-with Jaipur furniture, temple colours and chai
Long before diners at Spice Route Restaurant at Crown Street, Queenstown, sample the restaurant’s Malabar fish curry or tandoori mutton chops, they are greeted by something else entirely – handpicked furniture from Jaipur, soft Indian melodies and walls painted in burgundy and ivory inspired by ancient temples in India.
Proprietor Manoj Venkatesan, in an interview with Kiskadee Watch at the restaurant recently, said the goal is to allow patrons to feel like they’re in a “mini-India,” where they can stop by not only to eat, but to simply check out the features of the restaurant and perhaps have a cup of chai.
“Everything, including the furniture, is from India. The ambience makes you feel as if you’re in India with the music and decor. Even the paint is from India,” said the 26-year-old entrepreneur, who hails from Bangalore in southern India.
The colour scheme, he explained, was recommended by architects in India and reflects shades commonly found in ancient temples.
Spice Route, which opened its doors on May 30, is the culmination of a journey that brought Venkatesan to Guyana in 2018 as a medical student at Texila American University. However, he shared how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the course of his life.
While studying medicine, he took up part-time work as a waiter at an Indian restaurant and gradually he noticed how his interests shifted from medicine to the restaurant industry. “I lost my interest in my studies and continued with the restaurant,” he said.
Then, after spending three years working in another restaurant and learning the local market, he said he noticed certain gaps. “There were just a couple of places and they were mostly offering the same things. I come from the southern part of India, so I thought, why not bring something from there that’s not already present here.”
The menu includes familiar Indian dishes but with some rarely found in Guyana, including venison flambé, venison vindaloo, tandoori mutton chops and Malabar fish curry. Authenticity, Venkatesan said, was always his priority. “At 19, I worked and learnt a lot. I felt something was lacking; they changed the cuisine a lot according to the market. But I wanted to retain the authenticity of the dishes,” he explained.
Because India’s culinary traditions vary greatly from region to region, he said Spice Route employs chefs from different parts of India. “India is too vast to have just one style of cooking. We need different cooks who can prepare the different cuisines,” he said.
Creating the restaurant required patience, Venkatesan noted. He began preparations in November last year, importing furniture and decorative pieces from India which took six months to arrive, forcing him to pay rent while waiting for shipments to clear.
Despite the challenges, he said Guyanese have warmly welcomed the business. “We are experiencing crowds on the weekends,” he shared. Although much of the décor and some specialty ingredients come from India, about 70 per cent of the restaurant’s ingredients are sourced locally. “Because Indian and Guyanese cultures are similar, it’s not difficult to source ingredients. We try to give the opportunity to the local market,” he said.
After eight years in Guyana, Venkatesan shared that he has also developed an appreciation for local cuisine. “My appetite is now more towards Guyanese food than Indian food. I am a very big fan of cook-up.”
He also sees a connection between Guyanese and Indian curries. “The Guyanese chicken curry still has the root touch because they (the indentured labourers) have not changed the recipe too much over the years. I like that about Guyanese cuisine because they stick to the roots,” he said.
Encouraged by the response from customers, Venkatesan is already looking ahead to opening a second location on the West Bank Demerara before eventually expanding to Suriname and other parts of South America. But he said no matter how far the business grows, Guyana will remain home to the flagship restaurant.
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