In the past couple of weeks, Shreejit Nair and Priyanka Pottath have gotten to see their hard work pay off.
The husband-and-wife duo “soft opened” their new restaurant, The Indian Belly, in August. As first-time restaurant owners, they were unsure how the beginning was going to go.
But so far, they said, the surrounding community in Olathe has shown up with enthusiasm, stopping in for customizable versions of their favorite Indian dishes.
“We wanted to start with a soft launch to get an idea of if people were receptive to this, and we’ve been blessed that it did work out and people like it,” Pottath said. “It’s very sweet to see that kind of community, especially since it’s our first.”
The Indian Belly opened at 1084 W. Santa Fe St.
- The restaurant moved into a space at the West Santa Fe Plaza shopping center, just off Parker and Santa Fe streets.
- There, the restaurant operates near Brown Bag Liquor and ice cream shop Sweet Thang & Cafe.
- The Indian Belly’s regular hours are 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day of the week, except for Tuesdays (when the restaurant is closed).
The Indian Belly serves fast-casual Indian cuisine
The star of the menu at The Indian Belly is customizable wraps and bowls.
Customers start with a base of mixed greens, biryani rice or yellow rice, and can choose from a number of protein options, toppings and “scratch-made” sauces from there.
In addition to make-your-own bowls and wraps, the menu at The Indian Belly also offers a variety of curated “signature” bowls — such as the grilled masala steak bowl, which comes with grilled Masala steak, biryani rice, house salad, garlic yogurt and cilantro mint sauce.
“Everything is made from scratch,” Nair said. “It’s all about flavors and authenticity.”
Customers order these dishes at the counter, and then they can watch as the dish is made into a bowl or a wrap.
“When we are in the kitchen, we don’t get enough exposure in front of the people,” Nair said. “That’s the reason why my idea was to have an open kitchen, where people can see what we’re doing and what we’re cooking.”
In addition to wraps and bowls, the restaurant also offers house beverages like mango lassis and mint lime coolers, in addition to sides like samosas and chicken puff pastries.
Nair and Pottath also plan to evolve the menu with some new specials, including Thursday night wing nights (which will also come with seasoned chili fries). The idea, they said, is to experiment with it based on customer feedback.
“The menu that we started with is our base menu,” Pottath said. “But we will see what the reaction is, how people like (the specials), and maybe those items will become a fixed part of the menu.”
The Indian Belly is the owners’ first restaurant
Prior to opening The Indian Belly, Nair worked in the fine-dining culinary world for several years. He honed his skills as a chef at multiple resorts across the world, in places like Jamaica, Singapore and London.
Most recently, he cooked as a sous-chef at the Milburn Country Club in Overland Park after relocating to the city three years ago. But The Indian Belly marks a new chapter for him and for Pottath, who has worked in finance for the past 15 years.
“I thought, let me do something of my own, with my own culture,” he said.
The hope of creating a place to serve the dishes that Nair and Pottath know and love in a fast-casual setting, they said, was to have a way to introduce those recipes to new people in an approachable way.
So far, they said, watching people find a new appreciation for Indian cuisine has been a rewarding part of the experience.
“It’s fun for us too, because we love this food — we were brought up with these flavors, and we make it at home,” Pottath said. “We wanted to make it approachable and easy for people to be able to order.”
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