Last year when the Auburn Tigers traveled to Morgantown, W.V., to play football, Inder Pannu had a chance to meet some Auburn residents. Pannu owns an Indian restaurant in Morgantown and discovered that there was not one in Auburn.

“They told me that they had Mexican and Japanese, but that there were no Indian restaurants,” he said.

So, Pannu, who has owned the restaurant in Morgantown for eight years, decided to relocate to Auburn and open an Indian restaurant.

India Garden opened its doors Nov. 6 in the former Breezeway location at 1251 Opelika Rd.

Pannu’s partner and head chef Hamilton Cardozo, who graduated from culinary school in Goa, India, said that the menu is mostly North Indian food.

“South Indian food is completely different from North Indian food because of the geographic locations and what they get and ethnic backgrounds,” Cardozo said.
Cardozo said that they do plan to offer more South Indian dishes in the future.

India Garden offers dishes that range from vegetarian and chicken, to lamb, beef and seafood. Prices range from vegetarian dishes that start at $9.99 to seafood dishes that run up to $15.99.

Cardozo said that Indian favorites include Tandoori Chicken, which is chicken marinated in a yogurt bases sauce, and Chicken Manchurian, which is a fusion between Indian and Chinese.

Pannu and Cardozo have attempted to make India Garden as authentic as possible. All of the cooks have Indian cooking experience.

Cardozo said that many people who have never tried Indian food have a misconception that all of the food is spicy, which is not true.

“Indian food is full of flavor,” he said. “You can make it mild, medium, spicy and very, very hot, depending on what people want. Every spice has a distinct flavor, the combination of all the spices actually make the flavor, and most of the spices are not really spicy, they are just different flavors that we put together - that’s the whole concept of Indian food.”

Cardozo, who relocated to Auburn from Pennsylvania, said that he thinks the residents of Auburn are excited about India Garden.

“It’s a very diverse culture,” Cardozo said, referring to Auburn. “I have talked to a lot of people around here and they were very excited that an Indian restaurant was going to be here. We are very happy with the response that people have given us, and I expect that we are going to do pretty good.”

India Garden is open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with Dinner A La Carte from 5 until 10 p.m., and are open 12 until 8 p.m. on Sundays.
For more on India Garden, visit indiagardenau.com.