Round-the-clock Indian restaurants booming along Winnipeg's Keewatin strip

Winnipeg Free Press

14-05-2025

Travel south on Keewatin Street any time of day, any day of the week and you'll likely find a line of vehicles with their four-ways flashing just before the intersection of Notre Dame Avenue.
Over the last five years, the area between Logan and Notre Dame avenues has become a hub for round-the-clock restaurants serving convenient Indian food. It's a boom fed by customers with irregular hours looking for a taste of home.
'We're truck drivers, so we need something to go that's very fast,' says Jashanpreet Singh, who stops at Dawat Restaurant three or four times per week to pick up meals while he's working.
'It's like home-cooked food,' adds friend Prabhjot Brar.
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After grabbing their order of butter paneer and roti, the pair climb into a white semi-truck parked out front and hit the road.
Dawat, which means 'feast' in Hindi, opened in 2019 as a small storefront at 14 Keewatin St.
Located near Route 90 and down the road from a major trucking terminal, the business quickly expanded and now includes four buildings on the same block: a 24-hour takeout counter, prep kitchens and a forthcoming dining and event hall.
The company employs more than 100 staff members and there are Dawat locations in St. Vital and at the University of Manitoba.
'Our main customers are students, truck drivers and taxi drivers,' says Nitish Sharma, who manages the location for his dad, Sunil Sharma, and co-owner Goldy Bal.
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'My dad used to drive a truck and back then there weren't many Indian restaurants and it was very hard for him to go out and get food. So that was the gap we saw.'
That gap — and the prime location — has been noted by other entrepreneurs.
There are now three Indian restaurants within 600 metres of one another along the high-traffic strip. Swagat Indian Sweets and Restaurant opened in the Westbrook Inn (64 Keewatin St.) in February and Apna Spicy Hut has been operating at 1784 Logan Ave. since 2020.
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Most of the restaurants are open 24-7 and all offer a tiffin service — a subscription meal program that's been gaining popularity in Winnipeg in step with an influx of Indian newcomers to the city.
At Dawat, subscribers can create a prepaid account to access the tiffin meals, which cost $7.50 and come with five flatbreads, a vegetarian main course, pickles, sweets and bottled water.
Sharma isn't bothered by the increased competition in the neighbourhood. Dawat's affordable price point and its specialty menu items — such as its masala tea, Hakka-style spring rolls and gajrella (a sweet carrot dish) — keep customers coming back, he says.
'Restaurants are seeing (tiffin service) as an opportunity, just how we saw it. If there are other restaurants opening, that's good, because we have the motivation to keep going, keep working hard. I'm pretty confident with my staff, my food, the way we prepare it,' he says.
'If there are other restaurants opening, that's good, because we have the motivation to keep going.'–Nitish Sharma
Dharam Singh and wife Parmjit Kaur opened their first Swagat location in 2021 at the corner of Inkster Boulevard and Sheppard Street. Singh estimates the 24-hour restaurant sells about 800 tiffin meals per day to truck drivers, students and nearby residents.
'At that time, nobody over there was serving the tiffin service,' he says, with the assistance of a translator.
'Many people have no time for dining. A truck driver can order from his phone and come pick it up. Students are engaging in their work, in their studies, so they don't have much time to cook food.'
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Swagat, which means 'welcome' in Punjabi, expanded to the Weston area this year after Singh purchased the Westbrook Inn. The family also operates two food trucks during the summer months.
Both brick-and-mortar restaurants offer dine-in and takeout service and are modeled after the dhaba — a quick-service, roadside restaurant — Singh ran along a main highway in India for a decade prior to moving to Canada in 2008.
The Keewatin location is open from 6 a.m. to midnight. The Punjabi desserts and the chana puri (a deep-fried roti) are popular dishes and son Arsh Singh says Swagat specializes in its customer service and variety.
'You can come every day and pick up something new. We always have a variety of different curries made every day,' he says.
Up the street and around the corner, Apna Spicy Hut is also a family-run business.
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Apna Spicy Hut is one of three Indian restaurants between Logan Avenue and Notre Dame Avenue offering 24-7 takeout and tiffin service.
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Husband-and-wife duo Sarabjit and Simranjit Uppal styled the 24-hour restaurant after a fast food operation and have since added tables and booths for dine-in customers.
Here too, tiffins are the top seller.
'That's what people get every day. It's affordable and it's a good portion size,' says daughter Kiran Uppal, who assists with the office work.
Tiffin meals are available for between $6 and $8. The menu at Apna — which translates to 'our' — is focused on Punjabi cuisine and all of the dishes are based on matriarch Sarabjit's personal recipes. Popular mains include the daal makhani (buttery lentils) and paneer bhurji (spiced cheese).
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'The food we make here is similar to the taste we have at home. That was the whole goal of starting this, so we can offer people that homemade food taste,' says Kiran, adding the family is preparing to open a second location on Henderson Highway this summer.
Posters of community events are pinned to the wall near the entrance of Apna. Owner Sarabjit is keen on helping promote other Indian businesses and community projects.
As for the close proximity to other Indian restaurants? The more the merrier.
'If your food quality is good, you don't worry about any other restaurants,' he says.
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Eva WasneyReporter
Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.
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