Khatta Meetha Indian Sweets and Restaurants opens in Calamvale Central Shopping Centre

A son and his father-in-law have fulfilled their dream by opening a venue to cater to the sweetest of teeth, hiring 15 new employees. SEE THE VIDEO.

A BRAND new 100 per cent vegetarian lunch and dessert restaurant which quietly opened last week represents new ground for Brisbane’s culinary scene.

Khatta Meetha Indian Sweets and Restaurant, which threw open the doors to its outdoor tenancy at Calamvale Central Shopping Centre last Wednesday, is the first dedicated Indian dessert restaurant to open in Brisbane, according to co-owner Kamar Bal, a Calamvale local.

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Mr Bal, who owns the restaurant with his father-in-law Umesh Kumar, the head chef, said that ‘Khatta Meetha’ means ‘sweet and sour’ in Hindi/Urdu and he likes how it rolls off the tongue.

Khatta Meetha Indian Sweets and Restaurant. (AAP/Image Sarah Marshall)

“I am a food lover and I have been talking to my friends about opening this restaurant for a long time,” Mr Bal, who moved to Brisbane 12 years ago, said.

Mr Bal said the venue has been attracting about 200 customers per day throughout its long operating hours, 10am – 10pm, seven days a week, with a combination of dine-in customers and those who stop by to pick up sweets to go.

Nitan Saima, Kamar Bal, Umesh Kumar pose for a photograph at their new shop, Calamvale, Wednesday June 18, 2020. They rre selling beautiful Indian sweets. (AAP/Image Sarah Marshall)

Khatta Meetha serves a dazzling array of food – its menu includes frankies, a.k.a Mumbai burrito; chaat, a street food snack popular in northern India; dosa, south Indian crepes; and more than 20 curries from right across the vast continent, while its dessert display cabinets are technicoloured with more than 100 dessert items, all cooked in store.

Mr Bal said the restaurant was initially supposed to open in April but had to delay this by two months due to the COVID lockdown. It has hired 15 local staff.

Mr Kumar, who has known his son-in-law for about 10 years, is a chef with more than 30 years’ experience cooking in Australia, including a long stint in Sydney.