Embers owner Abhishek Jain. Photo: Supplied.
After three years in Windang, chef Abhishek Jain is taking Embers Fusion Indian Restaurant back to where it all began — Shellharbour — with a bold plan for it to become the region’s biggest Indian restaurant.
Relocating to the former Nardi’s Italian restaurant space in Shellharbour City, Abhishek is hoping to have the doors to the new premises opened by late September and plans to “go for gold” this time.
It represents a significant expansion for the beloved restaurant, which originally started in Shellharbour Village as Embers in the Village, before difficulties forced a relocation to Windang, where it’s built a loyal following during the past three years.
“We’ve always served our community and they’ve always supported us,” he said.
“We moved to a tiny shop in Windang for takeaway only and then, because of the customer support and people loving our food, we thought we needed a bigger space to accommodate more people and a bigger kitchen as well.
“That’s why we moved above the post office, and that’s where we are now.
“But this time, the plan is to go for gold and to actually go big.”
Located on Burra Place near the cinema in Shellharbour City, the new premises will eventually house what Abhishek claims will be “the biggest Indian restaurant in the Illawarra,” thanks to having access to the larger kitchen and dining space.
He said the expansion came as the current Windang location regularly turned away customers due to capacity constraints.
“On busier nights we feed 30 to 40 people just for dine-in, and people keep calling us for bookings and we have to say, ‘Sorry, we’re fully booked out,’” he said.
“It’s also about having a bigger kitchen, which means we can innovate more and we can be faster with our service.
“I’ve never dreamed of being a business owner, but I’ve always dreamed of being a big chef.
“This is where I can create more creative dishes – not just the normal butter chicken and lamb rogan josh.
“There’s a lot more to Indian cuisine than people think and we’ll be bringing that out.”
In addition, Abhishek recently sold his second business, Indian fusion pizza outlet Slice of India, but will incorporate the popular pizza menu into the new Embers location, which already has pizza equipment installed.
“We had to sell Slice of India because I couldn’t manage both the businesses,” he said.
“But we’re bringing back the Indian pizzas in this shop, because we’ve got a pizza set-up already there.
“The whole menu of Slice of India will be back in Embers.”
After announcing the news on Facebook, he said he was inundated with comments of support from Shellharbour residents.
“It feels sad leaving Windang because Windang has been our home for the past three years,” he said.
“They’ve been so supportive, and we’ve never felt out of place.
“But we just need a bigger space and I know Windang doesn’t have restaurants of this size that we can invest in.”
He said the new restaurant space was a “massive investment” toward fulfilling his dream of becoming a renowned chef, having worked as a chef for 11 years since arriving in Australia.
Embers is expected to open in the former Nardi’s restaurant space in late September, pending equipment installation and renovations.
He said earlier talks about planning for a community market on the Windang foreshore had been put on hold.
