World over shipping container restaurants, homes and offices aren’t just a trend. They actually help to solve space problems and can pop up where other brick and mortar locations can’t. Vichitra Rajasingh, the young CEO of Bell Hotels, has given Madurai the first such delightful and innovative piece of architecture that houses her group’s eighth dining outlet in Tamil Nadu.
Docked between a small hotel and a pharmacy on the Lakeview Main Road, K.K.Nagar, the new eatery is placed on a 1,200 sq.ft platform. While the Bell group’s food is the star, the USP of this new joint is also its inviting and down to earth dining style in repurposed shipping containers.
Two 40-feet and three 20-feet containers lying waste at Tuticorin docks were purchased by Vichitra, whose father, Rajasingh Chelladhurai, had actually pioneered container structures in 1996 in Sivakasi. He had then got eight air conditioned hotel rooms custom made which were later shifted to the Tuticorin Bell harbour Restaurant in 2003 and still remain there.
“This is the advantage of these cost-effective structures. You can bring them on anywhere, and again dismantle and shift them,” says Vichitra who prototyped it last year at her Bell Jumbo restaurant near Kochadai in a 20-feet container with a fully operational kitchen to see if the container could take the heat from all the cooking.
Keeping with the trend of being minimalist and creatively different, Vichitra then came up with the idea of two floors of dining space inside ship containers.
The five containers she used this time had to be completely stripped, insulated, tiled and painted off site. “The project was challenging in terms of dimensions, space constraints, every detail had to be perfect to the smaller measurements as steel and metal do not give the same flexibility as concrete,” she points out.
Once the containers were refurbished, they were brought to the location and using rotating cranes were stacked one on top of the other within limited space. It was a huge learning process for Vichitra to finally make ready 30 seats each on upper and lower level, a take away and a stand eat counter besides a fully operational kitchen with all the nitty gritties required. Every inch of space has been used efficiently in the no-frills eatery. The subtle décor is visible when you actually look up to see the ceiling empanelled with local and traditional cooking vessels like the idli steaming or the paniyaram plate, the parotta and dosa tawas.
While the original exterior of the containers was retained , a cheery dose of red and yellow colours was splashed over. The idea, says Vichitra, came from the bright lego blocks because the entire modular structure of shipping containers that can be added or removed is like the lego building game.
Smaller and focussed concepts work well, feels Vichitra. Her menu is inspired by wholesome tiffin items from different regions and hence the name Bell Tiffin Box. . So you can pair up your cup of tea or coffee or glass of rose milk with shawarmas, dindigul biriyani, nattukozhi kolambu, mutton chukka, fish curry, grill chicken, parottas, dosas, paniyaram, idiyappam and much more.
Barely a week old, the joint is already one-up on neighbouring competitors going by the crowd that keeps dropping in from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
QUOTE:
The concept of shipping container restaurant is along the principles of sustainability, a chance for us to reuse, recycle and reduce waste. It is a model that is portable and durable. -- Vichitra Rajasingh, CEO Bell Hotels
