Tasting Success!

Nikhil Ballal

A place where best of both worlds meet is our very own Thane’s Ramganesh Gadkari Rangaytan. There is seldom any doubt that Gadkari Rangaytan is one of the most famous places in Thane. Adding to its rich cultural heritage, Gadkari Katta has indeed done a phenomenal job. The man behind Gadkari Katta is Sanjay Patil, a veteran in food industry, took up the reins when the place was nothing but hotch-potch. Before taking up Gadkari Katta, Sanjay Patil was actively involved in catering services and has a wealth of experience in the industry.

Patil had to face many challenges when he set up Gadkari Katta 10 years back. Though footfall was not much of a concern, courtesy Gadkari Rangaytan, not everything was hunky-dory. For starters, the place was not as beautiful as you see it today. It was not in the best of state and a lot of work was expected to be done to rejuvenate the Katta. “To make this place beautiful, we have integrated the art into our restaurant. We have a dedicated wall where there are portraits of Thane’s famous artists. This is our way of paying tribute to these artists who put in their blood and sweat for bringing glory to Thane,” elucidated Patil.

The initial years were invested in discovering the taste of people and identifying their needs. For the first few years, it was all red and the business was drowned in losses. Slowly and steadily, the business picked up and today it is standing tall and serving not only the commoners but also the artists. “Prashant Damle and Siddharth Jadhav love our food and make it a point to visit Gadkari Katta either prior to their show or after it”, exclaimed Patil. He added, “I didn’t like people addressing Gadkari Katta as canteen. I was determined to revamp this image. Today if you visit Gadkari Katta you will see a refurbished place that has been beautifully translated from canteen to a fine dine restaurant.”

Earlier Gadkari was famous primarily for its hot vada, but today Gadkari Katta offers panoply of exquisitely delicious and mouth watering cuisines.  From authentic Maharashtrian food to Chinese cuisine, Gadkari Katta offers the best of taste with fantastic ambience, thanks to lake-facing view.

At a time, Gadkari Katta can host close to 150 people in the restaurant and the adjacent lake side facing lush green lawn. It is also one of the most sought after party places as the venue has already hosted over a thousand parties in the lawn. They have the capacity to take big orders for instance catering to several thousands of people, and also small orders like tiffin facility to 10 people. “We will soon be coming up with a tiffin facility that serves just five people,” averred Patil.

As a part of his study, Patil travels across the globe, understands the different cuisines, food culture and taste and tries to bring the best of the world to the Katta. In the future, Sanjay Patil, wants to take the authentic Maharashtrian cuisine to the west and down under and start a fine dine restaurant in Paris and Melbourne respectively. He is also eyeing Hiranandani Estate in Thane as a part of his future endeavour.

All said and done, riding on Sanjay Patil’s shoulders, Gadkari Katta has an immense potential to become Thane’s Prithvi.

After satiating his patrons with tasty food dished out from his kitchen, Sanjay Patil however is not ready to rest on accolades that he receives. With fire in his belly, Mr Patil has started a new venture ‘Fire lily’ . It will further enhance his catering services by actually organising the event, making the occasion immemorable by choicest fresh flowers, and other such facilities which will give hundred percent experience of the celebrations. “I want my patrons to cherish the life time moments and fire lily will take care of minutest details to make the affair worth remembering”, tells Mr. Patil.

After satiating his patrons with tasty food dished out from his kitchen, Sanjay Patil however is not ready to rest on accolades that he receives. With fire in his belly, Mr Patil has started a new venture ‘Fire Lily’ which will be a one stop shop for all the events the customers require, a premium service platform which will cater to all the needs of the customers right from catering to the detailings may it be the flower selection or the any culinary need from across the world. “I want my patrons to cherish the life time moments in cultural, traditional or modern ways as desired and Fire Lily will take care of minutest details to make the affair worth remembering”, tells Mr. Patil.