The Chai Pani Story

One of America's Favorite

Restaurants!

-The New York Times

Welcome to Chai Pani

Chai Pani literally means “tea and water.” It's slang in India for going out for a cup of tea, a tasty bite, a snack, or “a little something.” In Downtown Asheville and Downtown Decatur (Atlanta), it means groundbreaking, fun, affordable, and “mindblasting” Indian street food that’s changing the perception of Indian cuisine in America. It means innovative, fun, affordable and delicious Indian cuisine. We'd go so far as to say it's “mindblasting.”

Some of the best food of any country is its street food, and Chai Pani features chaat – crunchy, spicy, sweet, tangy, brightly flavored Indian street snacks. And because there's nothing more comforting and delicious in any culture than a home cooked meal, Chai Pani also brings you thalis – traditional family meals highlighting India's amazing culinary diversity.

In 2009, Chef Meherwan Irani (who grew up in Ahmednagar, in the midwestern state of Maharashtra in India) opened Chai Pani with his wife and business partner, Molly. It was the bottom of the great recession, but they had a crystal clear vision of what Chai Pani could be: They’d serve street food and home-cooked meals — the most underrepresented Indian foods in Western culture — by way of the unparalleled hospitality modeled to Meherwan as a child in his parents’ bed & breakfast. Chai Pani has since been recognized as sparking a revolution in Indian cuisine in America.

From Bombay to Asheville and Atlanta, Chai Pani has extended our love of food, hospitality, and storytelling to the south’s most essential culinary cities. In 2021, The New York Times included Chai Pani in their prestigious list of America’s Favorite Restaurants. And in 2022, 13 years after we opened our doors and ran out of food midday, Chai Pani Asheville was named Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation.

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• JAMES BEARD-WINNING INDIAN STREET FOOD FROM CHEF MEHERWAN IRANI •

A little more about Meherwan....
In addition to being a chef and restauranteur changing the perception of Indian food in America, Meherwan Irani is a leading voice in the industry’s conversation around diversity and cultural exchange. Meherwan was named by TIME Magazine as one of the “31 People Changing The South” and is a five-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast.

Meherwan leads a team of more than 300 as Founder, Chef and CEO of Chai Pani Restaurant Group that includes Chai Pani Asheville, Chai Pani Decatur, Botiwalla (Atlanta, Charlotte, and Asheville), and Spicewalla.

His pioneering work has resulted in widespread media attention including major national broadcast and features in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, bon appetit, GQ, Food & Wine, Men's Health, USA Today, Southern Living, and Garden & Gun, among others. His restaurants have graced the ranks of many “best of” lists including The New York Times list of “America’s Favorite Restaurants” (2021), bon appétit’s “Best New Restaurants,” Thrillist’s “Best Indian Restaurants in America,” and Eater's “The South’s 38 Essential Restaurants.”
A little more about Molly....
Molly Irani is the Co-founder and Chief Hospitality Officer of the James Beard Award–winning Chai Pani Restaurant Group in Asheville, NC. She manages a team of more
than 300 people across seven restaurants and a spice company and is responsible for Chai Pani's groundbreaking culture, management style, and "mindblasting" hospitality.

From the very beginning Molly set out to change what a restaurant can be by extending the hospitality environment to not only care for the guests, but for everyone — including the whole team, and the community at large. With a foundational belief that to be in the service industry is to be "of service" to humanity, she set up give back programs in all of the restaurants that support the local communities they are in.

Molly also oversees the design of their restaurant spaces, ensuring that they tell vibrant stories reflective of the culture of the food they serve. Molly grew up in the restaurant business with parents who owned a restaurant on the Carolina coast. Molly and Meherwan, her husband and business partner, call Asheville home where they've raised their daughter, Aria, and her two siblings (aka Goldendoodles) Rosie and Teddy.