After 15 years of cooking up"eclectic" food in a unique setting, Bijoy’s Restaurant in Aurora has served its last customers, with owners Bijoy and Sujata Kanianthra retiring.
The husband and wife duo operated the popular restaurant, located in a converted heritage house on Temperance Street, serving up their self-described eclectic array of food to a loyal crowd of diners.
“Our food spoke for itself, we built a lot of community in terms of — we had people who had their first dates here,” said Bijoy, who said the restaurant’s small dining room offered a unique setting that attracted regular clientele from in town and beyond.
While small in physical size, news of the restaurant’s closure on Oct. 13 was met with an outpouring of response from locals on social media.
“It wasn’t loud music, or thumping, the vibe was cozy, comfortable. People wanted to call it theirs, kind of thing,” Bijoy said.
The restaurant served breakfast, lunch and dinner, everything from homemade sourdough bread, salmon and butter chicken to pavlova, with an eye on creating healthy, quality food.
“What we call ourselves is a slow food place,” he said. “Good food is needed in any place.”
The 69-year-old said after the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a struggle to find staff, something that has been impacting a number of Aurora restaurants.
“In a small business, you are it. If the person doesn’t come into work, then you’re it,” he said. “While you can do it while you’re young, when you get older, you re-evaluate.”
Kanianthra said he also wanted to spend more time with his four grandchildren, aged one to seven years old, saying he thought that would be more “valuable."
He added that he was grateful for the support of the community and the town throughout the years, who he said were helpful during the process of converting the heritage house into a restaurant. The family owns the property at 42 Temperance St., and will maintain its business connections with the property.
Kanianthra said his daughter, Amira, a trained physiotherapist, plans to open a pilates studio once the restaurant is cleared out.
He added that he plans to take a break from cooking and spend some time on his other hobbies, like woodworking. Meanwhile, his wife is looking to teach healthy cooking classes to young people.
“If you cook your own food from scratch, there’s a great connection, a feeling of having done something, and it’s a de-stressor for a lot of people,” he said. “Food is like medicine, so it’s got to be taken care of well.”
Someday, Kanianthra said he may work on a cookbook of the recipes he’s perfected over the years.
“I’m proud that I could serve so many meals, and make so many connections,” he said. “We made a lot of friends, I think we served the community.”
