3 more ICH in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Some things endure, like the Indian Coffee House (ICH) and its grand, turbaned bearers. Tough competition from slicker, medium-sized restaurants notwithstanding, the ICH is on an expansion mode here.In the city, the India Coffee Board Workers’ Society - which operates ICHs - is planning to open three more new outlets in the immediate future. Two are to be opened shortly, at Peroorkada and at the General Hospital. A third one will target Technopark, and will come up on the Kazhakkoottam Bypass next year.ICH has 11 outlets in the district now, counting the ones at the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the Secretariat and the Corporation. For some time now, as part of a survival plan, ICH has been preferring highways and suburbs as locations for new outlets. Two of the newer outlets are at Venjaramood, for instance."We’re moving out to the highways now. If you have an ICH near a busy place such as a hospital, you get a decent crowd. But small families are patronising our outlets more and more and they prefer a place with parking space. One reason why we are moving to the highways,’’ says V T Varghese, society secretary.Loss-making outlets are readily closed down or shifted to a more profitable location in the same region. For instance, the old outlet in Attingal town was shifted to the nearby highway the other day.ICH has also approached the government for alternative space at Shanghumugham Beach after the much-patronised open-air restaurant in the Sports Council building was shut for renovation. But it’s feared that the ICH will not be reinstated here once renovation is over.ICHs offer up to 60 dishes, from ‘desi’ ‘masala dosai’ and ‘vada-chutni’ to carefully-trimmed sandwiches and double omelettes. And that strange dish which only ICHs seem to offer; beef omelette. But experimenting with newer dishes is not on the cards - at least for now, says Varghese."Recently, some of our canteens began giving yellow ‘masala’ for ‘poori’ since other restaurants offer it. But the customers made such a ruckus, we immediately moved back to the beetroot-red curry.’’