She came. She conquered. She moved on to greener pastures. A lady owner of a stand alone restaurant in Delhi, the then-relatively less-explored French cuisine, at the top of the city’s critics’ & patrons’ lists alike – if these firsts were not enough, she took the unprecedented step of moving on from it while it was at its peak. That’s Naina De Bois Juzan for you, the woman who gifted Delhi its Parisian mini-heaven, Le Bistro Du Parc. We scoffed down a few Affogatos to unravel this half-Indian half-French mystery woman who believes in chasing dreams relentlessly yet moving on from them seamlessly once realised.
A Political Science graduate from Lady Shri Ram college (Delhi University), two years working with GL events, zilch experience in hospitality – not the typical makings of a restaurateur, but Naina’s wish to have an authentic bistronomie in Delhi and the determination to see her idea turn into reality is what powered her through to launching what became one of Delhi’s most cherished restaurants. “There was a good French restaurant missing from Delhi – it’s not just about the food but the atmosphere too. Being half French and having been born and brought up in Paris and loving the food industry there I felt I could bring a creative, authentic French culinary concept to Delhi,” she says. At 22 years of age, when most fresh faced college graduates are trying to find their moorings, Naina was clear about working towards her vision, “I jumped into it. Sure, I was young, but to me age doesn’t matter, it’s about the experience you have in life and what you want to do with it. I believe my double culture and my education helped me. Also, I selected my top restaurants in Paris which inspired me and decided to learn from them by gradually increasing interaction within the French food industry circles. One of them was Le Bistro Paul Bert, whose owner really motivated me for Le Bistro Du Parc and helped channel my love & passion for it, almost like a mentor.” Bringing that back to Delhi she partnered with Olive to give wings to her project, and no prizes for guessing she had a clear front for that too, “I brought the concept to them and wanted help with logistics, obtaining licenses, and kitchen planning; the decoration, recruitment, menu planning, etc. were for me to take care of.”
Following her passion certainly led Naina to her happy place, and though she presented Delhi’s F&B scene with a gem she (expectedly) had no idea she was creating a phenomenon, “Obviously I wanted it to be successful, but I didn’t expect this! When you spend so much time imagining something, working on it and creating it, you just want to see it come live one day. Its extraordinary to see an idea your shared with a friend over lunch turn into a physical space where people visit and enjoy their time.” Naina not only nudged us to become friends with French cuisine and appreciate jazz nights, she did so by making perfect French dishes with Delhi’s terroir and solely using fresh, local produce. “The taste of all the ingredients is definitely different, it gets difficult but you have to know how to make it work. I was very sure I want to use fresh produce and we never imported any ingredients. In fact we didn’t have a freezer at Le Bistro Du Parc for the longest time, so everything was fresh by fluke as well! Organic produce was non-negotiable for me, and it reflected in our limited menu where didn’t receive a particular item fresh, we didn’t serve it that evening,” she shares about the fresh-over-fancy policy.
Being a woman running a food business doesn’t come easy in the capital, and her journey wasn’t without a few speed bumps either, “First of all people don’t take you seriously, before I opened the restaurant they were thinking I wouldn’t do it. And when I did it, people coming to the restaurant assumed I was working for the chef or the manager, they never thought I was the boss. I had 24 employees, all men, all older than me, they thought I was some sort of diva and a rich little kid. People judge you very quickly as a woman, but I proved them all wrong & finally they respected me very much!”
In a time where restaurateurs stick to a successful & popular venture like Rose to the wooden plank in Titanic, Naina took the road less taken and graduated from her restaurant despite everything going for her, for Le Bistro Du Parc, and for Delhi’s palate of course. She tells us what prompted that move, “I’m someone who likes projects very much, and once a project is done then I want to do another project. I loved what I was doing, but I started to feel a little stuck in there. It’s not an easy industry and I needed to be present at all times, unable to leave the restaurant even for a few days. So I felt it was the right time for a change, and it was a great feeling to not close it down but give my baby to someone else – it was a very beautiful process.”
The girl who moved to India 10 years ago now wants to shift her base back to Paris. She’d come here as a 17 year old on a gap year before starting college and keen to get in touch with her Indian roots, “I went to Bihar School of Yoga for six months, it was a very spiritual experience. It was a call for India – one that changed my life!” she says. Although we were hoping she’d say she has another restaurant in the pipeline for Delhi, Naina has other plans, “I’m thinking about opening an Indian restaurant in Paris, I’m looking for a partners & investors, it’s something I’m seriously considering. However, I don’t have a ‘pakka’ project as of now, still looking for ideas and opportunities!” She’s also thinking of taking her love of photography forward and go for re-doing restaurant marketing through pictures, and in the meantime wants to learn cooking Indian cuisines to understand them as well as she does the French food. Jumping onto the holistic bandwagon, she’s currently looking at doing a Yoga teacher training course and being more involved with the vegan movement, something she wishes to take with her to Paris. Before you drop those napkins hearing that news, there is a silver lining for us, she’s open to conceptualising restaurants for Delhi till the time it doesn’t consume her time entirely, “I have very many lovely ideas for restaurants in Delhi but I don’t want to run it all on my own; plus I don’t wish to move completely, move my base to France and keep coming back as often is the plan.” she quips.
With that hope in our hearts to see another sparkler a la Naina De Bois-Juzan in the city, we bring to life the DSSC rapid fire.
Q. One city you’d like to set base in, except Delhi & Paris?
A. Hong Kong. I don’t know what it is, but I’m very attracted to that city!
Q. One thing you’d like to change about Delhi?
A. Have more unpretentious restaurants & bars, which have nice music and can stay open till late.
Q. One thing you hate about the F&B scene here?
A. There’s more than one! Licensing system, the difficult clientele, and the relationship with the police.
Q. Your favourite restaurant in Delhi?
A. Mohan Dhaba in Malviya Nagar – they do super vegetarian food!
Q. One tip for food-preneurs looking to join the industry?
A. Think of the concept carefully and don’t abandon a great idea simply because they’re are so many obstacles in the way which make you want to kill yourself!
Featured Image Courtesy: Nayantara Parikh Photography
