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Bombay Star brings Indian cuisine to Valley
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Raj Singh, along with his brother, Ragubir, are co-owners of the new Indian restaurant Bombay Star, 813 Boardman-Poland Road, in Boardman. The restaurant’s menu features more than 100 items.
By Karl Henkel
BOARDMAN
There’s just about one of everything when it comes to stores and restaurants on U.S. Route 224 in Boardman. But until last week, there was one thing missing: Indian cuisine.
That changed when Raj and Ragubir Singh, two brothers from Bombay, opened Bombay Star, 813 Boardman-Poland Road.
“I’ve been waiting for an Indian restaurant for years,” said Isaac Bowald, 15, who recently visited the restaurant with his parents, Larry and Shirley Bowald. “We used to have to drive more than an hour [to Pittsburgh].”
The restaurant fills an area void for Indian food.
“We’ve received a very good response,” Raj said. “We’ve been very busy at night and during lunch time.”
It’s the second Bombay Star establishment.
The first, called Bombay Sitar, is owned by Ragubir and has been in Canton for nearly 10 years.
Raj said his restaurant brings a different kind of flavor compared with a typical Indian restaurant because he trained and worked as a chef for five years at the Taj Hotel in Bombay, now known as Mumbai.
Raj, 29, later moved to the United States, where he worked in New York at Bombay Palace.
He and Ragubir, 37, then decided to open up a second establishment in Boardman, located in Presidential Square Plaza.
“I saw many doctors — Indian and American doctors,” Raj said, referencing the medical offices behind the strip mall. “But everyone had to drive an hour from here to get Indian food.
“I came here to make people happy.”
Before his restaurant opened, Raj said he looked at menus from about 25 Indian restaurants throughout Ohio and said that although his establishment has many of the same items, he slightly modifies some for a unique taste, using what he learned working at the Taj Hotel.
The menu features more than 100 options ranging from appetizers to vegetarian to chicken specialties.
“I got a very good experience,” he said. “The very best experience.”