Tasting Arcadia

Episode 33 of Season 3 - All India Cafe

• Karen Mac Nair • Season 3 • Episode 33

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A family-run Indian restaurant doesn’t last nearly 30 years by accident and All India Cafe proves it. On Tasting Arcadia, Karen Mac Nair sits down with Harsimran Singh Khinda, the executive chef at the Arcadia location, to talk about how a Pasadena original (opened in 1996) grew into a third branch right here in town, and what it takes to keep longtime regulars excited while welcoming new guests who are just learning the menu.

For more information and tickets to the Taste of Arcadia visit TasteOfArcadia.com. 

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Taste Of Arcadia Tickets And Date

John Villa Announcer

Welcome to Tasting Arcadia, the official podcast of Taste of Arcadia. Taste of Arcadia is an inclusive event featuring food and drinks from the San Gabriel Valley restaurants, all for one price. Come and sample food, wine, beer, and spirits, check out our brand new cars, visit our business showcases, smile at our photobooth, and take it on a dance tour with me, Johnny Villa from Dance Syndicate DJ Entertainment. Taste of Arcadia is September 19th at Stan Feet Apart. The fun goes from 2 to 6 p.m. with a special VIP entrance at 1 p.m. Don't forget, this is a 21 and over event. Get your tickets today at Tastofarcadia.com. Now let's hear from our host, Karen Mac Nair.

Karen Mac Nair

Thank you, John, so much. Hello, everyone. I'm Karen McNair, the CEO of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce. Welcome to Tasting Arcadia. This is a podcast where we get to talk to the vendors, the food and drink vendors, some great sponsors who are going to be at Taste. Just having this discussion with staff, but we have an early bird special going on now. Until August 1st, there is a special, so make sure you get your tickets today. Go to taste of arcadia.com. So why don't we

All India Cafe Family Origins

Karen Mac Nair

jump in? All of you Indian food fans out there, you better be clapping and listening along because we are here with Simaren of All India Cafe that is located here in Arcadia. Welcome.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Thank you for having me here.

Karen Mac Nair

I'm excited. We just had like a pre-interview and it made me so hungry and excited. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your restaurant? Where is it located? How'd you get here?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So um we're actually actually locals in this town. We grew up in this neighborhood and uh we actually located on 48 East Huntington Drive, um, not too far from the Chase Bank. If you guys know Claros, we're diagonal from Claros. And yeah.

Karen Mac Nair

And we talked how many locations do you have? This is not your first, right?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct. Okay. This is our third branch. Okay. So we're the same family that runs one in Old Town Pasadena since 1996. We actually opened on Christmas Eve as our first day.

Karen Mac Nair

Wow.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And then we opened our Glendale branch since 2018. Okay. And then when I officially was old enough to and joined in the family business, um, I took over Pasadena for a couple years to show my dad I can run it. And then my father asked me a question. He's like, So, what do you want to do? Do you want to stay here or you want to open another one? And I was like, I really want to open one with you. And he's like, Where? I'm like, let's do Arcadia. I originally was here for a couple years until we moved uh like like next to a next city. And I was like, Let's start with Arcadia. This is where we started off. And we've been here our entire lives here. We should have something nearby. So he's like, sure. We looked around Arcadia. We actually just drove by a street, saw like a for lease sign. We're like, let's check it out. And then we got the paperwork done in three, four days and we opened it up. Oh my goodness, it was meant to be. It was really quick and fast. My dad was very shocked how quickly we got everything up and running.

Karen Mac Nair

I feel like you just celebrated an anniversary, right?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair

So go ahead, tell us about that.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Uh so we haven't really done much inside, but yes, it's actually our official one year anniversary. We opened on May 25th of last year, 2025. Uh-huh. And it's been going great. People love the food. People we really appreciate our locals supporting us as well, too. And the funny thing is, a lot of locals in this town are actually original owners, uh original people who eat in Pasadena.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh wow.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So for like 30 years, they've been going to my dad, and they were like, Oh, we don't like how crowded Pasadena is. And they're like, that's why we pop in once a year, and now they pop in once a month.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, good.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So it's just so nice to see like it just happened so naturally. People just ended up traveling towards Arcadia, Duarte, Monrovia, Temple City. Some kids I grew up with, we never talked about Indian food. So funny. Uh-huh. And they're like, dude, that's your dad's place. And they eat at the eating arcadia location. We're like, we had no clue that you were there. That was your dad's restaurant. I'm like, it's just we never talked. It was it's why it was so interesting how kids never talk about Indian food. Right. In uh in like high school. And they're like, dude, we've been eating your food since like I was in elementary.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, I love that. And I love it that it's a family legacy.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair

So it was your dad the original owner?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Dad's original owner and founder.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh wow. I do love that.

Critics Awards And Sauce Philosophy

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair

Um, it was the original spot was Pasadena.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair

Can you tell me a little bit about history? I know you're award winning.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yes. So um, dad is a really well-renowned chef. Um, but uh he hadn't go to any coloring school, but he won Best of Los Angeles, Best of Uh Indian food in Zagat, which is known by uh owned by Infatuation now. So if you're a foodie's you guys know Zagget. You guys know Jonathan Gould wrote about us, uh, Merrill Schindel, Aren Verbella, one of the toughest food critics of LA Times. If you read one of our plaques in the Arcady location, um which is from Pasadena, it says, All India Cafe is more than all right. Oh it's the way she words it, you know, because she's very tough, you know? And you could just sense it. But it's so funny. My dad was telling me when the when she left her card, how do you know if they're like a true old school food critic? They actually leave their business card at the end of that night if you pass or fail, if you make it into the Do you know while they're there that they're a food critic?

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

You do not know.

Karen Mac Nair

I feel like this is a movie scene. It is totally watch all the shows and you're like, they don't know that the person's there.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's like the bear. Like you do not, you do not know who they are, when they're gonna pop in, what time. And my dad was telling me when Irene was here, and the guys are telling because like she left the card at the end of that night, and they're like, My dad's like, Who is this? What is LA Times? You know, we don't we don't know. You know, he's like he was so focused on the food and the customers, he wanted to share the same love that his mom was giving him back in the day in India. When he's on the farmland, they would bring the food to him at the farm and they're eating. He just missed and loved that he wanted to share the same love with the people. And uh by at the time, all everyone in the family is actually running the restaurant. So your busser will be the uncle, your busser might be your mom or something like that. Someone dishwasher could be your dad's brother, you know. And then they're like, they're like, brother, like she changed tables four times. We're so shocked that she actually left a card here. It's really interesting.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, because during her time there, she moved four different times on the day. Oh wow.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yeah, which is very like kind of like a alarming because you know, like usually food uh if you've moved four tables four times, something's wrong, you know. But apparently she wanted the best angle for uh for the food. So that's what we found out later on. And then at the time, uh a gentleman sitting right next to her who was like there, he knows apparently he knew who she was. And he my dad saw his card and he's like, quadruple your inventory, whatever you have. You're gonna have a line at the door. My dad was like, okay. And then next day, uh literally a line wrapped around the door.

Karen Mac Nair

Wow.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And then our legacy just took off. You know, people started really recognizing what proper Indian food is. Um, we realized that there's not really true Indian food. And it's clean Indian food. That Indian food has the is in almost every Ayurvedic, every you know, homeopathic, even in medicine. Turmeric is like the main ingredient for a lot of it.

Karen Mac Nair

That's true, yeah. Becoming very popular nowadays.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It is. People are doing turmeric shots and everything. Like, why do all that stuff? We can just have Indian food.

Karen Mac Nair

So now these were your grandmother's recipes.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

These are actually my dad's recipes, but of course, he learned from my grandma. Um, but he's also a well-known Italian chef back in Germany.

Karen Mac Nair

So he was cooking a very entire that's a lot of countries in one spot.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It is, it is. And if you actually actually try our food, um, you'll understand that this is not an average Indian food. Because my dad was cooking in uh in Germany at the time, Italian food. When he came to the States here, he uh and he started Indian food, a lot of places will use tomato paste or right food dye to make it look like and they suit the color. But my dad was like, dude, what the Italians do? It's all about the sauce.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's not about like the chicken, it's not about that, it's all about the sauce. So when we have like chicken tikka masala or butter chicken, we don't actually put tomato paste, we make our own tomato saffron sauce. We use Roma tomatoes literally like a pot full of tomatoes, and you're made and you're just like heating them up, cooking, slow cooking them until it makes a beautiful sauce.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, I love that. So now you're the chef here in Arcadia.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct, I'm the executive chef here. Of course, dad is like the OG, I guess you can say it for you.

Karen Mac Nair

Round of applause for dad. We totally get it. But now it's gets to be a little bit of your legacy, was my point. Like, we get to bring you and your recipes forefront. Is there anything you're really proud of?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Um, you know

Desserts Cocktails And Happy Hour

Harsimran Singh Khinda

what? I'm just so proud of being able to make my dad's cooking. That that's what's important for me. I like to modify things like as times are evolving, we should evolve as well, too. Right. Like dad had this beautiful dessert menu that he made of his. He's well known for his ginger ice cream. Even LA Times wrote about it back on April 27th, 1997. They call it the Fabulous 50.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And uh I remember my dad makes a really good uh gajahalva. It's like a carrot and carrot cake type of texture. We actually thinly sliced and mashed all the carrots, boiled with almonds, with raisins, with milk for several hours. And dad always made a really good, it's called golfi in our uh uh Indian ice cream. It's in India they actually serve it on a stick, if that makes sense. But my dad just didn't want to do it, he wanted to do like a traditional scoop style.

Karen Mac Nair

Uh-huh.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And then always as a kid, we'd always have them together, and then I'd always go to BJ's. It's kind of funny, but uh almost every once a week I'll go to BJs and I love a pazuki always. Yeah, and then one day it hit me, I'm like, dude, there's a pazuki in front of my eyes the whole time. So now I started selling actually is like the the Garja Hava Pazookie now. So it's where we put the carrot pudding carrot cake on the bottom and put a fresh scoop of pistachio ice cream on top. It's wow, every Indian or Indian food lover's favorite dream now. It's selling off the charts, it's going crazy, and a lot of the new stuff that we're creating here is actually being dropped off or being sold in Pasadena and Glendale now. Like the cocktail menu, it was all discovered over here.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So I used to travel a lot around the world. I used to work corporate, corporate credit card, it was nice. Trying all the cocktails, went to different countries, Mexico, India. That's what we have Indian whiskeys here now, too. So we're truly trying to adapt to a new culture, new wave. Back then it was all about wines and beers. Now it's all about hard liquor, cocktails, mocktails these days. So when I was traveling, I came up with my own recipes, and then when I joined the restaurant, I'm like, Dad, I kind of like this. And we started off with a little tasting, and now it's actually been a big hit. So we make a really good saffre martini. People love espresso martini. I make a dirty chai martini.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So with an Indian twist to it. For example, like I make a spicy madras margarita, which is like a chili infused tequila we do in-house.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So a lot of stuff is more Indian inspired. I don't want my customers to go to a bar at nighttime. Right. I want them to have a proper sit-down meal. You can get drunk if you want to. Of course, we'll call you an Uber. Um, or you can have a proper meal out as well, too. What's why I had a happy hour now?

Karen Mac Nair

Right. Okay, let's talk about that. You have happy hour. What what is what's special about happy hour for you?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Well, our drinks. 50% off on all beers, wines, and cocktails.

Karen Mac Nair

Uh-huh.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Um, we also have six dollar bites. Oh, wow. So, like, for example, whoever likes fish, fish pakoras, pani pur shots, um, vada pasta, chutney samplers, um, masala fries, those are all six bucks. I make it easy and cheap afterwards. If you come from like a long day of work, stressful day of work, you shouldn't feel like, oh man, I want to break my balance again. Because you know, it's times are tough right now.

Karen Mac Nair

Right.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Why not make it easy and chill for customers where they can come and enjoy a lovely meal? And also they can get some uh happy hour bites in, come with their friends, chat it up. Because I remember when I used to be outside living by myself, I would always look for a good happy hour. And I'm like, Indian restaurants don't really have happy hour. Yeah. Let's try to kind of get closer to the more modern American culture a little bit, but still stuck with our Indian roots that we come from.

Karen Mac Nair

I love that. I chamber world, we all love a good happy hour, but it is a great way to come and try multiple things before you make a full dinner commitment on what you like to eat. That's what I like best, is you get bites is the best word. I mean, I you did a great job on that aspect because you get to try so many different things that you wouldn't have tried before, because not necessarily would you want a whole meal until you taste it all. You'll discover later you want a whole meal, but until you try it, you know, you never know. Now, if we have business owners out there, it's a busy day. Do you have lunch specials? Is there anything going on at lunch?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Uh, we actually it's my dad's thing who started about lunch specials. So our lunch specials start from $12.95 to $16.95. You can get a full meal for yourself. For example, like a chicken curry lunch, $13.95. Comes with chicken curry, comes with a potato pea curry, lentil curry, rice, naan, and a salad. Oh wow. That's a lot. There's a lot of food for $13. You can't even go to like a fast food these days to get that. So my dad was like, give quality food with a good amount of quantity. Don't try to give over amount of quantity for less quality. We always are we're really picky about quality from even from the spices that we use. Every spice that you taste from my food, I grind in house. From the cumin to the coriander to the nutmeg to the uh black cardamom to the cloves to the cinnamon. All the spices are done in house. If you guys know, if your foodies know gunamasala, I don't buy gunamasala. I make my own version of it. Reason why is because a lot of times they blend the whole plant in there as well. Too. I like to just do the herbs.

Karen Mac Nair

It definitely changes the taste then.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Significantly, doesn't give you any heartburn. You won't people say when they try our food, you should they feel very light.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

You don't feel like, oh man, I have to take a nap here. I feel so greasy. No. We that's why Indian food should be very clean, very healthy, and very family-oriented, which is this neighborhood. So that's why we're like, we gotta come over here and open a proper sit-down Indian restaurant and show to the world that what good Indian food is.

Karen Mac Nair

So you've shared a lot about inspiration, a lot about the family. Is there anything, any special time coming up, any um any events coming up?

Lunch Deals Spices And Community Support

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yes. Um, we're actually part of Dine LA.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And if and Dine LA was actually a little history on it, it was a very seclusive thing. Um, only well-renowned restaurants were allowed to be on it. Now it's pay-to-play kind of type of thing, but which is still good because we offer a really good deal, $25 lunch, uh, or you can do a $35 dinner.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Come for the $35, comes with the appetizer, either beer or wine if you want. It comes with desserts, of course, non. Uh if you want to do tick a masella or a kebab or something, it comes with that. It's excellent for like a single person. It's a great deal. $35, excellent. If you're if if you're lunchtime, $25.

Karen Mac Nair

And it's a great deal. And we talked about this earlier. The best way to support small businesses is to really go and try the food. Come different times, come to lunch, come to Happy Hour, come to the Dyne LA um event, and just be able to try the foods and and give back a little bit. Do you agree?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

I I agree. I like to support this the community around here too. I love supporting the schools around here. I used to be an athlete in this town. I know every time kids would take the little chocolates and walk around. It was tough. I rather my focus is I don't want kids selling chocolate. I want the kids focusing on their future and go chase your dreams of like what we had a hard time doing, you shouldn't have a hard time doing, you know? It's true. So I love supporting our kidia high school. I love supporting the next door Temple City. I like supporting schools because kids are important. They are our future for the next generation.

Karen Mac Nair

Right. And there's nothing like a family dinner.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Right. Right.

Karen Mac Nair

When you sit down and have that family tradition, it's just a great experience. Is there anything that is your favorite on the menu? Do you have a favorite dish? I know it's like asking which kid is your favorite, but is there anything that's your favorite?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

You know, it's the hardest thing because I make everything in the on the in the back. I help prep, I have my own guys. We don't hire chefs. We are the chefs ourselves. It's like it's really hard. I think the best way when I when customers come in, what's your favorite thing? I'm like, what are you feeling too? Are you feeling meat? Are you feeling vegetarian? Do you want a creamy curry? Do you want a coconut curry? If I can dissect that from you, I then I can lean into and then I can hit you in the bullseye every single time that this is your favorite dish for that day. You know, I think it all depends on date. For example, it's hot right now. I love our fish salad.

Karen Mac Nair

The day we're recording, it's very hot outside.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yes, so it's our fish salad is wonderful. We use sea bass. We make a really good house uh dressing as well. Very, very clean. A little bit of oil, garlic, ginger, cilantro, a little bit of cumin, a little bit of black uh salt, pepper. That's it. Basic clean ingredients into a salad dressing, and it's very healthy. Okay. If you're on a gym diet, I like that as well. Um, I like our Franki's, it's like an Indian style burrito with the egg on the outside, so it's pure protein, like about 30 to 40 grams of protein in that thing. Um, I do love fish tikka masala, actually. A lot tickamas chicken tikkamala is a very classic. But if you know, if if if if you're a proper chef or you know good food, you gotta try fish tikka masala. It's one of my favorites for sure. Um, I like the chili cheese nut, it's an off-menu item. As a kid, my dad would always make me cheese nut because it's like an Indian style cheesy quesadilla. But then I was like, Dad, let's let's try something. And this is when I was like six or seven years old telling my dad, like, let's try because I always love to cook like my dad. Right. And I was like, Dad, can we put some serrano chili, some mozzarella, and some paneer? Because we would always do with paneer. And my dad was like, hey, that's a good idea, let's try it. And now people love the chili cheese knot.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh wow. It's so Do you feel like it's spicy or is it?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's about a medium. Okay. Let me tell you this Indian food tastes good when it's medium, but don't think of typical Indian restaurant medium. Our we focus on Indian flavor with American tapahit.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So Indian food almost scared.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's not that bad, actually. I I always recommend medium because you want a little bit of just a little bit, you know, have a glass of water. That's why we have also desserts too, to cool you down at the end of the night, you know. So there's there's a lot of good things, but medium is the way to go, in my opinion.

Karen Mac Nair

Now, I am not a spicy person, so I'm happy about the medium. Wonder if someone is a spicy person. Is kids there anything to add on to it? Yeah. Can you make it spicy?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

We can happily make it spicy. Uh we also make our own Indian hot sauce in house as well, too. So, which is really flavorful. All my ingredients time for it.

Karen Mac Nair

I say that I won't ever have it, but I was like, ooh, that would be so good.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It is really good. Hot, we actually try our best to do extra, extra spicy. I've seen people that like I dump so much chili I've never seen in my life, and they still like this is like mild. I'm like, what? Oh my gosh.

Karen Mac Nair

Some people just have that's a really high tolerance. Yeah, and that's the flavors they love. It's nice to know that you can go in and whatever your palate is like, you can get what you enjoy.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's very easy to navigate through my restaurant. What do you like? Tell me what you want, I'll make it that way.

Sponsor Break Arcadia Perio

Karen Mac Nair

Love that. Okay, we're gonna pause for a quick commercial break. When we come back, we're gonna talk about taste of arcadia and taste the beautiful food in front of us. So hang on, everyone, we'll be right back.

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Taste Of Arcadia Plans And Predictions

Karen Mac Nair

Well, welcome back everyone. Um, we're now's the time to talk about Taste of Arcadia. So this is your second year at Taste of Arcadia, correct?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, how'd it go last year? Did you enjoy it?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It was a hit. We were not expecting it to hit this well, um, which we had to actually go end up refilling three times. And we've done taste of like Pasadena, Taste of Glendale for several, several years, and we never run out of food. And here we actually ran out.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, yay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Which is a great thing.

Karen Mac Nair

I love it. So it's the event is at Santa Anita Park, if you don't know, and the restaurant is a mile, maybe? Less than a mile.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's like like a couple blocks away.

Karen Mac Nair

So that makes it nice. You can run and get some fresh food, and you don't lose the quality but still have great taste. Correct. You don't have to worry if you attend, they're not gonna run out then.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Live Tasting Pani Puri To Saag Paneer

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, so what do we have here? And now it's the time for me to taste food. I'm excited.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yeah, so we have lots of cool stuff right here. Um, people love this people say this is actually the best Pani Puri they ever had. Okay. And the reason is all in the juice that I make, which is the main deal. Um, this is the Tikka Masala, we have the Saag Paneer, and we have the special Garlic Naan as well. But I'm gonna start you up with a Pani Puri. Get the flavors rolling, because you know your taste buds might be mild, but a lot of food, Indian food has a lot of flavor and spices.

Karen Mac Nair

So now, do you make is this your special recipe?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

The juice is mine.

Karen Mac Nair

Your your special sauce.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yes, my dad really like if you ask me to do any cutting, it's like you are the person that's only gonna make the juice, no one else. You know, so it's like I I feel like we all have our own special niches in certain areas, and definitely in the juice, I'm very consistent.

Karen Mac Nair

So we have a juice with a crispy puff shell. A crispy puff shell, and what is in the you don't have to give all your secrets away, but in a roundabout way, what's in the juice?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So, and the juice, okay. So let's start off with a crispy puff. Um, there's some potatoes, onion, and chickpea inside to give the little the juice. We're gonna end up pour the juice inside the puff ball.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So it's like taking shots like back in college, but of course non-alcoholic right here, you know, make a little fun.

Karen Mac Nair

I know the word shots is about food too. It's not just about liquor.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct. Uh and the juice, we have our uh it's uh it's um fresh cilantro, fresh mint, fresh tamarindo, fresh serana pepper, fresh lime juice, and then about 15 different spices of flavors packed in that thing. Ooh. Which is where my special ingredients are. But it's very fresh. Because it's like you're having like a fresh, I don't know, like you have to try it. That's the best way to describe it. Okay, let's start off with that.

Karen Mac Nair

We're jumping in. So if you're watching us on YouTube, I'm gonna here is what it looks like. Um and if you're listening to us, I'm bringing it closer to the table now.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And we actually serve it on a cart inside the restaurant.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, okay. The cart is adorable. It looks like a mini little cart. Like the wheels actually move.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's an Indian street cart, because actually in India, when you go there, there's like a six-foot-wide cart with like a two-foot window, and like you know how like you go to like I guess like an ice cream, like on the little if you go downtown line and people are pushing little cards. So we're trying to give you that same Indian feeling.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, and then I'm I pour it in.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct. Pour about halfway.

Karen Mac Nair

Halfway. Okay. And then I just pop the whole thing in my mouth.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yep.

Karen Mac Nair

Sorry. Making sure I get it halfway. Okay, got it halfway.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Cheers.

Karen Mac Nair

Cheers. Out there laughing, but it's flavorful spice, not my mouth is not hot.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Because the way I designed it was originally you should taste heat, but then the heat should be taken down by the tamarind though. Because it's like a sweet, a little bit of citricness as well. We add a little lime juice to kind of kill the acid of the Serrano chilies as well.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, that's smart. And the potato is a nice touch at the end because you're chewing, you're getting the flavor of the juice first.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair

And the potato is the last thing, which I feel like cools it down. Correct. Brings all the flavors together.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Because you can't chew on water, so you have to give it a little bit of texture.

Karen Mac Nair

Good point.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So this is a very classic street food. Like Indians go crazy for this. Oh wow. And like now Americans are going crazy for it. And every time people say they've tried so many different places, they're like, oh my god, this one has like a nice bite to it, but at the same time it's sweet and tangy. And you can actually make it more spicy if you want. For like the spicy lovers, just drop a little couple of drops of my Indian hot sauce or if your personal hot sauce you like. And there you go. I sell so much of it to go.

Karen Mac Nair

Really?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yes. And it's perfect because we actually pack everything separately for you. So you can actually build it when you get home.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay. So that's a great question. So do they just call in to the restaurant to get pick up to go orders or go online? What do you what how do you order?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So we have many platforms of our own. Um we actually prefer our own restaurant website, which is allindecafe.com. Okay. You can pick three locations which is close to you. So we have Pasadena, Glendale, and Arcadia on there. And as soon as you pick your location, you can go to the drop-down menu, order Panipuri, Tikamasala, Sakan, garlic now, whatever you like from our menu. Your favorites. And then we actually, if you want to deliver, we actually work with a third party that they actually don't overcharge you. They just charge just for the delivery. That's referring to it. No processing fee, no any other like, you know, administration fees that are like DoorDash. Sit on one foot, you get charged for it. And guess what? It helps actually business owners because DoorDash and Grubbub actually takes like 40% of your margins, which is kind of scary. So if $100, $40 is gone, $60 is ours. Right. So that's why we always prefer order from our website. Just because A, we get the money that we deserve, and our customers don't get also hurt with the body.

Karen Mac Nair

That's good advice for people out there just to always make sure small businesses, restaurants, have their own website that you could order from. Correct. That's something good. Um so we're ordering, we're picking oh, social media. That was the next thing. You have a very nice social media, I must say. I get a few chuckles out of different things you're watching, or your mixed drinks to watch the smoke come up in your video. So great job, whoever's doing that. Um, how do we follow you? What are you on?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So we're on Instagram. We're also on TikTok as well, too. Um, we actually manage the page ourselves. Oh, makes it more personal for the customers. We really try to show, like, we're not like a corporate office, you just walk in. We all of my customers know who I am. I like to know about their lives as well. I want you to know you're talking to a family owner. You know, we're a family-style restaurant here. Right. You know, we care about our customers. We even go that extra mile if we have to for you, you know. Like another customer's having a catering this weekend from us, you know. They are a big family. He's like, hey, can you help us design this thing? Hey man, I'm helping you put the whole thing together. Don't worry, we'll take care of it. You know, okay.

Karen Mac Nair

So you do large caterings for price. Oh, yay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

I can go up to as much as you want, you know. Um, Indian weddings are actually 500 on average. Uh-huh. So I've done up to 500 plus. Um I even do not dollars. People, correct. That's a good way to uh even just checking. Yeah, and I even do like office get-togethers as well, too. Okay. So like sometimes 10 to 20 to 30 to 40, whatever your size is, I work with you. You know what your budget is, I work with you.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, that's great to know. Okay, what is next? Now we've got to go to the city.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Tickamasala, which is like a so funny, it's actually a British national dish.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, is it?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It is, but it's the most served in an Indian restaurant. Okay. And then we're gonna go to a traditional Punjabi Indian dish later after that.

Karen Mac Nair

So what is in this?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So Chicken Tikka Masala. It's our house gravy, but it's a garlic, ginger, onion type of uh gravy base. And this is where we make our tomato saffron sauce with a hint of tomato in there, and we put fresh cream in there as well, too, and we cook the chicken in the clay oven. Oh. So it's like a three different process, and we assemble at the end together, which is like a very cr rich, creamy dish. It should not be overly spicy. Okay if you want to move. It's flavorful. It's very flavorful.

Karen Mac Nair

So now after hearing your story about your dad and his inspiration, and the Italian inspiration and your inspiration, I definitely see you both in this dish just by looking at it. The sauce is thick and rich. It is not watered down. No, that's I was trying to figure out a nice way to say that. It is because you go to some place and you feel like you have soup with a splash of chicken in it, and that's not the effect here, definitely.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

We focus extremely on quality and give a good amount of quantity so it doesn't hurt the customer budget and it makes them feel like, wow, I actually got a proper dish.

Karen Mac Nair

Right. And you feel like it will fill me up as it should.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It should.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay. So I'm gonna take a bite now. There you go. It's got chicken in it. Ooh, don't want to spill on the desk.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Here, pair it with a garlic non. Oh, to the full experience. Break a little piece, dip it in the sauce.

Karen Mac Nair

Love that.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And our nons are actually technically vegan.

Karen Mac Nair

Are they?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So, yeah, a lot of restaurants will put egg or milk or coconut. Uh, we actually are non. If you just ask for no butter, they're vegan.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So, yeah, we're we try to really focus on like all of our customers. We very vegan friendly, vegetarian friendly. We're also meat lover friendly as well, too.

Karen Mac Nair

So, like I feel like your menu, if I remember correctly, also has things marked that way, so it's easier to order. You guys do a great job at categorizing it, so you don't need as much help because you mark it on the menu.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

We mark our vegan options available, even vegan that are just originally vegan, because Indian food was actually very naturally vegan and vegetarian friendly. When the British ruled over, that's when a lot of meats and kebabs ended up coming out that way.

Karen Mac Nair

I was gonna crack a joke, it's okay. I'm sitting here eating while you're talking. Okay, this is delicious. Does this have butter on it?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

No, I'm not vegan, but I just I mean, I brought it vegan just in case people who are vegan, but I like it with a little bit of butter. And the best part of the naans, the way we design it, if you actually take it home to go, put it stick in the microwave no more than 10 seconds. The best way I like it, if you take it, have a flat pan, put a little butter on it, toss and turn it. It's nice and crispy and buttery. It comes back to normal just as fresh as you take it.

Karen Mac Nair

Love that.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And do you know every naan that we make is per order?

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, really? I'm gonna do it in front of the camera.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And we do in a clay oven.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So yeah, it's a whole art form. Um, you gotta be a master understanding how the clay oven works. Because it can get hot super fast, get cold really fast. And naans have to stick on the side of the oven. So gravity, when gravity does a job, it'll fall down if you're not an expert.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay. And I notice it's toasted nicely. I like things where it's a little browned, um, which it's that way, it's not undercooked by any means. It's a perfect toasted. It is delicious. Okay, what is next?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So, this is a very proper Indian style dish now we're looking at. Because this is why like Indian food is very like there's a lot, you know, and that's why menu is very extensive. But this is a very traditional Indian dish. This is called Saag Paneerr, which is like a spinach puree type of dish with Indian style cube cheese, which is paneer, very similar to almost cottage cheese, but not exactly. Cottage cheese is gooey. These are these are harder pieces of cheese, but they soften up as you cook it. Okay, very flavorful.

Karen Mac Nair

Just eat. I'm gonna hold this in front of the camera too. Do I just eat it with a spoon?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

So the cool thing about Indian food, there's no right or wrong way, actually.

Karen Mac Nair

Actually, thank you for saying that. Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Yeah, the the best part, it's however you want to do it. I've seen people eat with their hands, I've seen people eat with a spoon, you know. I've seen people literally cut up a knot and dip it. I've seen them eat with a fork. There's no right or wrong way. Okay. The main part is are you enjoying it?

Karen Mac Nair

Oh, okay. I love that. I I love spinach too, so I'm excited.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

If kids don't like any greens, they're gonna like the greens now.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay. That's really good. And the cheese aspect you get is your second flavor. It's not the first.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair

It's definitely and it's not spinachy tasting. It's more flavors with a hint of spinach.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair

I think it's a better way to explain it.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It's kind of like we use a lot of garlic, ginger, and onions in here. We put cumin, coriander, uh, we put a little bit of nutmeg in there, we put a little bit of fennel creak in there as well, too, and we cook it in a giant pot for several hours.

Karen Mac Nair

Oh wow.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It takes a while to cook a spinach all the way through, because otherwise it gets very wet. We you want the spinach to be nice and cooked all the way through so you can actually enjoy all the flavors coming to you.

Karen Mac Nair

Right. Well, it's delicious. Here, can I dip in the floor? Oh, of course, yeah.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

People naan is a thing you can dip in anything. People even take the Bonnie Burry juice and pour it on their stuff. Like I've seen every version. Indian food, the more flavor, the better.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay. You just told me I could do it anyway, and now I'm asking if I could do this. Okay, holding it in front of the camera. I hope you guys watch this on YouTube if you're listening. It's more fun to watch me eat than it is listen to me eat.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

You know what? I watch people eat for my living.

Karen Mac Nair

That's true. That is true. That's delicious. And it brings out the flavors differently.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It does. You know what's funny? Indian food, when I was learning to cook for my dad one day, right? And I learned everything one day. Which is the most funniest thing, because you think chefs will take like a lifelong journey. My dad's like, You have my blood. You have my blood, you know. Like, I know it's built in because it's funny. When I was a little kid, I would always like make critiques on this food. I'm like, Dad, this is off, you know. So he's like, You're the hardest person to persuade, you know, so I know for a fact that you can get it right the first day. And I actually did. All Indian food has garlic, ginger, onions, and the base. You can't make it without it. Right. And then they're all gonna have cumin and coriander, they're gonna have a little bit of nutmeg, cinnamon, they're gonna have uh black, uh black black coriander, green coriander, oh sorry, I'm sorry, blah blah cardamom, green uh cardamom in there as well too. All same spices, but it's the just the slightly different way you cook it. The flavors change drastically.

Karen Mac Nair

I can see that. Like it's and what you add with it or take away, like it definitely changes the flavors. Not in a negative way, in a positive way, but you're right. It does feel like if you what do you want that day? Lighter, a little heavier, correct? A little spicier, a little mild. Um, and I love that you can create that yourself.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

It is. It's I'm still shocked till this day how simple Indian food cooking is. You know what they say, the best cooking is the most simple cooking. You know, the more complicated it is, it's not right. Usually the simple it is like for our ginger ice cream. I wish I brought it here now. But it's I do too.

Karen Mac Nair

Yeah, it's one of those I'm a big ice cream fan.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

But yeah, we're the only ones in California that make ginger ice cream.

Karen Mac Nair

Ooh.

Harsimran Singh Khinda

And it's very lovely. Even so funny, Trader Joe's actually came to me and they're like, Hey, we want to get this in your store. But then it's a little behind the curtain scenes we've talked about. But what I'm saying is that they have actually want us to beep it out? Beep. No. But uh people love it, and my and when I learned it, it's literally gar uh sorry, ginger, eggs, milk, cream, and sugar. That's very basic. And people are like, this is like such a palate cleanser. Like there's so much to Indian cooking, but when I realize how simple it is, I'm still mind-blown till this day how simple it is. It just slightly different methods, like from chicken curry to lamb curry, you just chop up the onions differently. Wow. And it becomes a totally different curry.

Karen Mac Nair

Love that.

Final Details And Ticket Reminder

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, everyone. Are you hungry? Are you ready to go to All India Cafe? I'm gonna tell you, we found out you can order it, you can pick it up, you can come in, sit down, lunch, happy hour, dinner. Make sure you come by on Huntington. What is your exact address?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

48 East Huntington Drive, Arcadia, California, 91006.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, everyone. Did you write that down? We can do it again. Okay. But thank you so much and go to taste of arcadia.com to get your tickets. They will be at Taste of Arcadia. There might be a line, so make sure you get but don't worry, they won't run out of food, right?

Harsimran Singh Khinda

But come hungry because we are gonna have more stuff than you're seeing here. We're gonna have lusty there, we're gonna have the nans, our beautiful staff on rights as well as well there too. So there's a lot of food. We we people run out, we're not gonna run out. We're gonna keep filling that thing up.

Karen Mac Nair

Okay, love that. I'm clapping. So go to TastOfArcadia.com and get your tickets today. Thank you so much for being here. John, take us away.

John Villa Announcer

Thank you, Karen, for another great episode. You can hear us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. Don't forget to join us on the end of our taste of arcadia.