Started by an Ex-Army Man, This 1953 Dehradun Bakery Has Served CMs, Maharanis & Your Favourite Cricketers
Time in Dehradun ticks at a slower pace. Romanticised by literature and films, the town lives up to its storied reputation, you’ll agree, if you’ve ever paid a visit.
Seemingly plucked from the pages of a book, it’s whimsical; the aroma of fresh bakes wafts out from every second store, tempting you to make a detour and grab a bite before you head on your way. Heed the temptation.
At ‘Elloras’, it’s not just coffee and a bun that you’ll be ditching your agenda for, but also a great story.
Started in 1953, the bakery has lived on Rajpur Road for so long it’s become one with the landscape. As the third generation, Drona Gulati (34) and Mudit Gulati (36), who are taking their legacy forward, share, the bakery was the brainchild of their grandfather, Shri Krishan Lal Gulati, who served in the Indian Army for over a decade before opting for retirement. When Gulati landed in Dehradun, it was as a refugee, the eldest of five siblings who had just lost their father. The bakery was his attempt at eking out a living, never fathoming that it would one day gain such an important place in the town’s memory.
Drona shares, “My grandfather had two brothers. One of them dealt in daily items like milk, cold drinks, juices and FMCG. The other brother was into retail garments and shawls.”
Elloras Melting Moments in Dehradun was started by Shri Krishan Lal Gulati in 1953
How did the idea of a bakery visit Gulati?
“In the pre-Independence era, many senior-ranking British officials had their summer houses here [in Dehradun]. They needed chefs who could cook for their palate preferences. Once the British left India in 1947, these chefs and butlers, well-versed in baking bread, were left behind. They couldn’t be employed in the sweet shops of India as their techniques and makes differed.”
Gulati had an idea. Why not champion these chefs’ expertise in starting a bakery?
Thus, Elloras was born.
BYOB (bake your own bread) & some wood-fire magic
Interesting to note is that all Elloras outlets are in Dehradun — the no-preservative policy necessitates that bakes must be consumed within their natural shelf life. But, beyond the bakeries too, Drona says, Elloras’ products are making inroads into Uttarakhand and northern India. These outlets were set up to cater to the burgeoning demand for buns, rusk, biscuits and cookies. If you bite into an Elloras’ bread or biscuit, there’s a guaranteed difference you’ll be able to pinpoint, Drona says. “This is because we bake in wood-fired ovens,” he explains; mechanisation is minimal, and quality is of prime importance.
Elloras outlets were set up to cater to the burgeoning demand for buns, rusk, biscuits and cookies
The proof is in the pudding literally and metaphorically; any Elloras outlet can be distinguished by the teeming crowds outside it. The bakery has received a constant stream of adulation through the years, Drona shares.
“In my grandfather’s time, too, crowds used to frequent the bakery. Freshly baked bread would be packed in butter paper, and the locals would queue up to buy it.” Sometimes, the locals would bring the raw materials to the store and have the bread baked fresh and hot while they waited. Drona attributes the popularity of bread to the town’s many boarding schools: Doon School, Welham School, Sherwood College, and Woodstock School. “The bread used to be supplied to their cafeterias and messes,” he explains.
But beyond the fact that bread was an essential item, it was Gulati’s ethos that helped the bakery take off. “You see, my grandfather was an ex-army man; honesty was ingrained in him. He was insistent that all our raw materials should be the best. He never prepared the bread intending it for a customer, but rather for his own family,” Drona reminisces. That meticulousness has stayed. Today, Mudit and Drona see honesty and quality as the yardsticks by which they measure success.
Cream rolls (L) and mango Danish pastries (R) are some of the most loved items on the menu
As for the menu, it is kaleidoscopic — plum cakes, candies, cookies, pista biscuits, baklawa (rich, sweet, layered pastry), cinnamon rolls, raisin brioches (French bread known for its rich, tender crumb), Omali Egyptian pastries, apple tarts, pretzels, butterscotch cream rolls, Danish pastries, doughnuts, chilli garlic soft rolls, cinnamon swirls, French loaves, pita bread (a Lebanese yeast-leavened round flatbread) vy for counter space with each other. This is just a sliver of what the menu offers. It’s a Pandora’s Box of flavour.
Omali Egyptian pastries (L) and butter cookies (R) are popular menu items
The menu evolved guided by changing palate profiles, Drona explains. While the senior Gulati started out with a handful of items (bread, and pastries — pineapple, chocolate and Black Forest), Drona’s father, Virendra Gulati, an IHM (Institute of Hotel Management, Catering & Nutrition), Pusa Delhi alumni, contributed to the operational scaling of Elloras, both in terms of the menu — adding patties and burger breads — and business.
With Drona and Mudit came the eclectic fare.
Reasoning this, Drona shares, “Times have evolved. Why many nostalgic brands have not been able to flourish is that they haven’t changed with time. It’s become important to present new flavours to those who live in Dehradun but travel the world. We don’t want them to feel that their hometown isn’t able to offer them what they get in other countries. When they find a lotus biscoff cheesecake or any other similar trending food, they feel like the world is available at this place, along with, of course, nostalgic items.”
French Paris Brest (L) and Rosemary Thin Apple Tart (R) reflect the menu’s eclectic options
A poster boy on the menu is the stick jaws (butter toffees) that come in two variants — chocolate and caramel.
In fact, recently, chef Vikas Khanna attempted to perfect these at his restaurant, Bungalow, in New York. “Bungalow is a celebration of India. It’s my purpose to introduce the world — and especially children growing up in the West, now second and third generation — to the foods, flavours, and treats their parents and grandparents grew up with. Our nostalgia. Our rituals. Our festivals. And the foods that defined them. These were not just meals, but memories,” he wrote, crediting Elloras for the original recipe.
As the clock strikes eight in the morning, a queue begins forming at Elloras. Business goes on until 10 pm. But, Drona shares, behind the shutters, the wheels are chugging 24×7. The Elloras kitchen is a hive of activity; time is no constraint. Drona explains, “We’ve always felt that bakery items are morning items and should be served fresh. So we plan in a way that our production continues throughout the night so that when we open our outlets in the morning, everything is fresh.”
And the clientele at Elloras is proof that their dedication is paying off. Among those who’ve stopped by are veteran cricketers Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, chef Sanjeev Kapoor, the Kapoor family, the Gandhi family, chief ministers, and even the Maharani of Patiala.
The Maharani visited when senior Gulati was at the helm of things, in the bakery’s nascent days. “At the time, there used to be a shortage of Coca-Cola; you had to book in advance if you had a wedding in the house. The Maharani of Patiala had been travelling along the Dehradun highway and observed that Coca-Cola was being sold at a premium everywhere. Only at our store, she was able to buy it at MRP, because my grandfather did not believe in raising the price of any item.” Drona adds, “She was very impressed by his honesty.”
And, this he says, is what Elloras has always stood for — a commitment to authenticity.
All pictures courtesy Elloras Melting Moments
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