Saratoga News
Dining
Photograph by Zach Beecher
The Mynt, a new Indian restaurant at the corner of Prospect Road and Saratoga Avenue, offers a unique menu that features dishes that customers enjoy the most.
The Mynt is less about making a mint, more about a 'passion'
By Suzanne Cristallo
The Mynt Indian Restaurant opened just a month ago on the southwest corner of Prospect Road and Saratoga Avenue. Renovation of the former Mexican taqueria took five months, generating considerable public curiosity. Passersby were surprised when the questions they asked about the opening were answered with an invitation to become part of a food trial.
Four trial groups--each composed of 25 co-workers, acquaintances and friends of the new owners--tasted and rated food prepared by three chefs. This process represented what the owners say is a new approach to the restaurant business, where dishes given the highest rating by customers make up the menu.
"Most Indian restaurants are kitchen-driven--from the inside out," says Ram Ramgiri of Fremont, co-owner of the Mynt with his boyhood school chum Krishna Katikaneni of Saratoga and their respective wives, Ranjini and Nandini. He says many restaurants are centered on chefs who want to reserve the kitchen as their sole domain, maintain it as an extension of their egos and divorce themselves from the rest of the operation. He believes this can be a formula for failure. He shares a passion with Krishna and their staff--that fine dining at the Mynt is "a customer-driven experience ... from the outside in."
"It's not all about what you can cook," he says. "It's about the whole package." By that he means quality, service and ambiance.
When a customer steps in the door, he or she will see soft peach walls yield to gray and black, making the walls and ceiling disappear. Light streaming through several large windows is softened by saris colored in red and orange, green and white and blue and purple. Dark mahogany chairs provide a formal contrast to starched white table linen. It's a formal setting, inviting up to two hours of leisurely dining while head waiter and manager Savio Mascarenhas roves unobtrusively, anticipating every need.
"Now comes the fun part," says Ram, gesturing to the softly seductive surroundings he and Krishna have spent up to 20 hours a day and $400,000 to develop. They opened June 21 and are beginning to recognize repeat customers.
They return for the experience that includes dishes such as the Mynt's signature dish--regal rack of lamb with yogurt, mint and spices ($18) or the chef's special sea bass tikka, marinated in ground peppers, lemon and herbs ($20). "I promise you will love it!" declares Pragati Grover of Saratoga, who discovered the Mynt early and has been there three times since. Pragati also recommends kesari pista kulfi for dessert, a saffron- and pistachio-flavored ice cream ($5).
There are a dozen sizzling tandoori dishes, plus a variety of lamb, chicken, seafood and vegetable dishes; rice deep fried, garlic or jeera; and the very special dumpokht biryani with chicken, lamb or vegetables and raita ($13).
Beyond Indian fare, chef Oliver Cardoza shares a Portugese influence prevalent in his birthplace, the resort-rich Goa Province on the Arabian Sea--dishes such as chicken xacuti done in a Goan style with coconut tamarind sauce ($12) and salmon tandoori marinated in spice yogurt ($13).
Ram, 40, and Krishna, 41, were born in the southern city of Hyderbad, India. They also share a common background in the high tech field--Ram with Semantics Software and Krishna with Ariba. "Everybody wants to make money," Ram says, "but it shouldn't be the driving force behind opening a restaurant. There has to be a passion."
The Mynt, 5210 Prospect Road, San Jose, is open daily at 11:30 a.m. for a buffet lunch. Dinner Monday to Thursday is 5:30-9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Call 408.973.9673 or visit www.themynt.com.
