What occurs when die arduous followers sit down for espresso with their favorite chef to speak a couple of now closed restaurant he had run? A lot of espresso, a number of talks and earlier than you understand it, the now closed restaurant finds its legs and comes again to enterprise in a brand new kind. For media and promoting professionals Ami and Anju Singh, the place was Dario’s and the person in query was Dario himself — the chef whose Italian restaurant in Koregaon Park had change into stuff legends have been fabricated from.
In 2020, when Dario’s, the pure vegetarian Italian (Sicilian – as Dario would describe it) pulled down its shutters, it marked the top of an thrilling journey and the closure of a very fashionable place on town’s culinary map. Situated in Pune’s Koregaon Park, this place had change into the pit cease for many individuals from Mumbai who got here right here for its meals and atmosphere. Amongst them have been the Singhs who would come to Dario’s each time they got here to their shopper website in Pune.
“We all know of people that on their means again to Mumbai from Mahabaleshwar would make a deliberate detour to Pune simply to have lunch at Dario’s. So when Dario’s shut down, it was virtually the top of an period,” they stated. Additional on, Covid resulted in Dario’s closing down all its shops within the nation, and the chef himself determined emigrate to the UK.
The story of Dario’s re-emergence started after 2023 — by then the Singhs had moved to Pune from Mumbai, and Dario too was in Pune for a go to. “Over many cups of espresso, Dario talked about how individuals reached out to him to restart the joint — however he was not prepared. Nearly like a joke, he requested us if we wished to relaunch Dario’s in Pune. At first it was a joke, however quickly it grew to become an concept and took its personal life. And in direction of the start of this yr it started to concretise,” they stated.
After a lot thrashing round of concepts throughout each bodily and digital conferences, early in September 2024, Dario’s made its re-emergence in Pune on Lane 5 of Koregaon Park. Whereas the model Dario’s is now formally with the Singhs, Dario the person remains to be the center and soul of the operations. “The top chef is identical one who labored with Dario, and after closure had refused to work elsewhere. The menu stays the identical. In truth numerous the backward hyperlinks are additionally the identical,” he stated.
Totally aware of a modified Pune, the Singhs imagine their predominant intention is to deliver again the unique Dario’s which individuals wished and missed. “Infact, we had this dialog with Dario himself—he stays absolutely concerned in working the restaurant. He stated if we may attain out to those that knew what Dario’s was, it will give us satisfactory momentum to maintain up the primary few months,” he stated.
The brand new Dario’s thus has Bheema, the outdated usher who is understood to lots of the outdated timers. The menu because the Singhs stated stays the identical – in actual fact deciding on the mushroom crucial for the signature Fungi-a Dario (a starter) had them going forwards and backwards with the provider as Dario insisted on having the identical dimension of button mushrooms. What has modified is the inside, which is cosier, and the music which can also be totally different. “Our intention is straightforward — re-introduce Dario to Pune, however in a brand new place which is able to inform its personal story,” they stated.
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