Indian restaurants popping up in Windsor amid high Desi student population

If you've been noticing a lot of Indian restaurants opening up in Windsor, you're not alone.

Never before in Windsor has there been such a variety of places to order Indian food — whether you're looking for street food or a buffet-style experience.

CBC News spoke with the owners of some of Windsor's newest Indian restaurants to find out what's bringing so much Desi spice to the city.

Indian sit-down restaurants

Sarvilkumar Kapadaya moved to Canada from India in 2014 and had never been in the restaurant business before. Today, he's a manager at Chawpati — which opened in February of this year.

Kapadaya is one of three University of Windsor graduates who partnered up to launch the business. He said plans to open Chawpati started coming together in 2016, at a time when Windsor had yet to see an influx of Indian restaurants.

"We really know what we needed in Windsor. We never had a good Indian restaurant. So we thought, 'Let's start our own restaurant' ... We researched and we tried hard to start a business," said Kapadaya.

The restaurant serves a plethora of Indian cuisine, ranging from "roadside burgers" like vada pav to "Indo-Chinese" cuisine like Szechwan spicy noodles. But Chawpati's most notable menu item is its large dosas.

"Windsor's economy is changing because of the international students and the immigrants," said Kapadaya .

"It's very tough for the students. [Some of them] don't know how to cook perfect-tasting food ... People want to try different tastes and different cultures."

Indian 'fast food'

Sai Prasad is the most recent addition to the list of Indian restaurants in Windsor. It opened this past Wednesday and sells Indian "fast food," using homemade chutneys and spice mixes.

Owner and head chef Mohna Chevli — along with her husband, Naresh, who proudly refers to himself as "assistant to the chef" — have lived in Windsor for the past 14 years.

They said their desire to open a restaurant was a result of missing "our Indian street food."

"I don't want to suffer. I want to give it to everybody," said Naresh, adding he wanted to "run after" his love of cooking after he grew tired of his previous business.

But Mohna admits one of the advantages of operating an Indian restaurant in Windsor is because of the city's large immigrant population.

"I'm actually a landlord for the students, so I see that they are missing home food," said Mohna, "They can get food at a cheaper price to satisfy their taste buds. If they are happy, I'm happy."

The "fast food" is Sai Prasad's take on native street food, including pav bhaji, dabeli, samosa, papri chaat, kachori, panipuri, bhelpuri, and the highly-touted Bombay Grill Sandwich.

Indian buffet

While operating an Indian restaurant in Goshene, Ind., Arvind Jain and his family made an "investment visit" to Windsor. Fast forward to May 2019 and Swaad was born.

"Windsor is a border area. Michigan people do come here as well. But the Windsor community is growing," said Jain, citing a recent Statistics Canada report which recognizes Windsor as the "third-fastest growing city" in Canada.

Swaad is a buffet-style restaurant with a small selection of quality Indian food. Excluding dessert and side dishes (like rice and soup), there are eight dishes to choose from — four "veg" and four "non-veg."

But it's not just people within the city's South Asian community coming to Swaad. According to Jain, "50 to 60 per cent" of its customer base is white.

"So it's not that we are focusing on Indians. It's a multicultural restaurant," said Jain.

Jain said the recent influx of Indian students to Windsor was not the primary reason for opening Swaad — but it was the main reason why the owners elected to run it as a buffet, rather than an a-la-carte restaurant.

"Keeping everything in mind — the student population, wages, everything. That's why we keep a normal price."