Aug 27, 2020
Lucknow is popular for its most delicious Moghlai cuisine of different kebabs where foodies rave about the delicacies of Lucknow and yet many are not aware that the royal city also owns the crown of having India’s most expensive mithai ‘Exotica’ that comes at a gigantic price of Rs 50,000 per kilogram. Designed, developed and flavoured by the popular mithai-maker Chhappan Bhog, the dry mithai is world recognized and is the result of sheer hard work of 52-year-old Ravindra Gupta, Director, Chhappan Bhog, who along with his 2 younger brothers and father started the sweets and snacks business way back in 1992.
‘Exotica’ is a bite-size mithai made up of seven to eight costly ingredients sourced from different parts of the world. Ravindra informs, “Exotica is made with blueberries sourced from USA, macadamia from South Africa and Australia, hazelnut from Europe, pine nuts, saffron and mamra badam from other parts of the world.”
Speaking about the days gone by, every creation has a reason and for Ravindra and his team the opportunity to develop a premium sweet came near to Diwali in 2007, when a Delhi-based industrialist approached them to develop a sweet, rich in flavours but at the same time priceless. He recalls, “We studied the international sweets market and realized that there are a plethora of nuts and dry fruits that Michelin chefs keep on playing with, to create exotic flavours at their restaurants, and that is when the idea of bringing these flavours to India clicked us and Exotica came into existence. “The name is derived from the exotic flavours that this sweet dish offers,” Ravindra informs.
Exotica is available throughout the year, all 365 days. A single one batch of Exotica takes 6-7 hours of making and is only available at the Sadar Bazaar, Lucknow store of Chhappan Bhog. Ravindra asserts, “These are no-fuss delights that come in bite size of 2.5 cms and are easy to carry because of the unique packaging.”
Exotica comes in a wooden treasure box (sandook), which adds to the beauty and USP of this dessert. Ravindra states, “Keeping the ingredients and its sourcing in view, it’s a sheer treasure for us and that is why we have designed this box, which also increases the shelf life by 20-30 days. The most interesting part of this sweet is the outer coating which is made of pure edible gold”.
Ravindra informs, “We all know about silver varq, which is run-of-the-mill and we wanted something totally different which can shine from a distance and give our creation a distinct look, that is when the idea of sourcing 100 percent edible gold leaves happened to us and in the very first go, it was loved by the family, who happens to be a part of the success of this delight.”
From industrialists to Bollywood, everyone has had their share of this sweet delight. Ravindra recalls, “From Bachchan family to Shatrughan Sinha, everyone has tasted this delight and we feel lucky that they all have loved it. Not only this, even PM Modi has loved the unique flavour of this creation, when he tasted it during his tenure as CM of Gujarat,” he calls.