Business Beat: Hunger Square brings a taste of India to Williams
WILLIAMS, Ariz. — Indian cuisine is one of the world’s most diverse foods, characterized for its unique and humble use of a variety of grains, fruit, vegetables, meats and spices of the region. Sweet, sour, spicy and hot are just a few adjectives that describe the flavors in dishes from India.
Sudipto Ballav and Chaitali Bose are now bringing those robust flavors to Williams.
On April 2, Hunger Square opened on Route 66 in the Pine Mountain Plaza, serving traditional kebabs and biryani on the first day.
“The biryani is flavored rice cooked with potatoes, egg and options of goat meat, lamb, chicken, egg or vegetarian,” Ballav said. “And the kebab is an Indian style of barbecue, its marinated meat, chargrilled with handpicked Indian spices.”
Ballav and Bose are bringing their business to Williams after several years of operating as a cloud kitchen business in Chandler where they offered catering and delivery.
Prior to moving to Arizona, the pair ran a small resort and restaurant in Coonoor, India where they hosted retreats and cooking classes.
“It was a boutique business among the tea gardens and in the hills, similar to Williams,” Bose said. “We had wild boars and bison. We had healthy cooking demos where we got to mingle with the community, which we enjoyed.”
Although the two found success with their business in Chandler, they decided to make the move to a small town when the coronavirus pandemic limited their operation.
“When the coronavirus was here we felt stuck and locked and that’s when we decided to go out and try to decide where to go,” Ballav said.
Bose had visited Williams several times, and liked the small-town atmosphere. She invited Ballav to visit.
“I came here and saw there wasn’t an Indian restaurant and said they should have one here,” Ballav said.
They began looking for a location for the restaurant in August and eventually found a location at the Pine Mountain
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