Mirchi Indian restaurant to go in former High Street Café space

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

Hamilton will see a new downtown restaurant open, hopefully, by September.

Chamakaur and Jasvir Gill plan to open Mirchi, an Indian restaurant, in the former location of High St. Café, which shut down earlier this year.

This is an expansion of Krishna Carryout Oxford, which is owned by Chamkaur Gill and his brother-in-law and father-in-law.

“We wanted to expand our business, and we’ve been driving to Oxford for the last 10-plus years,” said Jasvir GIll, who lives in West Chester Twp. with her husband. “Hamilton is obviously growing and this is the place to be right now.”

Chamakaur and Jasvir said they’d been looking far and wide for a location, from around Butler County and down in the Cincinnati area. Then they found 250 High St. listed online and contacted building owner Ash Patel.

“This is a prime location,” said Jasvir. “We have access to both sides (of the city) and we’re excited. We wanted to be over here.”

Patel said he was looking for a specific type of restaurant operator for the building he took ownership of on July 1.

“We wanted to make sure that this is going to be a reputable restaurant,” he said. “They’ve had great reviews (in Oxford), and they have an open kitchen. Customers can see exactly how food’s being prepared and everything about it. I think these guys will do great.”

The Gills said they hope to be open by September, provided everything needed to be accomplished by then happens lines up. The plan is to open the main dining and kitchen area first, and that includes a dining complete with a wait staff, a carryout service, and a limited delivery area.

Depending on the success of the restaurant, they’ll consider opening up the downstairs of the building, but what that would be has not yet been decided.

Mirchi will be one of a few ethnic restaurants in Hamilton―they’re across High Street from Basil 1791―which the Gills see as an opportunity to capitalize on.

“I feel we have to meet the community’s expectations,” Jasvir said. “Even though there’s not an Indian restaurant here in Hamilton, there are in Fairfield and West Chester and even in Oxford. We want to make sure we are serving that need for the Hamilton community.”

While there is pressure opening a new business venture, the work they’ve done in Oxford had prepared them for this opportunity, they said. And many of their customers in Oxford are from Hamilton.

While the menu won’t be identical to Krishna Carryout Oxford, most of it will be the same. Chamakaur said, “There will be a couple of dishes we’ll add.”

“We’re still working on the look (of the interior),” said Jasvir Gill. “With the food, we’re going through our menu right now and we want to keep the dishes we do best at.”

The biggest thing they’ll do in Hamilton is to meet their customers’ needs, something they do in Oxford and want to apply on High Street.

“A lot of the people that come in, they’re health-conscious,” Jasvir said. “A lot of our dishes can be made vegan, and a lot of vegetarian options. Many people want to try Indian food, but they’re not used to the spice, so we have altered our dishes to meet our customers’ needs.”

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