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Midvale Journal

India Palace

Sep 08, 2016 03:48PM ● By Bryan Scott

India Palace has everything that should be considered good and valuable in a local business. 

No. 1: Family ownership. The hard work of progenitors is the reason that many have the opportunities and privileges they have now. Working hard and leaving something from one’s posterity is one of the most noble and idyllic American traditions. 

Bhinda Singh, oldest son and manager of the South Jordan location, said that the family tradition of business and restauranteering began with his late grandfather who lived to be over 100 years old. 

Singh’s grandfather started two businesses in Punjab, India — a restaurant and a convenience store that serves food — Singh’s father helped to run the business and then filled moved his family to America for his children’s education. 

Singh’s father then filled his dream of having his own business in the U.S. by opening India Palace in Provo, Utah in 2007. 

“I have twins, a boy and a girl, I hope to have something to pass on to them and add one more restaurant for my brother so he has something,” Singh said. “That way everyone has something for the future.”

No. 2: Dedication to quality. Singh said that hardest part of running the business, especially in the beginning, was finding out how to balance freshness, healthiness and convenience for the customer and for themselves. 

“Everything is fresh. We cook meals on the spot, grind our own spices and even make our yougurt in house,” Singh said. 

Doing all these things at once to prepare fresh food and making food to order made for difficult going for about a year. 

Singh said his mother really pushed him and his father, who developed recipes inspired by recipes from their grandfather, to find a way to keep all food fresh. 

“She said if we can’t do fresh we can’t do it at all,” Singh said. 

The hard work paid off and the persistence to provide a fresh and flavorful food experience has lead to a series of recognitions by winning several “Best Indian Food” awards from the Daily Herald’s Best of Utah Valley contest and other various contests. 

“It was very hard, but we made that path and now we are all on the path,” Singh said. 

No. 3: Individual focus. Customers are not treated like customer, according to Singh. They are treated as guests at India Palace. That means that every time a customer goes to India Palace, they can expect an anxiety free dining experience.  

That’s all well and good. But for many, Indian food is a new experience and many fear that they food they order will be too spicey. 

“You don’t need to be scared if Indian food, especially with India Palace,” Singh said. “Since we don’t pre-cook anything, then you can customize dishes however way you want, even the spice level or ingredients we put in.”

Around 80 percent of orders served at India Palace are mild spice level. This was part of the problem of balancing fresh, quality Indian food with the customer convenience of buying food they could actually eat. But in that first year, they were able to balance their recipes to be flavorful, authentic without creating an inferno in every order. 

“A lot of people hear the word ‘spices’ and think ‘spicy,’ that’s not right,” Singh said. “Not all Indian food is spicy and the ones that are, we cook to the heat the customer’s want.”

With the customized focus, India Palace focuses on cooking with steam or flame on food made to order to help eliminate unnecessary oil or other potentially unhealthy ingredients that comes with cooking “big pot” Indian food.


To see more about India Palace, visit their website: http://www.indiapalaceutah.com/