A new restaurant is moving into a new space in Vancouver's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, and bringing with it a new concept.
Kavita is scheduled to open in September filling a spot at 250 W 3rd Ave next to the recently opened Skript Kitchen.
The new restaurant is the first for chef Tushar Tondvalkar. Originally from Mumbai, India, he's planning a menu featuring regional Indian dishes with seasonal ingredients from B.C.
Kavita will offer two menus: "an à la carte offering inspired by India’s festival calendar, and a special tasting menu called amma-kase," according to a press release.
The amma-kase menu mixes the Japanese tradition of omakase (wherein the chef chooses the meal) and amma (a word that means mother in several languages).
The à la carte option will feature items inspired by holidays like Holi, Diwali, and Eid. Menu highlights will be Chicken Kebab Stuffed Morels with korma sauce and green peas, Prawn Pulao (shrimp with rice), and desserts like Puran Poli, a milk cake with chili crisp.
While this is Tondvalkar's first brick-and-mortar restaurant, he has a substantial culinary resume. Locally, he runs The Indian Pantry, a catering company that also sells sauces, and in 2022 he appeared in the show Chefs vs. Wild. Prior to living in Vancouver, he worked in a pair of famous restaurants in Bangkok (Gaggan and Gaa).
“Kavita has a lot of meaning for me – not only is it named after my mother, it will be a place where I can finally introduce Vancouver to the regional and diverse flavours of the India I know in new, creative ways," Tondvalkar said in the release
Kavita will have 46 seats, of which eight will be at a chef's table, along with an open kitchen.
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