Malabari Chef injects some spice into Little Korea

Naveen Polappady was just supposed to be starting his restaurant business right now, but he’s way ahead of schedule. He’s already had his restaurant Maroli opened for over 2 years and just moved to a new location just west of Bloor and Bathurst. The Kerala native immigrated 3 years ago to Toronto after years of working in India learning the nuances of Malabari cuisine. Today he’s proud to be in exclusive club serving food from that region. “We’re the only people serving that cuisine in Toronto”, boasts Polappady of his restaurant at 630 Bloor St West, in the heart of the Korean Business District. “I started my business in the 8th month I was here.”

Helping out with a friend’s takeout establishment sped up the entrepreneurial process for the Kerala native, who holds a degree in hotel management. “I had my friends backed up in a small investment and had a lot clients from the Malabari community and did a lot of catering for them”, recalls Polappady. “I also use to of catering for the Indian consulate--a lot of people use to come to the Indian consulate at the Yonge and Davisville area.” Many of those same patrons made up his clientele base and foundation of his business.

He began at the Yonge & Davisville area with the inaugural Maroli restaurant. Recently however, owners of the building, which hosts 5 businesses including Sobey’s, felt that the best investment was to have Sobey’s take over as their exclusive host. “It was better to have one Sobey’s than five businesses because they paid more”, comments Polappady. “Sobey’s will pay higher rent and which will eventually lead to higher rent in the area.”

Despite working way ahead of schedule and generating a following, it wasn’t all smooth sailing though in the early days of Maroli. Polappady was in survival mode. “It was very difficult at first, staying alive and building a customer base”, notes. “But I survived and started building a customer base.” The strong product being served up by Polappady, chef and owner of Maroli, kept the word of mouth advertising spreading for his establishment. “There were many referrals and I had 90% regular customers”, notes Polappady. A write up in Now Magazine as well as high praise for his butter chicken on The Food Network allowed some buzz to be generated around his work. Born Torontonians and Indian natives were both able to both walk away satiated. “Mostly Canadians and a lot of Indian clients too came because I don’t compromise”, states Polappady. “I don’t Canadianize anything.

Polappady is proud of his work as well as the culinary heritage of Malabar. “I combine both, North Indian and Malabari, and most people don’t know but during the medieval times the world use Malabar”, comments Polappady. “The founding of Americas was because of Malabar because all the people use to go to India, but where did they go? They went to Malabar for the spices.” He also notes that the Malabar region’s cuisine has been influenced by Dutch, French, Portuguese and British palates. “All the people have had colonies and local ingredients became used in the cuisine”, says Polappady.

He’s excited about the prospect of starting anew at Bloor and Bathurst as well. With many university students frequenting the area and residential areas hovering around the businesses on Bloor, Polappady is anticipating a bright future. “The place I got is very excellent--it’s in a Korean town, it’s a neat neighbourhood.”

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Malabari Chef injects some spice into Little Korea

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