Meals IN wheels! Indian restaurant offers ‘in-car dining experience’ so customers can enjoy a three-course dinner on their dashboard
- Varanasi, a Birmingham Indian restaurant, will offer a in-car dining experience
- ‘Posh’ drive-through will open on Friday February 12 ahead of Valentine’s Day
- Customers will enjoy a full three-courses served on a tray on their dashboard
An Indian restaurant has launched a three-course ‘in-car dining experience’ for those looking to enjoy a meal served on their dashboard this Valentine’s Day.
Varanasi, a fine-dining Indian in central Birmingham, is set to offer the service which will see people wait in their vehicles in a car park behind the restaurant to have their food served on a disposable tray.
The ‘posh’ drive-through will open on Friday February 12 and will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays – the service does not break any lockdown rules, according to the restaurant.
Varanasi’s takeaway ‘in-car dining experience’ which will be served in disposable packaging, including the tray and the cutlery
Varanasi, on Broad Street, has been closed since the November lockdown and has not offered a takeaway service before.
General manager Abdul Wahab told BirminghamLive: ‘We are just making it easier and more comfortable for people to enjoy their food as soon as they get it – so it’s more of a dining experience with all the garnishes you’d expect in our restaurant – except you’re eating in your car.
The meal, which the restaurant compares to a ‘Business Class dining service on a plane’ will be presented on a disposable tray with disposable cutlery, meaning diners can drive off after they have finished their meal.
It will include garnishes and a lemon wipe to give the authentic eat-in experience.
The restaurant, which has a four star rating on TripAdvisor, has seen its 350 seats remain empty since it closed due to the November restrictions on Birmingham
Although eating in your car may not live up to the same restaurant experience
Diners will need to call ahead to order and pay over the phone 15 minutes or more before they arrive at the car park.
The meal will include three courses; a starter, main, rice, naan and a desert – the final menu has not been released.
Varanasi said that the owners of the 50-space car park behind their restaurant had agreed to let them use it for the service, and they do not expect for it to reach capacity.
The car park at the back of the restaurant which will be used for the in-car experience
Varanasi, a three-floor restaurant, will translate its fine-dining meals into well presented ‘plane’ style food for the car park diners
The restaurant said that the service was a way to keep their chefs in work during the pandemic and to stand out from the many city centre restaurants offering takeaways.
Mr Wahab told The Guardian: ‘The lockdown rules say you can serve takeaway food and take food to customer’s cars, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,’
Alcohol will not be served as is compliant with the rules on drive-through service in lockdown.
Birmingham City Council told Birmingham Live: ‘Under current Government restrictions hospitality businesses are not allowed to provide food for consumption on their premises.’