Acclaimed NC restaurant group ready to open its street food paradise in Raleigh
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- Botiwalla by Chai Pani will open Tuesday, June 2 at Raleigh Iron Works.
- The Raleigh location is the brand’s fifth and has the largest Botiwalla kitchen.
- Botiwalla will serve fast casual Indian street food with snacks, kebabs and drinks.
Next week, Raleigh will finally get a taste of one of North Carolina’s most acclaimed restaurant groups.
The new Botiwalla by Chai Pani will open Tuesday, June 2 at Raleigh Iron Works.
Botiwalla brings the James Beard-winning flavors of Chai Pani to the Triangle, serving up the Indian Street food concept from owners Meherwan and Molly Irani.
It’s the counter-service cousin to the sit-down sensation of Chai Pani, which won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant in the Country in 2022. The first Botiwalla opened in Atlanta in 2016, born out of the demand for some of Chai Pani’s most popular dishes, like okra fries and masala smashed potatoes.
“Chai Pani was meant to be snacky street food, but within the first six months it was clear we couldn’t run it as a counter service restaurant and had to turn it into a sit-down spot,” Irani said. “So with Botiwalla we took the greatest hits of Chai Pani.”
Botiwalla will be open daily for lunch and dinner, serving fast-casual Indian Street food. The Raleigh restaurant is the brand’s fifth location, following Atlanta, Charlotte and two in Asheville.
Beyond snacks like okra fries and Gobi 65, look for kebabs and skewers and lamb burgers. On the drink side, diners will find boozy slushies, warm chai and chilled lassis.
Triangle food scene
A move into the Triangle has been a long time coming, Irani said, as his Chai Pani restaurant group has exploded throughout the Southeast. The Triangle’s diverse food scene has always been attractive to the group, he said.
“My ambitions are always ahead of my capabilities; I’ve always wanted to come to Raleigh, I’ve been visiting forever,” Irani said. “I think there’s an incredible culinary scene here. The foodies here are culinarily adventurous, they’re excited about trying new things, they’re excited when things are done well. And it’s very diverse, there’s a large Indian diaspora in the Triangle.”
In Botiwalla, Irani said the restaurant doesn’t deal in the scoop and serve model of many fast-casual spots. He said everything is made fresh, and that once Raleigh’s location finds its legs, meals should be served in as little as three minutes.
“The menu is designed for speed,” he said. “People are busy, and we’re serving Indian flavor profiles that are appealing to everybody.”
Botiwalla menu
The Raleigh location will offer the largest Botiwalla kitchen space of any of the brand’s restaurants, which Irani said means a larger menu and more favorites pulled from Chai Pani, such as the MG Road wings, a dish of crispy, dry rubbed chicken wings. The Raleigh Botiwalla will also have more vegetarian options than the other locations.
With the Chai Pani group finally opening in the Triangle, Irani expects more concepts to come. But each will be its own restaurant, he said.
“I really see a restaurant like Botiwalla playing an important role in its community,” Irani said. “One day it needs to feel like a landmark, like it’s always been there.”
