A new Pakistani restaurant has opened in downtown Orillia.
Chachu’s opened its fifth location Monday at 6 Front St. N., where the 5 Indian Sisters restaurant used to be.
The business is owned and operated by Az Raja, who, along with his partner, Obaid Ullah, started the chain in Toronto more than a year ago.
“We started by working in somebody else’s kitchen,” Raja explained. “We were working from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ... and that’s how we tested out the product to see if people liked the food.”
Chachu’s immediately took off, which allowed them to open their first location in North York during the fall of 2021.
“Ever since then, we haven’t stopped growing,” Raja said. “We want to keep expanding as much as possible to become the next brown McDonald’s. That’s our vision for this place in the next five to 10 years.”
Raja, 25, says what makes Chachu’s unique is its simple menu with four flavours of rolls and bowls that include tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, chapli kabab, and veggie. For dessert, the restaurant serves a milk cake and chai tea.
“The food we are serving is Pakistani fusion Canadian food,” Raja said. “We are trying to mix both cultures together.”
The food is cooked Pakistani style with the marinating and the flavours, but the sauces being used are Canadian style, Raja explained.
“This is more like street food,” he said. “It’s not proper cuisine food, but the marination is properly flavourful.”
Bringing the restaurant to Orillia gives Raja and his partner a chance to see how their product is received outside of the Greater Toronto Area.
“A lot of people come to Orillia for their cottages and Lake Simcoe,” he said. “That’s why we decided to give it a try.”
Although the restaurant only recently opened, Raja says the feedback has been positive so far.
“Everybody is loving the food,” he said. “They like the flavours. They think it’s unique, and the prices are affordable.”
He encourages everyone to give his restaurant a shot, even those who aren’t traditionally fans of that style of food.
“I know when people hear Pakistani food, they think it’s going to be spicy,” he said. “It’s not. Nothing is too spicy and it’s not bland. It has the perfect flavours.”
As the restaurant does on the first of every month, on Wednesday, Chachu’s will donate all sales to charity.
“Ever since we’ve been open, we’ve been doing this,” Raja said. “We want to give back to the community as much as possible because we believe the only reason we’ve been able to survive and come this far is because we’ve been doing this for charity.”
On Wednesday (today), Chachu’s is partnering with the International Development and Relief Foundation, which is on a mission to support people affected by the monsoon season in Pakistan.
“A lot of people lost their houses,” Raja said. “All the agriculture fields were destroyed, so we want to help as many people as possible.”
Chachu’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. The full menu can be found here.
