Three cousins from India have worked in kitchens around the world but now are trying their luck at running their own restaurant in southeast Calgary. Man Singh, Lokendra Rana and Sajjan Singh grew up together in India. They got jobs at high end hotels in Dubai and then found their way to Calgary, where they worked at various restaurants since the early 2000s. The three are all chefs, specializing in the cooking of their home country. They thought Indian restaurants in Calgary weren’t as good as they could be, so they opened Indigo Classic – a takeout and delivery restaurant in August 2016. “Whenever we go to Indian restaurants, we didn’t see what we would want. We always discussed when we had our restaurant [that] we would do it differently,” says Lokendra. “We have the experience. That’s why we thought, let’s do our own and show how proper Indian food should be.”
The trio chose southeast Calgary because they knew the area and knew there weren’t many other restaurants serving the Deer Ridge and Lake Bonavista neighbourhoods. “Especially in this location – there isn’t much around here so we thought why shouldn’t we take a chance?” says Man. “Give our food a try.”