The much awaited ‘Ministry Of Crab’ opens in Mumbai

An opulent, crustacean centered culinary restaurant in Mumbai charts new waters for Gourmet Investments Pvt Ltd (GIPL) – and is the city’s biggest and most awaited launch of the financial year 2018. A huge Crab logo, along with installations across the city, reveals the name behind Chef DharshanMunidasa’s iconic restaurant– Ministry of Crab, from Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant list, located at, Zaveri House, Khar, Mumbai.

An evening hosted by GIPL spokespersons, Mr. Ramit Bharti Mittal (Director and CEO) & Mr. Deepinder Batth (Director and COO) along with Chef Dharshan Munidasa and cricketers Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, witnessed numerous guests coming to experience iconic delicacies of Ministry of Crab. The evening saw a mélange of Bollywood stars and cricketing champions; Anil Kapoor, Khushi Kapoor, Shanaya Kapoor, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, and Shobhaa De were amongst the few distinguished names who were present to celebrate the launch, with Ministry of Crab family.

Ministry of Crab is known for being Sri Lanka’s first restaurant dedicated to serving export quality lagoon crabs and is the brainchild of celebrated Chef and restauranteur Dharshan Munidasa. Partnering with Sri Lankan Cricketing Legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, MOC was launched in Sri Lanka on 12^th December, 2011 and is housed in the renovated 400-year-old Dutch Hospital, where it has successfully hosted some of the most renowned celebrities from various fields of art, culture, and sport, and has become a bucket-list must.

A veteran of several landmark restaurant launches in India (PizzaExpress, Typhoon Shelter, The Bandra Project, The Runway Project, The Market Project, The Poona Project), GIPL has created a new ethos for the food and beverage industry. Brings MOC, it’s legacy and cuisine intact, as a relaxed luxury dining restaurant with an ambiance attractive to India’s globe-trotting clientele, hence opulent interiors and a size of 6000sq. ft, the restaurant hosts private dining room for up to 24 In the basement and a block-long floor exclusive as its bar, the restaurant hosts a three-story magnificent experience. Naturally, all furnishings across the three-tiered restaurant are bespoke and sit with an outdoor patio for those who enjoy the sheer vastness of a flush of green.

The designer, behind the curation of this experience, is none other than our very own Ayaz Basrai. Intimate, impressive and impulsive – the giant board highlighting the catch of the day, a signature of the brand’s popular restaurant in Colombo, Sri Lanka, allows for its customers to make their pick, serviced from its open kitchen.

The restaurant management team including chefs went through an intense training program in Colombo over 3 weeks. Chef DarshanMunidasa had numerous interactive sessions enlightening the team about his culinary history, wisdom and educating them about the Ministry of Crab’s overall ethos and philosophy.  Teams were given a deep understanding of crab sourcing, sorting, and selection.

The Bar at Ministry of Crab is a destination bar in its own right and is proud to hold the city’s largest collection of a wine list, with the world’s best vintage collection. The bar serves an expert cocktail list, Cocktails to Whet Your Senses, which champions a more sustainable approach to cocktail craftsmanship. The bar is beautifully conceived and creates an instant connection to those seeking luxury in a relaxed atmosphere, as well as a damned sexy one, obviously.Mr. Ramit Bharti Mittal, CEO of Gourmet Investments Pvt. Ltd., says, “We aim to offer an elegant respite from the world outside, where you can feast on the legacy cuisine of Ministry of Crab and sip on the finest vintage sparkling.”

Mr. Deepinder Batth, COO of Gourmet Investments Pvt. Ltd., says, “We wanted to bring some fun and excitement to a luxury dining experience to the city, with the magic mix of a compelling physical environment, and as always our unparalleled romance with gourmet food. There was no better brand to achieve this than, right from the list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants – Ministry of Crab.”

Complementing the foundation of Ministry of Crab, Colombo, the ingredients used aren’t just the best, but also the freshest. While Mumbai will be served the “old favorites”, Crab Curry, Clay Pot Prawn Curry, and Chicken Curry Rice.

Ministry of Crab Mumbai promises to offer its loyalists not only long-standing favorites from Sri Lankan menu but also an elaborate luxurious bar offering. A brand new nibbles menu for The Bar at The Ministry of Crab has also been curated by Chef Munidasa for those who are looking for just that experience.

On coming to India, Chef Dharshan Munidasa says, “We are looking forward to working in the Indian market with Indian Crabs and the young Indian Chefs. We are happy to have partnered with Gourmet Investments, as they have shared our value system and are committed to bringing the DNA of The Ministry of Crab to give our guests an authentic experience.”

Gourmet Investments Pvt. Ltd., supported by its parent company Bharti Group, creating a benchmark name in the F&B industry in India with best in class restaurants, both homegrown and international brands. As a company, GIPL brings in the best of talent, quality service, and high pedigree food & beverage products. Some of the homegrown brands sit under “The Project” series, namely The Bandra Project, The Runway Project, The Market Project & The Poona Project, all community-centric properties with steps of service and quality unparalleled. Yet another concept homegrown brand is “The Typhoon Shelter”, an authentic Chinese cuisine developed by celebrity chef “Christian Yang”.

Some of the international brand partners we work with are PizzaExpress, Ministry of Crab, Nihonbashi amongst others joining hands this year.

With 14 operational restaurants and over 7 new openings within the financial year, GIPL aims to open over 80 restaurants by 2020, in India and globally.