Rohit Khattar is a creative entrepreneur with interests in Hospitality and Entertainment.

In Hospitality

Rohit is Founder Chairman of Old World Hospitality Private Limited (O.W.H.), the company he founded in 1990 with his first restaurant Chor Bizarre. Since then, Rohit has created over a dozen much loved restaurant brands including All American Diner, Oriental Octopus, Eatopia, Past Times, Hosa, Fireback, Comorin, Indian Accent and many more.

Rohit’s first restaurant Chor Bizarre serves regional Indian cuisine in a ‘thieves market’ setting. It opened in New Delhi in 1990 and was India’s first theme restaurant. It was also the first restaurant in India to open a branch overseas. Whilst the Mayfair London unit closed down, Chor Bizarre is opening soon in Jaipur and Bengaluru.

Most of the O.W.H. restaurant brands have been moved into a new restaurant company promoted by Rohit. EHV International (www.ehvinternational.com) now owns and operates Indian Accent, New Delhi, Mumbai & New York, Comorin, Gurugram & Mumbai, Hosa, Goa as well as Fireback, Goa & Mumbai. All these concepts are market leaders and path breaking restaurants in their respective cuisines. EHV is rolling out all the above brands in multiple cities with over 20 openings slated in the next 2 years.

Rohit created the Indian Accent concept which opened at The Manor, New Delhi in 2009 and subsequently moved to The Lodhi in 2017. Indian Accent is considered the pioneering modern Indian restaurant in the world. It has been on the ‘Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants’ list for the last 13 years. It has won several awards, including being voted the No. 1 Restaurant in India by La Liste. A jury comprising of 75 stalwarts of the restaurant industry have voted Indian Accent as the No. 1 Restaurant in India for the last 4 years at the FoodFood Top 50 Restaurant Awards. Indian Accent was part of Time Magazine’s 100 Great Destinations in the World. In 2016 Indian Accent opened a successful outpost in New York and in 2023, it opened its doors at the iconic Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai.

Comorin is an all-day restaurant and bar which is equally known for its food as well as its beverage programme. Comorin, Gurugram has been voted amongst the ‘Top 10 Restaurants in India’ for the last 4 years by a jury consisting of the restaurant industry at the FoodFood Top 50 Restaurant Awards. It has also been voted the ‘Best Restaurant Bar in India’ by 30 Best Bars India for 4 consecutive years. In 2025, Comorin opened its second unit at the beautiful Nilaya Anthology in Mumbai and shall open in 3 other cities in 2025-26.

Hosa, Goa explores the culinary diversity of South India, beyond the familiar and also features a creative and energetic bar. It was awarded ‘Best Modern Indian Restaurant’ and ‘Best Restobar’ in Goa by Times Food & Nightlife Awards in 2023, ‘Best Modern South Indian’ and ‘Best Cocktails’ in 2024 as well as ‘Best South Indian’ in 2025. Hosa was also awarded four stars by Culinary Culture for two consecutive years (2024 and 2025) and ranked 15th at the Condé Nast Traveller Top Restaurant Awards 2024. Hosa will open shortly in Gurugram.

Fireback, the newest addition to the EHV portfolio, is an exciting Thai restaurant and bar with legendary Chef David Thompson as Culinary Director. Fireback serves authentic Thai food at a picturesque riverside setting in Siolim, Goa. The name is inspired by the Thai national bird, the Siamese Fireback, and also speaks to the fire-grilled cooking behind many of the restaurant’s dishes. Fireback has opened its second unit in Mumbai at Nilaya Anthology

Rohit is credited with several firsts in the hospitality and entertainment sector – the first public private partnership in the arts (Habitat World), India’s first theme restaurant (Chor Bizarre), India’s first Food Court (Eatopia) and many more.

Rohit was featured amongst ‘The Big 10 of the F&B industry’ and amongst ‘The 99 superstars who changed our lives across India’ by Time Out. He (along with Vir Sanghvi) was honoured with the ‘IFCA Award of Excellence’ in appreciation of his outstanding contribution to the development of the culinary profession and society’ by the Indian Federation of Culinary Association.

He was named ‘Restaurateur of the Year’ at the BBC Good Food, FoodFood Awards 2019. He received the ‘Icon of the Year Award’ at the Zee Zest Unlimit Awards 2023 as well as the DLC ‘Global Beacon of Indian Hospitality’ award in 2024. He was also named ‘Restaurant Icon of the Year’ by ET Restaurant & Nightlife Awards 2024 and Industry Icon 2024 by 30 Best Bars. He was awarded ‘Restaurateur of the Year’ at the NDTV Food Awards 2025.

Rohit was conferred with the ‘Joon S. Moon Distinguished International Alumni Award 2021’ by Michigan State University from where he graduated in Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management in 1985.

While Rohit now focuses mainly on growing his restaurants, which he is best known for, previously he has founded several companies and created many iconic brands. Some of those are listed below:

O.W.H. designed and for over two decades successfully operated the hospitality and cultural facilities at the country’s most comprehensive performing arts and convention centre, Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Rohit conceived the cultural vision for India Habitat Centre, New Delhi making Habitat World at India Habitat Centre India’s leading performing arts centre hosting over 3 live events a day when O.W.H. operated it from 1997 till 2021. Habitat World was home to a club with 58 guest rooms, 20 conference & meeting rooms and 6 restaurants, viz Oriental Octopus, Delhi ‘O’ Delhi, Past Times, Lite House, All American Diner and Eatopia, all of which gained iconic status under O.W.H. operations.

Rohit was Founder Chairman of Cinestaan Film Company, a boutique film studio co-promoted with Anand Mahindra. Rohit has produced 7 films and was Executive Producer on two (‘Cold War’, nominated for 3 Academy Awards and ‘The Tempest’, nominated for 1 Academy Award). He also produced ‘Bombay Rose’ which was the opening film at Critics Week at the Venice International Film Festival.

Rohit was Chairman of Cinestaan AA Distributors (a joint venture between AA Films and Cinestaan Film Company) - the leading overseas distributor of Indian films. It distributed over 35 films including Baahubali 2, Badhaai Ho, K.G.F2, Bharat and Gully Boy. Cinestaan offloaded its stake to AA Films in 2023.

In 2011, Rohit had forged a partnership with the Sundance Institute founded by Robert Redford which gave birth to the Mumbai Mantra, Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab in India which led to awards for 16 filmmakers and the mentoring of 24 screenwriters. This initiative thereafter pivoted into the Cinestaan India’s Storytellers Script Contest with a jury consisting of Anjum Rajabali, Rajkumar Hirani, Juhi Chaturvedi and Aamir Khan that rewarded 5 screenplay writers during each year of its existence. India’s official entry to the Academy Awards 2025, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ was one of the screenplays selected through this contest.