Sagar Ratna on Janpath, Moets in CP: Last minute calls turn restaurants into INDIA bloc’s political pit stops

“The booking was made two hours before the lunch, on short notice,” said the manager of the Janpath outlet, adding that vegeterian food was served to the guests. (EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA)

The calls came almost at the last minute. At Sagar Ratna on Janpath, the restaurant got barely two hours’ notice on Wednesday that lunch for a large group of politicians was on the cards. By the time plates were being served, nearly 100 MPs had taken over the tables, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra among them.

The next morning, another call came at Moets in Connaught Place. It was around 9.30 am, the manager said, for an “emergency lunch booking”. By afternoon, both floors of the restaurant were packed with around 100 Opposition MPs having a buffet.

For two days, as the INDIA bloc stepped up its protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the restaurants became unlikely political rendezvous points – both chosen in haste, but carrying decades of food history.

Sagar Ratna’s story began in 1986, when Jayaram Banan opened a modest 40-seater in Defence Colony market with savings of about Rs 5,000. A school dropout from Udupi who had left home at 13, Banan had washed dishes in Mumbai for Rs 18 a month before setting out on his own.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after a lunch hosted by party President Mallikarjun Kharge for INDIA bloc leaders, for the second consecutive day, at Moets restaurant, Connaught Place, in New Delhi, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. The Opposition leaders assembled for the meeting amid ongoing demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over electoral roll revision issues. (PTI Photo)

The restaurant’s first day’s sales were Rs 408 against a weekly rent of Rs 3,250.

In 1991, Banan acquired the well-known Woodlands restaurant at Lodhi Hotel and rebranded it Sagar Ratna, transforming a neighbourhood eatery into a scalable chain. It now operates more than 100 outlets in India and abroad, earning Banan the title ‘Dosa King of the North’.

“The booking was made two hours before the lunch, on short notice,” said the manager of the Janpath outlet, adding that vegeterian food was served to the guests.

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Moets had opened its branch at Connaught Place only on September 26.

It, however, has been around in Delhi since 1965 when Priti Pal Bindra started a cold storage outlet in Defence Colony market. The business eventually evolved into a barbecue restaurant celebrated for its authentic taste before branching into catering for VIP parties and embassies.

Sandeep Bindra, who joined the family business after graduating from IHM Pusa, expanded the brand into multiple concepts, including Stone Shack, Sushi and a Chinese restaurant in Civil Lines. The third generation, Rahil and Mehreen Bindra, has since taken the brand into franchising and outdoor catering, including work for the Indian Army.

“It was an emergency booking made around 9.30 am,” the manager said, with around 100 MPs filling both floors of the restaurant. Police personnel, he added, had been deployed around the restaurant since morning.

The lunch, again vegetarian, “ran smoothly”, the manager said.

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The leaders then left for Rajghat and the protest continued.