Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: 100 years, one epic dinner, one core memory

How did Hindustan Times celebrate its centenary in Delhi? With a lavish, ambitious dinner served by a top chef, in a magical garden. It can never be done again

What if you could have dinner at a restaurant that existed for just one brief shining moment? Where, if you went back, a day or two later, there would be no sign that the restaurant with its elaborate drapes, hundreds of candles, elegant table settings, and a performance area, ever existed? Where the restaurant once stood, there would be just grass in the middle of a beautiful park?

To celebrate 100 years, HT built a temporary restaurant in Sunder Nursery, Delhi, to serve an epic dinner. (HT ARCHIVES)

Chef Vikas Khanna flew down for two days from New York to cook for the HT centenary dinner. (HT ARCHIVES)

KK Birla ran HT for decades, treating it more as a mission than as a business. (HT ARCHIVES)

There were dishes from chef Khanna’s restaurants, Bungalow and Kinara. Some were created especially for the evening. (HT ARCHIVES)

Shobhana Bhartia has been at the helm of the HT for three decades, steering its many successes. (HT ARCHIVES)