Can a mall food court successfully house an independent eatery? Not just an independent eatery, we might add, but one specializing in food that would be unexpected in the typical mall?
We were recently debating this possibility with a friend—and not because we have anything against those chains that dominate mall food courts. Not at all. We’re enthusiastic fans of the franchised places that ring suburban mall grazing grounds like brightly lit, attractive culinary carnival midways. Especially those generous with the samples. (A couple of circuits around the West County Mall food court gets you a well-balanced meal and you can end, conveniently, with a bite of sweet glazed pretzel knobs for dessert. Or so we’ve heard.)
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If you’ve traveled to Singapore, you’ll know about the numerous food markets, areas in shopping districts devoted to sometimes dozens of stalls peddling various specialties. Lots of European cities have neighborhoods comprised of the same kind of restaurants, modest little joints in market squares where you can buy Finnish cured salmon sandwiches, Romanian hot pretzels coated in poppy seeds, and Ukrainian dumplings.
Are you telling me that shoppers at Plaza Frontenac wouldn’t take to the idea of strolling out of Neiman Marcus and go right to a stall with falafel-stuffed pita or ramen bowls or empanadas?
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you,” our friend said, insisting the odds of a successful independent stand like that in a mall were roughly that of Busch Stadium hosting a “Tribute to The Cubs” night next season. Profit margins are low, mall owners take a hefty slice of profits, and shoppers aren’t looking for “authentic” so much as they want something familiar.
See also: Ask George: Would an unconventional or chef-driven restaurant concept work in a food court?
On the other hand, stroll through a St. Louis mall food court, and note how many varieties of eatables are there that not long ago would have been thought dauntingly “exotic”: sushi, bubble tea, hearth-baked pizzas…
Then we saw India’s Kitchen. Not the one in Ballwin (that’s technically New India’s Kitchen), but an outpost of the original. In the food court. At the Saint Louis Galleria.
No burgers, fries, or wraps. Instead, a spread of Punjabi and other northern India fare: saag paneer, samosas, lassi…
“The most popular dish we’re selling is the tikka masala,” the man behind the counter said. (Figures—tikka masala isn’t really Indian; it originated in England, created by an Indian expatriate restaurant owner.) The dish has a luscious, silky texture, studded with chicken chunks, a bit of a curry bite, the color of a maple leaf in autumn.
There are also curries, meat-stuffed samosas, buttery triangles of warm naan, biryani rice pilaf… It’s like a miniature Indian food buffet.
While you’re there, why not have a mango lassi, which are what milk shakes would taste like in a perfect world?
There’s also gulabjamun, which sounds like the name of a minor character in Star Wars but is actually a deep-fried kind of donut, if donuts were laced with a beautiful hint of cardamom and drenched in an impossibly sweet rose water syrup.
Yes, for what you’d pay for a burger, fries, and a soda, you can instead get curry or saag paneer with that emerald spinach sweetness and perfectly textured cheese cubes or that smoky, salty tandoori chicken or the chickpea stew chana masala…
Again, nothing wrong with the chicken tenders, pizza, or tacos that dominate food court menus. But consider India’s Kitchen. It’ll be a boost for locally owned businesses. You’ll enjoy the meal. And most importantly, you’ll help us win the debate.
