Mumbai (Showbiz Desk) — An order placed by Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma gave a new direction to the business of a financially struggling restaurant in Mumbai.
According to Indian media, the restaurant ‘Dilli Se’ in Mumbai’s Chembur area was started in October 2021 by two brothers, Jaspal Singh Khalsa and Mahinder Singh Khalsa.
Initially, it was a small 250-square-foot shop with three tables and seating capacity for nine people. A few months after the business started, the number of customers began to decline, and by September 2022, the two brothers had accumulated debts of around Rs1.8 million, after which they decided to close the restaurant.
Meanwhile, well-known stand-up comedian Abhishek Upmanyu visited the restaurant and, after eating its chole bhature, praised it on Instagram, following which the number of customers at the restaurant suddenly began to increase.
Anushka Sharma also learned about the restaurant through Abhishek Upmanyu’s Instagram story. At the time, the actress was looking for traditional Delhi-style chole bhature in Mumbai for her husband and cricketer Virat Kohli.
Anushka Sharma ordered two plates of chole bhature from the restaurant and had them delivered to her home in Mumbai’s Juhu area.
According to restaurant owner Jaspal Singh, a plate cost only Rs120 at the time, while the cost of traveling to and from Juhu was higher than the value of the order itself. The woman placing the order assured them that she would pay the additional delivery charges and asked for their bank account details.
Jaspal Singh said he initially suspected that it might be a prank or fraud. However, after several phone calls, the woman told him that she was calling from Virat Kohli’s residence.
After the food was delivered, Jaspal Singh received another call and was asked to look at Anushka Sharma’s Instagram post. In the post, the actress expressed happiness at finding Delhi-style chole bhature in Mumbai and also thanked Abhishek Upmanyu for sharing the restaurant’s address.
According to Jaspal Singh, within just half an hour of Anushka Sharma’s post appearing, a large crowd of customers gathered outside the restaurant. The phone began ringing continuously, and police also had to be called to control the situation.
According to Jaspal Singh and Mahinder Singh, the restaurant now has four branches in Mumbai, where more than 3,000 plates are sold every day. They said that during the difficult period, monthly sales were around Rs100,000 to Rs150,000, but have now increased to approximately Rs20 million.