CEOs, they say, get what they want. And city CEOs will soon be served up an exclusive address for work and pleasure.

Australian roast lamb pots with mashed garlic potatoes and Shushi cakes. The flash of leather, soft-hue illumination, plush sink-in sofas with a plasma 14-inch display screen for each seat. The Hot Rocks live interactive cooking counter, a dazzling bar with the finest in imported Scotch and wines. Elegant interiors, imported rattan furniture and the latest lounge music to match the neo-classical theme…

Enter, Platinum Lounge, the “country’s first lounge banquet” outside the five-star portals. The world-cuisine stop at 22 Camac Street, which gave Calcutta its maiden hookah lounge bar Shisha, is now going Platinum, which promises to change the way the crème-de-la-crème banquets in town.

“Just like fine-dining is now available in standalone stations, Platinum Lounge will take the concept of exclusive high-end banqueting outside the confines of star hotels for the first time,” explains Nitin Kohli, director, Grain of Salt.

The fashionable retro-modern lounge next to Grain, to be unveiled by the month-end, will provide an exclusive leisure room for corporate receptions, luncheons, dinners and “private tete-a-tetes fit for kings” for a maximum guest list of 50. The pricing will be as flexible as the bill of fare. “Platinum will introduce banqueting a la carte, where each guest could be served individual portions of his/her preferred dishes, which is not possible in a routine banquet hall. One can be lounge-seated as in business class and enjoy the exclusive fare and the special ambience,” says Kohli.

The management claims lounge banqueting as a concept is “brand new” in India. "Even internationally, there would be only a few such properties, like the Acoma Restaurant & Lounge Banquet, Broadway, Montana in the US,” adds Pankaj Tandon, head, administration, Grain of Salt.

Celeb chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who steers cuisine at Grain of Salt and Shisha, will be at the helm of Platinum Lounge as well. “The food will be completely customised, with equal focus on Indian and international. In a banquet scenario, guests usually don’t have a choice. But at Platinum, we will pamper the guests with an array that will tickle every taste bud,” he added.

Kapoor, however, accepts that the concept is new and the product has to be nurtured with care. “We hope to learn as we go along. We are where we are at Grain and Shisha since we heeded Calcutta’s feedback. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen with Platinum,” he says.

The target audience for the “intimate lounge” will be the corporate top rung, industry captains and consular diplomats desperately seeking an elite hospitality hangout in the heart of the city.