YMI Talking

In each episode, you will hear from one of the leaders of the Lehigh Valley’s vibrant business hub. They will tell you the keys to their success, the mistakes they’ve made, and what they have in store for the future.

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YMI Talking

S2E12: YMI Talking to Jas Bansal from Aman's Artisan Indian Cuisine

August 09, 2024 • Jimi Honochick • Season 2 • Episode 12

The Bansal family has created one of the hottest restaurants in the Lehigh Valley with Aman's in Easton. We sit down with Jas Bansal to share a meal and discuss working in a family business, the importance of Easton, and to see who can endure the heat from Mom's Chili Chutney for longer!

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

1:00:00

Years ago, when we've gone intohospitality, none of us studiedhospitality. We allcome from differentbackgrounds. I studied film. Mybrother, I believe he was an IT. Sohe's an architect.My sisters-in-law,who are part of this business aswell, interior design, graphics,animation, and accounting.You had it all. The family togetheris the perfect business.And that's the thing. So we are alldoing different roleswithin the business,but when it comes to recipedevelopment and implementingcertain things, that's where wehave all different opinions andeverything. But we find what worksbest for the restaurant,again, going back to creating aproduct that's sustainable.I am joined, I was gonna say asalways, but as recently,by Avery, thank you so much.- The one, theonly, you're welcome.- Avery Penell, amI saying it right?- Yes.- Okay, good, good, Ipanic with people's names.- You do.- I really do.- But that's just because you care.- It is, I wanna getit right, that's true.But then it gets in my head and itspirals out of control.So it's fun being me.- It is, and you knowwhat, I wouldn't bug youif you had said it wrong.I would have justlet you live with that.- That's right.- One day,randomly, I'll let you know.- You just have tolive with the factthat you were saying it wrong.- Yes, thank you.- You're welcome.- We have an awesome one today.It was alreadyrecorded and how good was it?- So, so good.- So it is Amans,which is how you say it.I've been saying it wrong for yearsand just brought in so much food.- Which was so nice.- So nice.- Love that.- Yeah, tip to future guests, eventhe greatest food,we're gonna bevery, very appreciative.- And we automaticallywill put you in our brainas numero uno.- Yes.- Our favorite.- Absolutely.But the food is incredible.The conversation, it was so muchfun talking to him.- It was.He just had such agreat outlook on life too.I just felt so muchbetter after the episode.I was like, man, Igotta be better about,you know, by perspective on things.- Yeah, yeah.If we could all be like Jess, wewould be better people.- Agreed.- Yes.And then at the end, wedid a fun little segmentwhere we both ate really, really,really hot spices.- We both not making any.- Not even anyone, no.- I respectfully bowed out of that.- It was smart in your part.Thank you so much!- It's mom's recipe.- Yeah.- And it was, whoo, whoo!That's all I can say.So I tried to push through, and Ithink I did push through.- You did.- I'm very professional.- You were bright red too.(laughing) - Whatever color I am,I'm gonna get through it.But it was a lot of fun.- It was.- And he was a goodsport about the whole thing.- Absolutely.- So let's stop talking.- Okay.- And let's showeveryone how great he is,and let's go to the podcast.- Roll the clip.- Go.This is going to bean incredible episode.I'm super excited.Our guest today is aco-owner of Aman's,which if you haven't been there,I don't know what's wrong with you.You need to go there.He's also just anincredible person,and I've been truly dreaming,like literally last night I wasdreaming about this episode.I can't be more excited.Jas Bansal, thank youso much for coming on.I can't wait to get into this.- It's my pleasure being here.Thank you so much for having me.- Yeah, so let's start with,I feel like I know you and Aman'son a personal level.And that comes from your social.You guys do such a good job there.How important is that?Who's doing that?Walk me through that.- It's nice to say that you knowus on a personal levelbecause that's what we try toexemplify on our socials,which it's just our love of foodand sharing thatwith the community.- Yeah.- What you see online is us andwhat we love to do,the recipes and all that stuff.We've started doingthose little skits and stuff,doing a little comedyhere and there as well.Just to make people.- It's fun.- It's sharing whowe are, what we do.We have this sort of model,like in a good food, good company.That's like ourmain thing at Aman'sand that's what welove sharing and doing.- So is it as fun as it looks like?Are we getting just a sliceor is it truly like that fun towork with your familyand to be able tohave this business?- Oh, there's drama all the time.(all laughing) My brother always says,he's like, oh, we shouldhave like hidden camerasand like have like another show.And that's with every family.- It is, yeah.- You have likeopinions and everything,but what makes usstrong is we love what we doand when we come together,we come together andfocus and get it done.And that's whatAman's is all about.We're coming up to five years.Five years next month.- Yeah, that's incredible.- Downtown Easton.So it's amazing to reflect backand see how manypeople we have servedand people have comethrough from around the worldand everything.And all that is amazing,but that is also thebusiness side of thingswhere like with every business,it comes and waves up and down allthe different stuff.So you gotta make surethat you build somethingthat's sustainableand at the same time,because it's foodrelated, that's consistent.That's the biggestthing for us is consistency.You come have something now,six months fromnow, a year from now,you come back, you go and come backwith the same taste.- It was the bestbutter chicken I ever had.If I come back and it's different,then that's a wholedifferent experience.- You're so proud of the fact thatwe have been consistentthe past five years.There've been multiple challenges.The biggest one wasthe supply chain issuesduring the pandemic and stuff.And I remember like driving anhour, hour and a half awayjust to pick up one or two items.So that is somethingthat we are really proud of.But the thing is, I think one thingI've also realized iseveryone is busy doing their,when I talk about thehospitality business,everyone has theirown thing going on.And I was of the opinion that,oh, you know what, yeah, we keepdoing another thingand it'll be fine.But being a business owner,I realized now you goto teach your own horn,I'd be like, hey,this is who we are.This is what we'reproud of, what we are.So my aim now is to show onlinethrough social media,through what we do is,hey, this is what we do.This is the challenges we face,this is how we will come them.And it's all toprovide a good product,a good service, a good experience.- And I do wanna getinto the good productbecause it's notjust us saying that,like there are plentyof people saying that.But let's back up to the drama thathappens in the family.Your brother Bali is not here.- Yes.- So we can saywhatever we want about him.- You're gonna watch this.- How is it working with a brother?Like, do you guys get along?Do you butt heads?I couldn't imagineworking with my brother.- No, we definitely buttheads on certain issues,but it's becauseeveryone sees different thingsfrom their perspectives.And I think it's healthybecause it makes youthink outside of the box.I have a certain way of thinkingand doing things.And he comes from adifferent background.My other brotherSukjeet, he's also a part ofthe whole us butting heads andgetting stuff done.And that's becauseof our experiences.Five years ago whenwe've gone into hospitality,none of us studied hospitality.I'll come fromdifferent backgrounds.I studied film.My brother Bali was anIT, so he's an architect.My sisters-in-law who are part ofthis business as well,you know, interiordesign, graphics,animation and accounting.- You had it all.Like the family together is likethe perfect business.- And that's the thing.So that we are all doingour own different roleswithin the business, but when itcomes to recipe developmentand implementing certain things,that's where we have a wholedifferent opinionsand everything.But we find what worksbest for the restaurant,again, going back to creating aproduct that's sustainable,that's also profitable.We don't want to just makesomething for the sakeof making it.We want to make sure the customersenjoy it as well.And that's really, we havedifferences of opinionand everything, butwe work through that.And I think it'samazing to do that.One thing's for sure,no matter what happens,at the end of theday, family is family.And that's huge for us.And that's reflected in who we are,whatever menu is,developing the menu,different recipesand all the good stuff.- And I think, so this is afather-son business hereat YMI Insurance, and my dad and Ibutt heads all the time.And like you,we're polar opposites.I have a communication backgroundthat was in TV for a while.So I'm that side of the brain.And he was an engineer by trade.So he's that side of the brain.But as long as our mission and ourdrive is the same,like we're workingtowards the same thing.We might have different opinions,but it makes usbetter because of that.- Absolutely.- Yeah. - Yeah.- So how did your family, you know,you all have thesedifferent backgrounds.Like what made youguys come togetherand decide to launch it?- So a little backstory.So we're actually born and raisedin Kenya, in east Africa.- Yeah.- So our grandparents moved therewhen both India and Kenya wereBritish colonies.So we never grewup in India, never.You know, at least most of us, wewere born in Africa,but we are Indian Punjabi byculture, religion, heritage,all that.So we grew up in thediaspora, the Indian diaspora.So India, Kenya wassuch a huge influenceand is a hugeinfluence in the menu as well.We have dishes thathave that little touchof Indian Africancuisine within the menu.So 26 years ago, wehad the opportunityto move to the United States.We come from humble beginnings.You know, everyfamily has their stories.Ours is very similar.Mom and dad were in Kenya.They have livedthere almost 40 yearsand everything was all right.Could have been better.They tried, you know,they were, dad wastrying to bring the familyto the next level, but it's justluck and coincidences,you know, trieddifferent businesses.They didn't reallywork out all that stuff.They, we got an opportunity to moveto the United Statesand we just took it up to them.We're like, hey,maybe we'll try again.I want to talk about America.This was in 1998.We knew nothingabout the United States.This is pre-Google.- Right, right.- All we knew.- Hey Siri, tell me about the US.- All we knew was NewYork and California.- Yeah.- And nothing in between.I have no idea.- Yeah.- And I was 11 yearsold and I was the youngestand we were like,oh, like you could moveto anywhere in thecountry, you know?We were like, okay,we're not going to Californiaand has earthquakes.We'll go to New York.That's how we ended up.- Well, it's been live.- Yeah.So, and then we had a family friendwho had family inEaston and they're like,why don't you go to Easton and startwith them, you know?And we came here,stayed with them for a monthand then got a foundation setand we've been inEast in ever since.- Wow.- So fast forwardthe past 20 years then,we got our education here.- Where'd you guysgo to high school?- We were in Wilson.- Okay, yeah, yeah.- So Wilson and then my brotherwent to Penn State.So he went to NAC.I went to Penn State as well.We got our degrees.Everyone did their own thing.But then, you know, logically wasthe next step was,how do we go to the next level?And I think being an entrepreneurand trying to do abusiness on your ownis kind of the nextstep in like, you know,getting to the nextlevel, both financiallyand growing yourfamily to the next level.So, about six, seven years ago,we had the opportunity to,we were looking for a businessand we came across an opportunityto get a grocery store.One of the guys at the grocerystore also had a restaurantand he was apartner in a restaurant.I was like, okay,grocery store, yeah,but we love eating, going out,we're big friends, you know.Even now, likewe're off on Mondays,we're like, we drivean hour after hour,two and a half, hour days off,sometimes to eat, you know.So we're like, let's do,ask him if therestaurant's available.And he was looking to selland we sort of took overthis small hole in a wall,not a hole in a wall, but like asmaller restaurant,typical Indian restaurant.And we started working with it,but it wasn't really our thing.- Yeah.- And this was inthe suburbs of Easton.- Yeah.- Then--- Like a strip mall here, right?- Yeah, strip mall. - Yeah, yeah.- Then we had theopportunity where Sukjeeet spottedthe current locationthat was in downtown Easton.And it was like, you know what,let's see if we canmove the restaurant areain this business location.I would be thinkingabout the location.- So I'm an insurance agent.I look at the downside and the riskand like the overhead of moving todowntown Eastonis huge.And I'm terrified for you right nowin this to your story.- Oh, it gets worse.So we found that opportunityand we just, we were genuine andhonest about who we are,what we are, what we want to do.And it sort ofhelped us tell the storyand we were able tosecure the location.We went to the bank, wewere able to secure a loanto build up the space.And it was a challenge.It was a challenge.We moved the restaurant.It took a littlebit extra to move it.First time we were doing such a bigproject in our lives,a lot of lessons learned.But this was seven months beforethe first COVID shut down.- Oh my God.- So--- Yeah.- It all works.- Oh my God.- But here we are five years laterbecause we stuck towho we are, what we do.We stuck with that.Making sure that we do notcompromise on our food,our quality of service.And that is why we are still here.- Yeah.- Five years later.So when we'reabsolutely thankful for that,because yes, we can makethe best butter chicken,but if no one'scome to eat it, then--- Doesn't matter.- This doesn't matter.- Yeah.That is the next level for us isjust growing thisand getting a biggerreach, a bigger audience,which is challenging because noteveryone knows Indian food,but not everyone iscomfortable eating it.And we have instances where thishappened at the Valley,we had a 90 year old grandmothercome to the restaurant.Had Indian food for the first time.And you want what you told us?- What?- Where have I been my--(laughing)And it's amazing seeing peopletrying Indian foodfor the first time.- Yeah.- I was not Indian Punjabi withthat African twist.- Right.- That's, I'm on amission now to say,hey, you knowwhat, try Indian food.You don't be afraid of it.Like, oh, they thinkour Indian food is hot.It's like, no, you'reconfusing hot versus spicy.- Right.- You know, the spicy food, yeah.Indian food is full of spices.- Yes.- That's what makes it delicious.- Right.- Columbus was finding India.He was not finding America.They wanted the spices.- Yeah, yeah.- So, so I'm like, don't be afraidtrying Indian food.You never knowyou're gonna love it.- Yeah.- Like 99% of thepeople who come to Aman's,just they fall inlove with the food.They're like, this is amazing.- Yeah.- And I love seeing that.And we love, you know, tellingpeople about the food.And we're like, hey, try this, trythis next, you know.Yeah.- Well, that makes me think, what'syour favorite dish there?Do you have a favorite dish?- Yes, absolutely.I love our Malayk.- Okay.- It is a vegetabledumpling made with potatoes,vegetables and paneer,which is a soft curd cheesein a very luscious....- That makes two of us.- I did bring it for you, by the way.- Do you? - Yes.- Can you, I think it's while we'retalking about it,could you bring it out?- Yeah.- Let's try this.- What's possible tobring my favorite dish....I heard somebody likes naan.- Yes.- I know, you know.- I specifically requested extra,and thank you so much.- So this is theMalai Kofta, you know.So it is vegetable dumpling,luscious cream sauce.- Oh, no, we had this when my wifeand I just went there.And it was handsdown my favorite thing.- By the way, thepicture you put there,I can see how much in love.And you asked whodoes the marketing,I do the marketing as well,and I held my phone back,and that's why I asked her,like, can I use thispicture at that point?- It's such an experience, right?Like the food, theproduct is great,but like it felt magical.The two of us were sitting outside,downtown Easton,the sun is setting,the staff was incredible.It truly brought outlike the best in both of usjust being there.- Absolutely, and that's what welove about hospitality,is everyone's there celebratingdifferent occasions.Could be just likea simple date night.But food is whatbrings everyone together.- It is.Even if you look at, you know,like Anthony Bourdain,and you even say something similar,I don't rememberexactly what he said,but you're sitting at a tablewith people of different cultures,different faiths.When you break bread together,that's like sustenance,that sustenance right there.That act of sittingtogether and eating,it's profound.And just sharing a meal,talking like whatwe're about to do,it's amazing.You learn so much about each other,you get this appreciation.And I think it's justone of those most simplestand one of the most humblest thingsthat we can do as humans,share a meal and talk.- There's somethingsacred about it, I agree.I always try to get businesslunches with people.And to me, it'smore than just meeting.Like it is that breaking of bread.I want to get to knowwho you are as a person.And there's something about eatingand sharing a meal that does that.- Absolutely, absolutely.So I'll make sure to try Malai Kofta,this is my favorite dish,so we're gonna make some noise over here....(laughing)- Let's do ASMR, yes.So I don't know that we've evermade anyone droolon the podcast before,but we are about to for sure.- I wish have more(laughing)- I was the best one.- I was like, "Oh mygosh, I'm set for months."- Yeah.- So much!- I wish Smells couldcome through the microphonebecause it's unreal inhere right now, isn't it?- Oh my gosh, I am droolingand I'm like waiting for my turn.(laughing)- Patiently, patiently.I have to say, I like told my dadthat this was happeningand he was like, "You're gonnabring some home, right?"And I was like, "If there'sanything left overand you're lucky maybe,but I'm probablygonna eat all of it."- So how did the recipes work whilewe're digging into these?- So pretty much, so Indian cookingis quite involved.When you look at like thepreparation of the saucesand cooking all the spices,breaking all the aromaticsto get all the flavors in there.So at home you canspend 45 minutes to an hourcooking a dish, right?In the restaurant,you can't do that.People were yelling at us.- Right, yeah, yeah.- You know, if you'relike, "Oh, thank you."- Yeah, it's your favorite.(laughing)- You know, if you'resitting there and you're like,"Oh, you know, whatdo we, what do we..."See, it allows mytrain of thought in the....(laughing)- I cannot describe how good thesmell is, I'm dying.- Yeah.So, long story short, what anIndian kitchen doesin the restaurant is reduce thatcook type, you know?And how we do that is preparedifferent types of sauceswith the baseingredients, onions, tomatoes.We have our own blend of spices,our own masala sauce.So we take that 45minutes to an hourand bring it down to 10to 12, 15 minutes max.And then you just multiply thatover how many dishes you have.- Yeah.- So that'sessentially what the process iswith cooking and everything.We took the initiative,because we eat food, you know,we're Indian ourselves.And I think number one,because we go out toeat is also Indian.I love eating Indian.- Yeah.- It's just soflavorful and everything.But there's also thisthing where people have,they're usingcolors, food coloring,and all that kind of stuff.And we actuallytook all of that out.- Which is incredible,because this isbeautiful to look at, right?- It's all naturalcolors from the turmeric,from the spices andeverything, you know?And even if you look at all of thetandoori section,all the barbecue meats,you know, if you look at,if you think of tandoori chicken,you think of this bright red color.That's a fake color.- Yeah.- I don't know why, I don't knowwho started that,the hey, who should put foodcoloring in the chicken.We have taken outall the food coloringand everything in over cooking.- That's amazing.- If you look at our butter chickenand our chicken tikka masala,they both have the same nice,beautiful yellow,because that's thenatural colors from the creamand the turmericcooking within there.- Yeah.- And we distinguish it by puttinga little tomatoeson the butter chicken,because that's moreof a commitment sauce.- Okay.- Yeah.- Yeah, yeah.- And this is one of the things,we just did itbecause we know, hey,we don't want to put anyartificial food coloring,but we never talk about it.I think I shouldbe talking about it.I should say, people likethis is a natural thing.- You should, yeah, absolutely.- So Jimi, spread the word.- All right.I'm about to dig into this.Let's, cheers.Thank you.- I'll give you a little tip,as you get to taste it with this.- Oh my God.- You don't have totell me it's spicy.- Oh, and also eatwith your hands, man.That's like the best.- Thank you so much.- Yes.- Awesome, thank you.- I think if you want to test outhow good an Indian restaurant is,you should order the malai koftaand the garlic naan.- That's the test.- The reason for that is,we live in a world whereeverything is prepared,in factories and stuff.The malai kofta is a type of,is done with dumpling that,it's easy andcomplicated, the same time can make.This will tell youhow good a chef is,how good the dumplingis and the sauce is.And the garlic naan onthe same point is alsohow well the naan is made,how much garlic is on it.It shows you how goodthe Indian restaurant is.- This.- That's my--- Well, this one's pretty good.- Yeah.(laughing)- Pretty good.- This one's the best,because I'm morelike, I tried everywhere.No jokes, I'll lookin the camera and say,I've been to India.I've been to high-end restaurants.I think we're one ofthe best malai koftas.- That's a bold statement.- It's a bold statement,is because I wanted tocheck it out for myself.I tried malai kofta in differentrestaurants in the US,in India, in the Punjab, in Delhi.And I'm like, we areup in the same levelas the big ones out there.- I love that.So who'sresponsible for the recipe?Is it everyone comingtogether in the family?And then who--- It depends, yeah.- Who's chef-ing it?- So these are family recipes.I am in charge of the kitchen,so I oversee our team of cooks.We don't necessarily,we don't have anexecutive chef of the kitchen.So these are familyrecipes developed,and then we have a teamof amazing talented cookswho are there, and they replicate.We develop these things,and then they replicatethis on a larger levelat the restaurant, and we'll tryand test different things.I'll give you alive example right now.We are going to be introducing lambchops to the menu,and we have been testingit for the past two weeks.So there are a couple of people--- You guys need helptesting, I'm always....- Definitely, definitely.So that's what we're doing.So last week we tested a coupledifferent recipes,a couple different techniques.Dad is the one that developsmost of the recipesfor the barbecue meats.So the dad's mishkakis on the menu.It has his name, dad's ... wings.We give it hisname, it's his recipe.He brings it in there.So we develop these recipes,and then try and makesure we have the recipe downin terms of quantity.That if we're making a little bit,times we need to makeenough for a whole shift,it doesn't change.The consistency doesn't change.The spices thatare used in the....they are scaled accordingly.So that's the kind of developmentwe all do as a family.My sister, she loves dessert,so she has developed differentflavors of fusion ice creams.- I'm gonna stop you there.So I'm well known asan ice cream addict.And so when my wife and I go topronounce it for me,because I've beensaying it wrong, Aman's?- Aman's.- Think almonds, drop the L.- Aman's, thank you.- But it's all good,Aman's and almonds.- And so we're going there,and I'm like, well, Bank StreetCreamery is right there.Like we'll get dessert afterwards.Like, are you serious?Like, why would we notget the ice cream here?I was like, well,okay, we'll try it.Unbelievable.- Bank Street makesthe ice cream for us.- Do they?Ah, well, there you go, okay.- We took like, you know, like--- But what was the flavor?I'm trying toremember what flavors I had.- Was it the gingerglobgum, or the carrot card?- It must havebeen the ginger then.- Yeah, yeah, yeah.- So we eat like theglobgum as we make an houseat the Indian dessert.We make the ginger jam.And Brooke's over atBank Street curns it for us.- Okay.- Because he's theexpert in making ice cream.- Yeah.- It was a thing, and he does itfor so many restaurants.- What a partnership, yeah.- So, come on.- This is so good.So you mentioned you're a foodie, thefamily's foodies.How cool, and youguys are, you know,kind of Eastonthrough and through,how cool has itbeen to see the riseof the food scene in Easton, andto be a part of it, right?- Absolutely, it's absolutelyamazing, you know,because I remember in98 when he moved here,I distinctlyremember someone telling us,"Don't go to Easton at night.Don't walk aroundin Easton at night."- I'm gonna share my Eastern storythat ties into that.- And here we are, you know,closing our business at a 11,an Easton night,but like, we're walkingaround and having fun,seeing that renaissance in Easton,I think Mayor Southkind of has done an amazing job inEaston, reviving the city.We have a very good family friendwho actually have beenin the US for 50years, similar story to usin Africa to the US 50 years ago.And he's seen Easton at its peak,and then it's seen the downfall,and it's renaissance again.And it's absolutely amazing to see,you know, that, hey,things can turnaround and all this stuff.- I don't think you thought of usas being a part of that,but we are in the heart of it.So it's an honor to be apart of that, you know?If you look at theAman's logo, you know,Easton is our hometown in the US.This is thiscountry, the United States,we talked about the American dream,has set thefoundation for our familyand generation's of ourfamily to come, you know?And to honor that, if youlook at the Aman's logo,we have the EdenMoravian star in our logo.- Do you really? - Yeah.If you look at thefantastic star, you know?So if you're keen onhistory, you'll see the,oh, the same star inthe flag of Eastonis also the same star in our logo.- That's really cool.- That's, you know,it's our homage to the citythat has, thattook us in, you know,to the community that took us in,and we want to, youknow, just reflect that.Hey, we're proud of who we are,we're proud of Easton,we're proud of big partof the fabric of Eastern.- Yeah, and the recognition thatAman's has gottenis so much greaterthan Easton, right?I mean, I'm looking atthe menu, I'm looking,I think you guyshave a billboard on 22.- Yes, yes, yes.- And it's telling me,like, I need the reminder,like, all the awardsthat you guys have won.Talk about, you know,kind of how those came aboutand how important they are to you.- Well, most of those awards arewould've gone by people,which is absolutelyamazing, you know?We, the TripAdvisor award wasactually fantasticgetting that.- That's unbelievable.- It's based onreviews, people reviewing uson TripAdvisor, andin 2020, I believe,most of the yearexactly, we were recognizedone of the top 10%restaurants in the world.- Wow.- As in the review often enoughwith positive reviewsunder the top 10% inall of TripAdvisor.- So it's one thing foryou to come here and say,you know, our dishes are some ofthe best in the world,but there's backing,like, there's data on this.- Absolutely, we'relisted on open tablefor our reservations,and we've consistently wonthe Diners ChoiceAward, and, you know,it's amazing to see,and what makes me happyis that these areawards that people actually,based on thereviews that people vote,and one of the coolestthings that is very humblingas well is that we won, you know,it's one thing to say,hey, we're an ethnic restaurant.We serve Indian food.We won Best Indian Food.- Right.- Amazing.But the fact that wenot only won Best Indian,two years in a row,2022, 2023, morning call,we won Best Easton Restaurant.- That's awesome.- And that wasamazing, and then it was like,wow, it was like,and Easton's vibrant.- It is, we were just saying.- All the food, everything.You know, you stand,you get out of Aman's,you cross again, youhave a steak house,and you have an oakacross the street,you have a milli rightnext to it, Mediterranean.You know, you go into the farmer'smarket across the street,you can ramen,fish, pizza, everything.It's like a little mini culinaryjourney right there.I mean, recognized as the BestEaston Restaurantby people votingonline two years in a row,that's just, youknow, it's so humbling,and it's amazing.- I'm, I'm jazzedup just hearing that.- Your bold statementearlier isn't as bold.(all chattering)- Yeah, yeah.So, you know, andthen, so we wanna make surethat we continue that, you know,continue that level of service,continue that levelof delicious food,keep bringing that to the people.But five years since we opened,we still love peoplelike, where are you?Oh, we had no idea you existed.I'm like, what?(all laughing)How do I tell you to come here?- Yeah.- Yeah, so that's achallenge that every businessuses advertising yourself,because people thinkfood, India's not the first.- Right, yeah.- They'll think twice, you know,so we have a very small niche.We're just trying tobe the loudest and say,hey, come here, try andgive us a shot as well.You never knew you'd like it.- Yeah, absolutely.I hate this, like I could keepdoing this all day.- Yeah, it's been 30 minutes.- It's been 30 minutes.And I know we've got another thingthat we're doing later,which I'm terrified for already.Like, on a scale from 1 to 10,what would you rate the spicinessof the dish we just tried?- We, what did you know here?This is a medium.- Okay, all right, all right.- Mild is no, okay, so it's notspicy, it's heat.- Correct, yeah.- It's the heat.So we use dry red chili powderto kick up the heat in the dishes.So this is full ofspices, yes, but it's heat.This is a medium-spiced heat left.- Yeah, and just to tease it,you and I are going to be eating,is it Mom's recipe?- Yeah, Mom's garlic chutney.- Yes, yeah.- It is--- On the 1 to 10, where is it?- 10 plus, I'm gonna say.(laughing)- Well, I'mlooking forward to that.- That'll be good.- We have a little challenger,who's crying and who comes around.Yeah, let's see how that goes.- I was gonna saythat, but we're here,so let's just, let's dive into it.Let's do this challenge.Also be great.But I'd like everyone to know,you also are notparticularly keen to spicy,or to hot food.- Very hot food.I enjoy the nice medium.I enjoy the balanceof flavor and heat.I love that.- Good.- I'd rather not startwiping tears as well.- Am I gonna start wiping tears?- I hope not.- Yeah, I hope not too.- So again, with this chutney,it's this hot chutney,it's actually tocomplement the food as well.It's not just heatfor the sake of heat.You're gonna have a touch ofsweetness in the jaggery.- Do you think I'm gonna get thatover the crying that I'm doing?- We'll cry together.We'll embareass ourselves together.- Okay.So what would you pair it with?- So like if you,now we're gonna do a spoonful.If we were doing this,we'll do a little knife.- Okay, that's perfect.- But like if you were eating thiswith a Malai Kofta,if you would likeput this on the side,dip your naan in it a little bit,so you have a little bitof a layer of the naan,have your food and eat that.- That's awesome.- That would be--- That's hownormal people eat this.- Yeah.- Not with a knife like this.- Yeah, it's not like somethingthat you would just,grab a spoonful and start.And then the other thing is thatif you want to kick up your curry,you just take a little bit of it,mix it in the entire curry itself.- Okay, right.- And then that'show you would enjoy it.- Okay, I'm gonna move this plant.I just wanna, I'mgonna put it on cameraso everyone can seelike it looks hot.I just want.- There it is.- It looks hot.I don't do spicy.You barely do.So this is gonna be fun.- This is gonna be fun.So how do we determine?- Who wins?I guess I've got water here.You've got water there.First person talking.- We keep talking andfirst person to drink.- There's still segments I'msupposed to do after this.You might have to take over.All right.- Cheers.- Why are you taking so much?- I thought that'sa whole challenge.- It is.- It's gonna be a lot more.You have a lot more.- I'll take it.All right, all right.Cheers, here we go.Up until this point,I've assumed your momis a very nice person.We'll see if my feelings change.So far, it is a niceflavor like you said.It's a little.- A little sweetness that hits you.- I'm doing okay.- Yeah.- I'm doing okay.I'm not crying yet.I planned on fullycrying in front of everyone.Oh, it's coming.I can feel the wave.- It hits the back of the mouth.- It does.- Seeing how smartpeople would have mixed thisin the food and enjoyed it.Not like us.- No, not straight in.What?I'm trying to think right now.I'm trying to do that.What spices are in here?Like what does she put in here?- So these are greenchilies, fresh green chilies.So it's almost like a relish.We call itmongchili garlic chutney.So there's a huge, there's abalance of a lot of garlicand chilies.- Yes.I'm going back for more.I'm gonna do it again.- I'll join you.- Yes.- I will join you.Yes.So.- The flavor is good.- Then, yeah, we justcook it down, break it down.And then we actuallyadd some jaggery to it.- Cheers.- Yeah.Oh my God.(laughing)- What did you add?You said you add something.- Jaggery is like anIndian brown sugar.- So that, well, you see this is atinge of sweetness.- There is, yeah.- Yeah.(laughing) - That one got me.- I'm alreadycarrying that over here.- All right, so.- Yeah.- We are sponsored by Hocus Pocus,who is probably gonna hate that I'mdoing the segmentwhile crying.They do residential cleaning.They do commercial cleaning.I don't think they save you whenyou're dying of spice.But they're magical.And so I ask all my guests,if you could haveany magical ability,what would it be?- Wow.- What would yours be?Right now, mine would be to justturn my tongue offcompletely.- Yeah.And you can see the truth.(laughing)Wow, no one hasasked me the question.That's,shall we call it even?- Yeah.- Yes.(laughing)- Oh.- A relief.(laughing)- Torey, really sad Ididn't join you in on that.- You missed out, Avery.- So.- But before we go on,the flavor is really good.- Yeah.- If you diluted that.- If you, yeah, if youcompliment that food.- Yeah.- Mix it up and eatit, it's really good.- Yeah.- Yeah.- So.- All right.Your magical ability.And I'm gonna keepdrinking water now that I can.- You know what?There's my marketing thing, I needto post on Instagram.(laughing)- Avery commiserates.(laughing)- I don't have that, but I alwaysthought if I had a genie.- Yeah.- You know, give me a wish.- Yeah.- Would that countas a magical thing?- Right, yeah, yeah.- My wish would be, not for like.- I thought you werewishing for a genie,that would be awesome.- That'd be awesome.- Yeah.- Still gonna dothree wishes, right?- Yeah, yeah.- My wish would be, I want to helppeople in the worldwith different things.And I know money iswhat helps people.My wish would be that, hey, ifsomeone needs some help,I was like, you know,I need a hundred bucks.I just put it in myhand in my pocket.- It's there.- I know.- I know.- Yeah.- We've had acouple of people come onand they have like altruistic,like that's their magicis to help other people.I'm like, oh, I'mnot as good of a personas I thought I was.- That's part of whowe are now of faith,as well as from the Sikh faith.- Yeah.- And giving backis huge in our faith.- Can you talkabout that a little bit?- Absolutely, youknow, and it's, you know,as it cries through it.(laughing) I'm very emotionaltalking about this.- Yes.- But we try and giveback as much of the communityas we can, you know, during COVIDwe had groceries,we were working with anNGO called Calcite Aid,providing groceriesto families in need.And we've done package deals fordifferent charitieswithin the Lehigh Valley,work with different organizations.It's just, you know, like I said,it goes back tosharing the meal, you know,food insecurity issomething that we have seenin the world livesas moms, you know.I've seen, as a youngkid, I've seen my momand dad feeding us.- Yeah.- And then just eatinglike bread and you know,like a pickle orsomething, you know.Times are tough and for people,times are tough now too,you know, I'm notemotional, it's just the spice.(laughing)But--- I'm both.(laughing)- But we have seenthat in our livesand we're just trying to give backas much as we can,you know.- Are your parents incredibly proudto have seen thejourney that they've been on?- Absolutely, I mean,I mean, like, you know,they are very much apart of what we're success.- Yeah.- With the values andeverything that taught us.You know, we didn'thave much when we grew upand now like all ourkids are here, you know,I don't have any kids, no but mynephews, my niece is here.And it's a good feeling to say,"Oh, can I get this?"And we're like, "Yes, you can."- Yeah.- We don't have tothink about it twice.We grew up thinking about it twice.That you didn't evenask mom or dad about this.- Right.- And because theywere providing for us.We had food, we hadshelter and everything,but you know, like itwas the extra thingsthat we could getit once in a while,not every single day, you know.So living in asituation where we were,you know, like hand to mouth,maybe we could do that, you know.And coming here in this countryand building this little...(all laughing)- My tongue is still on fire.- The napkin's back.(all laughing)- Yes, the napkins are all for me.- So, you know, likehaving lived through thatand you know, now we have theability to give backand we just want to give back asmuch as we can, you know.- Yeah.- With the five yearanniversary coming up,part of our celebration is tryingand giving back, you know.We've been doing these blood driveswith the MillerKeystone Blood Center,where we just say,"Hey, you know what?Give blood and we'll give you a $20voucher to Aman's."Just for giving blood.- Wow.- How important that is, you know.- Yeah.- So those kinds of things,you want to just keep doing that,giving back to thecommunity as much as we can.- That's beautiful.- Yeah.- Yeah.When is five years?- July 10th.- Oh, so it's really coming up?- It's coming up.- Wow, that's awesome.Congrats to you guys.- Thanks. - Absolutely amazing.- Anything that wedidn't hit that we should hit,anything you want to talk aboutbefore we get you out of here?- I would just sayfor anyone who is,perhaps who were trying Indian food,or trying any type of food.- Yeah.- Different.- Yep.- Go give it a shot.- Yeah.- You know, as it won't kill you.- Right.- Unless you eatthat fish from the Simpsonsand the miscellaneous foods.(laughing)- That's what it's called.But yeah, no, in all seriousness,people put their heart and soulinto family-run restaurants.Same like us, you know.- Yeah.- It's us, or it's the next door,Mexican restaurant, or club,whatever have you, you know, Thai.Even like Americanjoints, you know,people like small mom and poprestaurants, you know.We live in a day and age where it'sso easy to criticize.- Yeah.- It is so easy to criticize.We get that as well, so much.- Right.- All day they do this, it's like,we don't get up inthe morning to say,you know what, I'm going to screwthis person right.- Yeah, yeah.- No one's perfect.- Yeah.- You know, stuffhappens sometimes,but our goal is toprovide the best serviceand the bestexperience for everyone.So give people a shot, you know.The mom and pops, everyone,different restaurants,even retail businesses, you know.Just give back to the community,you know, that's allI can say, you know.- Yeah. - Yeah.- But we're sitting here,we're enjoying, you know,some more food together.And you brought upa topic that I thinkis important to the conversation,so hit it for me.- So big thing, you know,we are one of the few restaurants,well, I think we're theonly Indian restaurantthat does not give rice with the meal

are people are like: 1:42:28

oh, they're chargin for rice and everythingand I'm like, go to India,you don't get rice in the meal.- Really? - You know.And the reason is because Indiancuisine is so complex,you know, certainthings go with rice,like we just enjoy the Malai Koftawith garlic naan,you know, we have different typesof naans on the menu,different types ofrice dishes on the menufor plain bus,we'll eat it different.We don't want to put you in a boatthat every singlecurry comes in plain rice.That's akin tosaying that, you know,every Italian dish comes withspaghetti noodles.- Right, yeah.- It's just in theUS Indian cuisine,when it got its moment inthe past 20 years or so,it was just like peoplelike, how do you eat this?And like, everyone knows rice,we'll give rice with it.- Right. - So that has been oneof the big things for us,like, hey, we don'tgive rice for free.And 99% of the timepeople don't care.Because we'retelling them, hey, okay,you want to pairthis with this and this,and they enjoy their meal.- And that's what wedid, we asked our waiter,like, should we get rice with this?And they have the recommendationsfor what we should pair it with.- Absolutely. - Yeah.- And then the otherbiggest thing is, you know,I think is if you look at our name,Aman's Artisan Indian cuisine,- Yeah.- We don't know the word authentic,I think that's theword. - That's interesting.- Yeah.- Who was thejudge of authenticity?You know?You know?India is so diversein its food cultures,from state to state.- Yeah.- Same like the US.- Right.- You know?You think of Louisiana, down south,you think of Cajun cuisine.- Right.- Up north, Chowder, you know?Midwest, what is Midwest known for?- That's so funny, Chowder wasexactly where my head went.- Yeah. - So yes.- And then, you know,you have like the Tex-Mexand the Texas, you know, like allthe barbecue scenein Texas and theMidwest, all that stuff.It's different.- Yeah.- Similar for India, you know?So when someone says,oh, is this authentic?I'm like, no.I'm not gonna tellyou this is authentic.- Right.- This is Indianfood you're eating.- Yeah.- It's our take on it.- Yeah.- It's what we do, you know?And come try it, you know?If you like it, ifyou don't, that's fine.- It's not fine.- Yeah.So that's one thing.And it goes back tothe thing of saying,oh, everything comes with rice.It's like, okay,that's not authentic.If you say no,authentic Indian food,because you go toIndia, in the south,yes, they rice with every meal.In the north, no, they eat breads.- Yeah.- Every single dishhas its own complement,its own side dish thatcan be paired with it.And that's what wewanna do at Aman'sis give you that proper experience.- I'll bet.As long as rice helps with theburning sensationthat's in my mouth,then I'm gonna beeating some rice right now.(laughs)Thank you so muchagain for coming onlineand for this little bonus section.- Absolutely.- All right.I could tellsomething good was coming.Absolutely beautiful.Just Bonzo from Almonds.Did I say it right?- Almonds.- Yes, I cannot thank you enough.I had highexpectations and you crushed them.So thank you for coming here.Thank you for the food.Thanks for sharing a meal with us.I loved it.- Awesome.- Awesome.