An Indian eatery from North Carolina is one of the tenants that will be joining an upcoming food hall in Atlanta.
Mango Indian Grill, a concept from Mathi Pothiyappan and Priya Somasundaram, will be opening at Halidom Eatery this spring.
Pothiyappan told What Now Atlanta they aim to serve high-quality, fresh, authentic Indian food in a quick-service format.
“There’s a myth that fast food isn’t healthy,” he said. “But we can do fresh Indian food in a fast-food model without degrading the quality.”
Pothiyappan and Somasundaram started in IT before branching into the culinary field in 2016, buying majority ownership of CholaNad in Chapel Hill, and operating the concept at the University of North Carolina campus.
“We wanted to give authentic, good quality Indian food to the town,” Pothiyappan said. “There were not very many Indian restaurants in North Carolina.”
That experience helped shape what would become Mango Indian Grill, which first opened at Durham Food Hall in North Carolina.
“Since we started serving on the campus, that gave us an idea of how to do sample plates, create a combo, stuff like that,” he said. “Since then, we thought, ‘This is like fast food.’ Look at Chipotle, look at Panda Express… Why not one for Indian? That’s the thought process.”
The menu for the Halidom Eatery location of Mango Indian Grill will be similar to the one in North Carolina, with some additional items specific to the Atlanta market.
Pothiyappan said he appreciates the communal atmosphere of a food hall, making Halidom Eatery a good location for the Atlanta outpost of Mango Indian Grill. Diners can visit a variety of stalls so everybody in the group can have something different, not only for social outings, but for work meetings and lunch breaks.
“A food hall is a gathering place not only for entertainment, but for working, the new way of working after pandemic,” he said. “It’s a good gathering place of friends and family.”
Halidom Eatery is slated to open this spring. In addition to 11 food stalls, it will include a 30-seat upscale bar, an event area and an outdoor green space. There will be indoor seating for 320 guests and outdoor seating for 123 guests.
Located at the IST Management headquarters’ base, the eatery is the inaugural phase of a mixed-use domain, Halidom, which will also have residential and retail space.
Other concepts recently announced for the food hall include Mad Dads Philly’s, Locale Island Eats, Press Waffle Co. and a yet-to-be-named Mexican street food concept from the owners of Zocalo.
