Why we're called Nineteenth May.
Every restaurant has a name. Not every name has a story. Ours begins with a birthday I missed.
By Manouj Kaushikk, Founder & Director · 26 July 2026
For years, I was a food-and-beverage professional at a reputed five-star hotel. It was the career I'd trained for and worked hard at — long hours, high standards, the kind of work that asks everything of you. And for the most part, I gave it gladly.
But hospitality has a quiet cost: you spend your life making other people's occasions special, and sometimes you miss your own. One year, that cost had a face. On the 19th of May, my daughter's birthday, I was at work. I couldn't be there.
When I came home, she was unhappy — and I understood, in a way I hadn't before, exactly what I was trading away. That evening something settled in me. I'd had a full and proud professional journey. But it was time to build something of my own — something that let me create, on my own terms, close to the people I loved.
That was the moment the idea was born.
One year later, to the day
I didn't rush it. Building something worth opening takes time, and I wanted to do it properly.
So the idea lived and grew for a year. And then, on the 19th of May 2019 — exactly one year after the birthday that started it all — we opened our doors.
We named it for that date. Not for a trend, not because it sounded good, but because 19 May is the day everything changed for me — first as a father, then as a founder. The name carries both.
What we brought with us
Leaving the hotel world didn't mean leaving its standards behind. Two decades of hospitality — the training, the discipline, the understanding that a great guest experience is built from a hundred small things done right — all of it came with us to Sector 67.
Nineteenth May was never meant to be just another place to eat. It was meant to bring that hotel-grade sense of care to our own corner of the Tricity, somewhere close to home, for people who aren't guests for a single night but neighbours we'll see again and again.
A name that keeps a promise
Every anniversary of 19 May is a reminder of why this exists — not a business plan, but a decision made for family. It keeps us honest. Are the cocktails still made with care? Is the food still good? Is the room still warm? A date pulled from the most important day of my life holds us to that in a way no slogan ever could.
Come be part of the story.
Whether it's dinner and drinks at the resto-bar, a cake for a celebration that matters, or catering for an event you're planning — we'd love for you to experience what we've been building since day one. And if you're celebrating a birthday of your own, come to us. We understand, better than most, exactly how much they matter.
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