New Indian Restaurant Opening at Fomer Halifax Home of Long Dragon
SACKVILLE — There is good news for Haligonians who love Indian food. Royal King-Taste of India, a popular restaurant that opened in Saint John in 2021, is expanding to Sackville. Royal King will open at 963 Sackville Drive, where the Long Dragon restaurant once sat. The Long Dragon closed in January.
Dr. Rupali Saini, who owns the Royal King with her husband Chef Sandeep (Sandy), said Halifax customers can expect a lot of menu options.
“My husband grinds his own Indian spices; that’s what he carries with him that makes our food taste different,” said Saini, who has a Doctorate in English.
“We have all the options. If you want spicy, we have spicy. If you want hotter, we have hotter options. This menu is very long and people are going to have options for all the kinds of foods they want. We have mild options too, but they all have authentic Indian spices; they are not hot. In our Saint John location, people prefer eating the medium stuff and it’s very popular.”
Long Dragon announced they were closing on November 17, 2022 after more than 20 years in business. They posted a tear-jerking farewell message on social media prior to shutting down.
“We have poured our blood, sweat, and tears into making Long Dragon what it is today,” reads the final message. “And although it may be small, we like to think that it grows from year to year. From the sheer love, support, and patience of all our customers who have become a part of our family, Long Dragon has grown into something bigger.”
To this day, you will see people from Sackville post their sadness and surprise to find out Long Dragon has closed.
Rupali and Sandy first moved to the Maritimes from India in 2019 and took no time in developing their business empire. On top of the two Royal King restaurants, the couple also owns Grand King Indian grocery store in Saint John, and King’s Club in Moncton — although that nightclub will soon be moving to Saint John.
When looking for a Halifax location, Saini felt she and her husband were getting help from above.
“When you have good intentions, and you’re passionate about your work like my husband is, I think the almighty will definitely help you. So, when we were looking at locations in Halifax, we didn’t have to make too much effort. It was just looking at a place suitable for a restaurant and to go on Google.”
Even though the couple only opened their first restaurant two years ago, they were confident in their ability to expand so soon. That’s because business has been good at Royal King in Saint John. In fact, some customers have travelled from Nova Scotia to eat there and recommended making an expansion.
“From the day we opened it’s been very popular with takeout and dining, and is still very popular,” said Saini. “So that gave us confidence to expand because people from Halifax, especially people from our communities who travel for hours on weekends to have their meal, they suggested we should have a branch here.”
And now that Rupali and Sandy live in the Halifax area, they hope to keep expanding inside the HRM. When it was noted to her that she and Sandy must be very busy, Saini had a prompt reply.
“Yeah,” she said in a singsong voice. “Life is meant to be busy!”
“We have plans to expand in Dartmouth and Halifax soon, maybe within a year. So that’s why me and my husband have taken a house here Sackville. We live just three minutes from the restaurant.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].