards events still make us nervous because food is so subjective. I think the most special ones were Metro 2018 when Sidart won Restaurant of the Year, I won Best Chef, Sidart won Best Fine Dining and both Chand and I won Restaurateur of the year! And of course, Cuisine Restaurant of the Year 2019-20 because we finally felt we achieved what we wanted with the concept change to progressive Indian and to have that reconfirmed through an accolade just sealed the deal. Challenging times for us was when I lost my dad and had to fly to Oman overnight leaving Chand in charge of the restaurant with Ismo. We borrowed Orphans Kitchen’s Tom Hishon to help fill the gap in my absence.
It was a tough time as Chand had no idea how to really run the day-to-day stuff at the restaurant with a little toddler in tow. She did such a great job and continues to do so. Our team was also great in supporting us both.
www.ohbaby.co.nz/baby/feeding/fine-dining-babies
Published 6 August 2021