The establishments and owners create a sense of familiarity within a community, resulting in a togetherness that might just resemble home for some. Chaat-ter Box is an Indian Street food restaurant located on Westmore Drive in Etobicoke. Being the first of its kind, serving street food in the most authentic style, people flock to this spot to not only feel reconnected with home, but to experience this for the first time.
The owner of Chaat-ter Box, Ekta Patel came to Canada from India 8 years ago and opened the restaurant in 2021. After 10 years of experience in the business, and 2 years of mastering the pani recipe for their best selling pani puri business is booming, and a new location is soon to open in Hamilton.
The entire appeal of the restaurant is not only the food, but the authenticity – especially the live station. Everyday they open up their live station for the pani puri — a deep fried breaded shell filled with chickpeas and a spicy liquid (pani). Chaat-ter Box’s mission statement surrounds the idea of bringing back the taste of India. “People either miss this concept and food from India, or have never experienced it before,” said Patel. Customers begin to pile in a few minutes before the love station starts. The concept is just like the one of a small cart on the streets of India. You walk up and are handed the pani puri one by one as you eat it right there, on the spot.
Although the business is booming now, Patel explains that opening the restaurant was not exactly easy. Due to the fact that Chaat-ter Box is the first of its kind in the community the opening was difficult. Aside from the standard procedures with the city that come with opening a business, they were skeptical about whether this concept for a restaurant was going to take off. Additionally, Patel said competition was a factor in the opening of the restaurant, “Indian restaurants don’t like other Indian restaurants.”
Patel said that the location is thriving and the community is what keeps the business going, especially with Humber College nearby. Now two years into the business, the love from the customers is Patel’s favourite thing about her job.
