Will you dine at Hitler's Cross?

A restaurant on the outskirts of Mumbai is creating controversy.

The newly-opened hotel, curiously named Hitler's Cross, has offended India's small population of Jews and the Israeli consul in Mumbai.

The story was picked up around the world and by blogging sites after the new agency Reuters reported on the restaurant.

The restaurant is located at Kharghar just off the Mumbai-Pune highway in Mumbai's satellite township of Navi Mumbai.

However, the restaurant owner Punit Shablok is adamant that he won't change the name. "I have registered the name and will not change it. There are hundreds of other businesses around the world registered in Hitler's name. Why this fuss about my restaurant? I am tired of giving interviews to the press all day," he says.

He also says that his emblem isn't exactly like Hitler's swastika. "Mine is red on white and Hitler's had it in black".

However in difference to the hullabaloo over the name, he has taken down a picture of the German dictator from the premises.

PTI adds: The Jewish community has threatened legal action against the eatery.

"We did expect authorities in Mumbai to be more sensitive before giving the requisite permissions and licences to this restaurant. We hope that this issue is solved with common sense and does not have to go to the legal stage," Consul General of Israel Daneil Zonshine said. "We have written to state authorities expressing our shock and discontent that the eatery has been named such. No establishment should have such a name," Zonshine said.

He said he had received calls from the Jewish community all over the world about the restaurant, and pointed out that while the consulate itself could initiate any legal proceedings over the issue, there were plenty of Jews in the city who would be "willing" to take legal action.

Text and photograph: Uttam Ghosh