- Name: Diditi Sigh
- Instagram: @diditisingh
- Industry Experience: 6 years
- Favorite Drink: A classic cocktail like Penicillin or a Negroni, or something spicy, smoky with tequila, spicy, smoky, is my go-to
- Favorite Non-alcoholic Drink: Chai
Anyone who comes from a family of academics has their work cut out for them if they want to pursue a career that deviates from the norm. Fortunately, for Diditi, “going for your dreams sort of runs in my family,” and instead of “rebelling to pursue” Architecture, vs. her parents’ choice of Engineering, she chose a wild card like Hospitality! Now 6 years in, Diditi holds the reins as assistant manager at Sidecar, New Delhi.
Trusting her gut has held her in good stead, whether it was taking the leap to pursue a Master’s in International Hospitality Management during the pandemic in Australia or applying for a position at Sidecar. Her stint in Australia was not without its challenges, whether it was juggling two part time jobs alongside a demanding Master’s program to make ends meet and pay for groceries or rent. Her Industrial Training at Hyatt Regency, Delhi “bridged the gap between what is taught (at culinary school) and what has to be done practically. It helps you hone your skills for the real world and it did exactly that for me.” But it was her time at Fish Bank, Australia, that really sharpened her skills, having started as a food runner, then moving to a server role and eventually as acting assistant manager while serving as a supervisor. Diditi credits these transitions as being the foundation to her career trajectory and the “opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world and understand their preferences better.”

Her transition from Australia to Sidecar too is an eventful one! “It was on a whim. I was out with a friend, and he mentioned this bar has won a lot of awards, and the drinks are absolutely fabulous. So we landed up at Sidecar on a Monday night. I fell in love with the place, not just for the drinks but also how it made me feel. So before I even went there, I had even made up my mind.” Always one to have her finger on the pulse of things around her, Diditi has made updating her knowledge a priority. It definitely helped to have extremely supportive leadership at Sidecar. When she decided to apply for WSET Level 2 in Spirits, both Co-Founders, Yangdup Lama and Minakshi Singh, banded together to help her get through. This ‘back to basics’ ideology also reflects in her leadership at Sidecar as the Bartender’s Recommendation program where “every week, we come up with a forgotten classic cocktail. It’s good for the team, for the servers, for the bartenders, and helps them with not just learning new things but also because we want people who come to Sidecar to understand different styles of classic cocktails, and not just the fancy ones that we put on the menu!”

As a parting note, Diditi leaves us with a leaf from her own book, “challenge yourself, for the unpaved road, success may not be guaranteed, but its the experiences, right? Unless you don’t trust your instincts, or your gut feeling you won’t get that experience. Sometimes you have to let your heart roll, not your head.”
– Nagwa Kureshi