The Kolapasi way
The day's curries, rice and sides sit open at the counter. Look at the food before you pick it.
Never had Chettinad or chukka? Taste it first and decide after.
Pick a base, add your curries, set your spice. It's in your hands before your break is over.
Why we exist
Indian food is loved everywhere. But long menus, slow service and guessing the spice made it hard to walk into. So we put the food in front of you.
Order from a board, wait for a number, leave with very little discovery.
Food you can see, taste and build, served fast, without losing the warmth of slow cooking.
Lovely for a night out. Not for a weekday lunch or a work break.
The menu · 800+ bowls
Eight bases, eighteen curries, your spice. Pick them here and watch the tray fill, then come taste it for real.
Your bowl
Menus vary by location
One friend wants mild, one wants it hot, one is vegetarian and the kids change everything. Most Indian restaurants make the table settle on one order. Here everyone gets their own.
Since 2013, Chennai
Kolapasi started in Chennai with one idea: Indian food deserves a format that's easier to understand, easier to order and easier to crave every week.
The cooking happens slowly, before the doors open. So the wait isn't at the counter.
Meet San
Back in ’13, in Chennai, San asked a simple question: why is the food everyone loves so hard to walk into?
A Georgia Tech bioinformatics grad whose family farmed in South India, he built Kolapasi around the counter instead of the kitchen: see it, taste it, build it. No 200-dish menu, no guessing the spice, no thirty-minute wait, and a chef-less system that makes every bowl taste the same in every city.
Now he's taking the canteen from Chennai to Nieuwegein, the Carolinas and beyond.
@santhosh_murugananthamWhy “canteen”?
In India a canteen is lively, practical, generous and full of regulars. Take a walk down the street from our store walls, and tap the bubbles to hear what it's saying.
Where to find us
Four countries across three continents. Menus change a little from store to store, with local favourites on the counter.
MAAChennaiSince 2013AMSNieuwegeinNow openCLTThe CarolinasNow buildingMELAustraliaGrowing
Open nowNieuwegein
Our first restaurant in Europe.
Now buildingCharlotte, NC · Chapel Hill, NC · Greenville, SC · St. Augustine, FL · Malvern, PA
Five cities on the way.
GrowingMelbourne · Gold Coast · Brisbane · Perth
Backed by the team in India.
HomeChennai
Where it started, in 2013, and where it still runs from.
Work with us
Operators, landlords, strategic groups
A counter-first format built for weekday lunch and repeat visits: curated choices, quick assembly, food that stays slow cooked.
Send a business inquiryIndependent Indian restaurants
Help with menu simplification, kitchen workflow, recipe standards, food cost, prep systems and depending less on one chef. For your own brand. No Kolapasi brand rights, outlet, franchise or license.
Ask about advisoryInvestors
Mexican and Mediterranean already taught people to order bowls. Indian fast casual still has no breakout leader. We're young, but moving.
Business and investor inquiries only. Nothing on this site is an offer to sell a franchise, license or business opportunity; any future relationship is reviewed under applicable law and documented through the proper legal process. *Industry estimates.
An Experiential Quick Service Restaurant: Kolapasi's own format. Not QSR, not fine dining. The day's slow-cooked curries sit open at the counter. You see the food, taste before you choose, then build your own bowl.
Usually 2–5 minutes. The slow cooking happens before service. The wait doesn't.
No added MSG, no artificial colours, no artificial flavours. And water is free at every outlet.
Nieuwegein in the Netherlands is open now. Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Greenville, St. Augustine and Malvern in the US are being built, Australia is growing through Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Perth, and it all started in Chennai in 2013.
