A GROUP of friends who worked together in hotels across Hampshire are celebrating the success of their Indian restaurant – showcasing cuisine from the country’s different regions.

Spice Route, in Andover’s High Street, opened in February last year, during lockdown, and were restricted to takeaways only.

The restrictions did not stop the eatery from gaining a loyal customer base, as it saw people returning to try out its varied menu.

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Front of house Siva Santhanam said: “When we opened the first day, we had quite a lot of challenges with a new ordering system and we lost internet, so we had four mobile numbers active, but it worked.”

On May 15 when lockdown was lifted, the restaurant was finally able to welcome customers to sit in for the first time.

“The food we serve is slightly different, our food is a varied Indian menu – very different – so people are curious. Our customers are not used to most of our dishes – they have so many flavours.”

Siva said all the dishes use natural flavourings and the spices are all ground in house.

The restaurant’s kitchen team is “very diverse”, coming from different states in India including Delhi, Bombay and Punjab, with its most popular dishes being Delhi butter chicken and chicken chettinad kollk – which is made with 23 different spices.

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Siva met the restaurant’s other partners - Satish Kesavarappu, Arif Sadath and Joseph Michael Raj – while working in hotels. Siva and Satish originally decided to open the restaurant before Arif and Joseph came on board.

In total they have around 80 years of experience working in the hospitality industry.

“We are currently working on a new menu which we are looking to launch either at the end of June or the beginning of July,” Siva added.

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