Overview
With the tongue and cheek tagline "Not your Mum's Indian," Javier Carmona and David Saavedra hope to create a fun and edgy environment at their new opening Royal G.
Found inside Mission Bay's Eastridge, the playful Indian eatery takes a slight detour from the pair's usual angle of pre-Hispanic, Spanish and Mexican cuisine, previously found at the Etxeberria pop-up and inner city fine dining restaurant, Inti. Fans of the above will be pleased to know that once Carmona and Saavedra get settled with Royal G they will revisit the concept. Carmona says he is already looking at the next phase of Etxeberria and even has a particular venue in mind.
Carmona calls Royal G a market-style, food spot. The development of Eastridge helped with the direction. The shopping centre has made a departure from the traditional food court, channelling London's Borough Market with restaurant quality options and the ability to get a glass of wine or beer. Diners can expect a better selection of food vendors and more mature dining spaces. Fellow tenants include Temaki Truck, Dante's Pizzeria, Uncle Man's, Boy & Bird and Noa Chargrill + Burger.
The fit-out of Royal G takes a page out of director Wes Anderson's minimalist and crisp art direction — particularly The Darjeeling Limited. A generous use of concrete can be found in the space from the walls to service benches, while an assortment of textures and vibrant cookware reflect the Indian influence and a light box helps achieve the Anderson effect. Studio 6 were enlisted to get the vision over the line.
The menu is an ode to the ingenuity of street food vendors around the world, by taking ordinary, household, comfort foods and re-inventing them. Royal G's Chit Chaat in a Bag is a good example of that reinvention; taking a pre-packaged chaat snack, cutting it open and throwing in lots of different textures like green chutney, Maharajan beef, puffed rice and peanuts. Elsewhere, Royal G will offer a Kati roll section, smoked yogurt-topped fries, a Bombay street sandwich and one curry per day — think beyond your typical butter chicken. With the same approach as Inti and Etxeberria, Carmona will highlight polarising ingredients like bitter melon and cultured garlic.
Royal G will be open inside Eastridge Shopping Centre (215 Kept Road, Mission Bay) from Friday, 15 February. It will be open seven days for lunch and dinner.