Govar Nagappan, Karthikeyan Lakshmikanthan, Sendilkkumar Durairaj and Satishkumar Rajendaran all came from South India and attended the same college for catering and hotel management. And they all immigrated to Canada in 2008 with the goal of opening their own restaurant. In June of 2013, the hard work and patience of the four friends led to them opening the South Indian restaurant, Chennai Spices.
“We spent time looking for a location and working,” Govar says. “We decided on the menu and what we wanted the place to be like...Because we are all South Indian, we decided to bring something from our home to Canada.”
The major differences between South and North Indian cuisine are the spices and sauce bases used in their cooking. There is very little cream used in South Indian cuisine compared to the North, and it is substituted with coconut oil in their sauces. Spices are also given heavier play in the cuisine of the south for more depth of flavour.
