For five years, Kamaljit Mroke had been looking for the right place to move his family’s Indian restaurant brand into Victoria.

He finally found it when Sauce Restaurant folded in late March.

article continues below

“We feel there has been a demand for Indian food in Victoria,” Mroke said after opening India Bistro on Wharf Street at the foot of Yates on Thursday. “It’s a big market here and I think what we bring is something that the people will like.”

The Vancouver-based company runs 12 restaurants under various names with family members on the Lower Mainland and in Kelowna. Mroke had also run a handful of eateries in Washington, but closed those to be closer to family in Vancouver, where they expanded under banners Palki, Dawaad, Chatney, Handi and India Bistro.

Indian food in Greater Victoria has been rising in popularity in recent years and several restaurants have opened, but it remains a niche markets behind European- and Asian-style restaurants.

Mroke takes over one of the bigger restaurant spaces downtown with 140 seats, and is confident he can make it a success. The key, he believes, is in the way the traditional Indian dishes are prepared.

While most Indian restaurants use clay pots, or tandoors, to cook flatbreads, meats and vegetables, Mroke said most use natural gas to heat them. India Bistro uses charcoal, which is the traditional method. He said it brings out an “authentic taste.”

“This is the way it’s done in India and the way it should be done here,” Mroke said. “I think this is what sets us apart from others.”

Cooks have to fire up the tandoors first thing in the morning and feed the fire and control it throughout the day. A slab of nan dough, slapped against the inner wall of the tandoor, takes about 45 seconds to cook in a perfectly heated oven. Other pots are used to slip in skewers of lamb, fish, beef and vegetables.

“The fire is something that I am very fussy about, because it’s how we prepare our food,” said Mroke.

Mroke arrived in Canada in 1980 and started as a dishwasher. He worked in restaurants while his brothers worked in trades. As Mroke moved his way up in the industry, family members started investing in restaurants.

The 12-restaurant chain now involves extended members of his family.

The India Bistro on Davie Street in Vancouver is considered one of the best of its kind in the city.

The Victoria location includes many of Mroke’s signature items, such as table dish warmers that keep food hot and eye-catching braided cutlery.

Sauce Restaurant and Lounge closed its doors on March 27 after nearly a decade. Owner Steve Hof cited the economic downturn in 2009 and cyclical nature of the business that never allowed the restaurant to fully recover.