A Hoppipola in Ranchi, a Farzi Café in Chandigarh, a Flying Saucer Café in Lucknow, and a Mocha in Raipur. Tier-2 cities are developing a taste for big-city dining, changing the way India eats out.
In a quiet lane, sandwiched between old houses and a puri-bhaji stall, is the Nucleus mall, one of four shopping malls in Ranchi, a city of over 10 lakh. The malls have long been popular for their cinemas and cafés. But Nucleus is now also home to Hoppipola, a casual-dining restaurant and bar, popular with under-25s that is part of a chain with outlets in six other cities.
It’s Ranchi’s first restopub, and it’s been greeted with considerable excitement. “Every time I visited Hoppipolas in Mumbai and Pune, I would wish we had such pubs at home,” says Ranchi-based fashion designer Swastika Stuti, 25. “There was only one sports bar in the city before. So, when I saw a billboard about Hoppipola opening in Ranchi last December, I was very excited. My friends and I visited five days in a row the week it opened.”
Hoppipola caters to the moneyed Ranchi youngster. It has velvet couches, selfie corners, dim lighting, and cocktails with naughty names like Sex On The Roof. It also has a microbrewery, Jharkhand’s first.
“The young people of Ranchi, who have corporate jobs or have moved from neighbouring towns for higher studies or hail from affluent families, would earlier go drinking to four-star hotels. Now, they are coming here,” says manager Koustav Ghosh.
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