Surtilocho, khaman and ghari on a Pattaya beach? Sounds incredible, but two Surti entrepreneurs have made this reality, with their restaurant right on the beach at one of the worlds hottest tourist destinations, in Thailand.
The business has been so well received by international tourists and Gujarati tourists alike, that it expanded from a 130-seating capacity to 500 over four floors in a year. A club house, a hotel and cruise are also being added, all with Surti cuisine.
“We went to a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Europe in search of a destination with lots of international tourists, apart from being a favorite with Indians and Surtis,” said Mafat Shiroya, who set up JG-7 company group in Thailand with his business partner Kamlesh Hirpara.
The duo settled on Pattaya after visiting number of places across the world. “We were amazed to find people of at least 35 different nationalities besides each other on Pattaya beach, drinking coconut water, and eating local fruits and delicacies,” said Shiroya.
“The idea was to give people the authentic Indian taste initially, but we now plan to give them a taste of authentic Surti that they will never forget,” said Hirpara.
“We have seen that in many foreign countries, the sweet section is restricted to a few baked items. In Thailand, sweets are almost absent except for sugar candies. Our plan is to make Gujarati and Indian sweets popular. We will introduce 150 different types of Surti, Gujarati and Indian sweets to international tourists there,” said Shiroya.
The restaurant that started two years ago is also getting a makeover. Sweets like sheera, shrikhand, gulab jamun, vedmi, mohanthal will find its way on the order of an English or Korean couple’s dinner, replacing pastries and pies.
Expert cooks for Surti sweets like ghari, ghevar , dudhi halwa have already been hired and sent to Pattaya and so have specialists for Surti farsan like khaman, patra, khandvi and khaja.
According to one estimate, nearly a lakh Gujaratis have travelled to Thailand every year, for the last 3 years. An equal number of South Indian tourists also go there.