Saffron Spice Kitchen

Some restaurants rely on shortcuts when making their food; they’ll buy cheaper ingredients or pad their dishes with oil or salt. But John Phineha, owner of Saffron Spice Kitchen, takes the high road when it comes to his cuisine. Since opening on August 21st 2013, he’s insisted on having only the best-quality ingredients for the best quality foods.

His soups, in particular, are a delicious stand out at this South Indian-inspired restaurant. “For the soups, we use no oil, no cream, no dairy, no starch, no flour or anything,” says John. “It’s just vegetables. It’s called ‘mulligatawny’; it’s a very Indian soup and it has a lot of healthy ingredients. We felt it was one of the healthiest soups we could introduce.”

It takes more skill and creativity in the kitchen to cook everything from scratch instead of relying on shortcuts, but John’s proud of the food he’s able to hand to his customers each day.