Profile :
Mr. Amolak Ram Chopra was the founder of the Kake-Da-Hotel. He belonged to a prosperous family, which owned lands, properties and several wholesale businesses in Lahore – now in Pakistan. The hobby of Amolak Ram was cooking, so while still a teenager, he set up his venture the Kake-Da Hotel in Lahore. A large and posh restaurant, situated on Mall road, it was a great success and the rich and famous came and relished its mouth-watering cuisine.
However, partition destroyed everything for them. Like any other Hindu Punjabi, Amolak Ram ran away from Lahore and suddenly found himself in Delhi. He arrived, with his wife Sukhvarsha and a toddler daughter, at New-Delhi Railway Station penniless. A kind-hearted man saw him sitting on the platform holding his head not knowing where to go and what to do. He took them to his house in Pahar Ganj and gave them shelter for as long as they wanted. Amolak Ram, his wife and daughter lived with this kindly man for a 1ong time. It was a great gesture of genuine human love and kindness.
After a while, Amolak Ram found some work in Sadar Bazaar and moved to live in Sadar Bazaar in a small attic room. However, he kept in touch with the kindly gentlemen who gave him shelter first, till the very end and regularly called on him even after making it big. Meanwhile, Shri I. K. Gujral, an ex-patron of Kake-Da Hotel in Lahore, became the Chairman of N.D.M.C. It was he who helped in allotting a small bunk stall (khokha) to Amolak Ram in Connaught place. Once again Amolak Ram hung his board Kake-Da Hotel and got started. It was the first authentic Punjabi Dhaba in Delhi and cooked all the Punjabi delicacies. The place was an instant success in post partition scenario of nostalgia
and grief, especially among the migrants. The rich and poor came, from far and wide, to have a meal there. The secret of Amolak Ram’s success was that he tried to keep the quality high and the prices low.
Amolak Ram used to come early in the morning, personally buy all the vegetables, meat, poultry and condiments and cook the entire stuff. It was quite a lot of work keeping in view the popularity of the place. He was so kind hearted and generous that when he learnt that his two younger brothers, who had also arrived from Pakistan, were not doing well, he gave them a share in his shop and allotted them evening shift. He was so charitable that he fed at least twenty poor people each day. The food (both veg. and non-veg.) was packed instantly for them in leaf plates and handed over. He also fed over hundred persons, once a month, on the day of full moon. He became prosperous very quickly and bought a home His son Capt. Arun Chopra, an ex-army officer, now looks after the affairs of hotel.
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Like his father, Capt. Arun Chopra wants to keep the quality high and the prices low. . Many foreigners come looking for the place . He is also very proud of the fact that hotel has been patronized in the past by a whole lot of dignitaries, film stars, cricket-players, politicians and ministers. Apart from the past PM, I K Gujral, the present PM Shri Atal Bihari Bajpai, also used to visit Kake-Da Hotel very frequently, his favorite dish being brain curry. t times he would decamp with a pot full of curry. Ex-defense Minister George Fernandez came to eat
mutton-spinach. AFilm star Dharmendra used to be served in his car in the parking lot for the fear of being mobbed. However, Mamta Kulkarni sits boldly on the pavement and eats unmindful of the mob. In a nutshell, the generations of stars from Dev Anand to Rishi Kapoor, have loved the food from Kake-Da. So next time in Delhi you can also join the rich and famous, to visit this modest looking place, to eat great food.
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