(Image source from: Hartford Business Journal)

A new Indian restaurant is slated to open Thursday on Asylum Street in Downtown Hartford in a two-floor space formerly occupied by the Life Ultra nightclub.

Manager Sanjith Reddy on Tuesday said the 136-seat restaurant, billed as Spice Venue, will offer a wide variety of Indian and American-style dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week.

The eatery, staffed by about a dozen people, will feature a sports bar and a private event room on the second floor overlooking Asylum Street, with nine TVs and projector screens flanking the 6,000-square-foot space.

Spice Venue will open daily at 7 a.m., closing at midnight from Sunday to Wednesday and at 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Alcohol will be served from 11 a.m. to close.

Reddy, who has spent much of his career in hotel management, said the restaurant’s menu is aimed at serving diverse groups of customers.

Its breakfast menu has American dishes including omelets, Belgian waffles, and french toast, in addition to traditional Indian meals like poori bhaji, dosa and an assortment of combo meals with rice, sambar and curry.

Lunch and dinner menus include grilled skewered chicken, chicken seekh kabab, apollo fish, chicken wings, butterfly shrimp, nachos and much other seafood and chicken based plates.

While food is a focus at Spice Venue, Reddy said they hope to draw the happy hour and nightlife crowds with a DJ staffed on certain Friday and Saturday nights.

Spice Venue is co-owned by Tharanidhar Parachuri and Yogesh Abbhuri, who formerly owned a now-closed Indian restaurant in Manchester.

Parachuri and Abbhuri began renovating the long-vacant space at 81 Asylum St. more than a year ago, adding new flooring, lighting, chandeliers, and an open kitchen.

Spice Venue, located near the Greenway Market grocery store and Subway sandwich shop, on Thursday will become the second Indian restaurant on Asylum Street.

By Sowmya Sangam