The next time you are walking through Central London or Manhattan, don’t be surprised if you come across a new address — 6, Ballygunge Place.

‘6, Ballygunge Place’, Kolkata’s first Bengali period dining brand, showcasing a detailed history of gourmet Bengali cuisine, is all set to step into global markets, namely, London and New York, making it the first Bengali restaurant chain spreading its wings outside the country. It has become the first Indian retail outlet to get its trademark registered as an address. 6, Ballygunge Place has achieved a unique trade mark/service mark registration. “It is the first time in India that a house address consisting of the premises number and the name of the street where it is located has been granted trademark/service mark registration,” Biswajit Sarkar, IP attorney general, told Financial Chronicle.

S Ramani, managing partner of 6, Ballygunge Place, said, “We are on the verge of finalising the locations at Central London and Manhattan in New York. The concept eatery, for the first time in the history of culinary excellence, will offer to western clients Bengali cuisine that has evolved over 300 years. We will attract a sizeable cosmopolitan population serving Bengali cuisine in an international format, with the menu boasting of sorshe-ilish (hilsa cooked in mustard paste), doi-rui (rahu with curd) and lau-chingri (prawns in gourd).”

At present, it runs three fine dining restaurants in the country — one in Bangalore and two in Kolkata.

Getting the trademark re-gistered was not an easy affair. Sarkar explained, “The registering authority, the Trade Marks Registry, at first refused to grant registration on the ground that a house address is not distinctive and cannot be registered as a service mark. Then it was pleaded that the service mark had become distinctive on the ground of massive propaganda undertaken by the restaurant. Moreover, other trademarks such as ‘Park Avenue’ and ‘Monte Carlo’ were cited as registered trademark with the name of a street with a distinctive character.”