Story & photos by Bernard Supetran / Food photos by Teddy Pelaez
If home is where the heart is, then the Philippines is undoubtedly the home for Indian restaurateur Komal Khanchandani and her family.
This rural girl from the port town of Vishakapatnam in Andra Pradesh state heard about the proverbial greener pastures in the Philippines from friends and in-laws when she was in her late 20s.
So along she went, with her husband Sanjay and 4-year-old son Prashant, to a country half a world away, which has been her home for almost two decades now.
And it won’t be long until she would charm the Metro’s urban professionals with her vaunted home-style cooking of Indian cuisine with her foray into the food business. In 2000 she opened a canteen-type restaurant at a high-rise mid-end condominium in Makati City named Sangam, which means gathering place in the Hindi language. As patronage grew in its first two years, it became crowded, prompting her to scout for a bigger space in the heart of the financial district. Thus, her new venture Swagat Indian Cuisine was born in 2003 on Rada Street in Legazpi Village. Swagat, which means welcome in Hindi, has been providing such welcoming atmosphere to guests. “When I opened the restaurant, I realized that it was also my way of introducing Indian culture and hospitality to our Filipino customers,” Komal enthuses.
She noted that, while Indian food is one of the most sought-after in the world, it is still relatively foreign to most Filipinos.
“Only a few months after opening, we were able to make Indian food a staple among the Makati crowd, while the Indian community provided a steady stream of customers,” Komal says.
Speaking in fluent Filipino language, she says her family has been able to build a network of friends among Filipinos, especially the regular customers, executives and people from the media who have featured the resto.
Her husband Sanjay, who is into trading, helps man the restaurant and occasionally visits Gujarat state for provisions of Indian ingredients, and authentic decorations and dining implements.
Her son Prashant is Filipino by heart, having spent his schooling years in the country. A graduate of an information-technology course at the De La Salle University, he hangs around with Pinoy friends and has imbibed the local way of life.
Incredible Indian cuisine
Swagat has no banghra musicians, belly dancers, ornate interiors and other fancy stuff. The only design motifs of the exotic subcontinent are framed hand-weavings, brass sculptures, Bollywood music videos, and its food attendants garbed in traditional long sari dresses.
Despite the lack in flashy ornaments, it more than compensates with its tasty and healthful dishes and the personal touch of its solicitous proprietress. Its house specialty is the sangam biryani, or flavored spicy Indian basmati rice with lean, tender pieces of chicken, lamb, cooked in herbs and spices. Other finger-licking variants of the biryani are murgh (chicken), mutton, anda (scrambled egg) and shrimp. Diners can feast on a wide array of fish, chicken, shrimp, vegetable, mutton, tofu, mushroom, cottage cheese and lamb dishes cooked in the signature masala spice, turmeric or curry. These get revamped every now and then, especially during special occasions, such as the Diwali, India’s most important religious festival, to surprise its patrons.
A mainstay are the sweets, which symbolize happiness and positive virtues—kulfi handmade ice cream with pistachios, the cheese-filled gulab jamun, the coconut-laced burfi, and other typical desserts. To cater to Muslim and Indian vegan diners, Swagat has positioned itself as a vegetarian and halal food outlet. Its authentic home cooking and reasonable pricing also earned it a consistent listing in the prestigious Esquire’s Best Restaurants, and has also bagged Best Indian Restaurant Award in the Philippine Quality Awards for Business Excellence and the Global Brands Awards.
With the warmth of a newfound home that the Khanchandanis experienced for the past two decades, is naturalization for the family in the horizon?