thatman

I think you have got the wrong herb - they give away parsley which has almost the same leaf as coriander - my local veggie shop does the same. When I ask for coriander (cilantro) he goes in the back and gets out a bunch and charges one and a half euros. If I want mint I go into planters outside his shop and get as much as I want for free.

Ask if it is Perijl ( he told me to pronounce it pr - a - hill) then that is parsley

Ask if it is Cilantro - then it is coriander

Lionda

It's coriander

AdrianTO

Agree with most of what thatman has to say. It really depends on your goal. If you are expecting to make a living income out of this for two people, I would be skeptical. I don't think there is enough business to go around from what I know, at least on the Costa Del Sol. Around Puerto Banus, Marbella, Nueva Andalucia there are plenty of Indian restaurants. There will be British expats around there that will go for it, but probably not enough to sustain you.
Cooking for groups and dinner parties brings another set of complications. You will have to stockpile all the ingredients, they are not easily available in Spain. In addition, Indian food requires preparation space, most kitchens that I have seen on the CDS are miniscule.
Frozen or prepared Indian meals are not availabe in supermarkets. There is an opportunity there, however the cost of getting into the frozen food business is prohibhitive for most people.
Now, where it could POSSIBLY work is a large Spanish city like Madrid or Barcelona. I doubt you want to move to madrid if you are moving to Spain for the weather though, so Barcelona is a possibility. There you will get interest from sophisticated urban Spanish and other nationalities.

Sam Greenfield

I know this is gonna be a little off topic but when we were staying in Ayamonte in October we went to an Indian restaurant called Jags - the menu was excellent - he was busy the night we went and is apparently busy most nights.
I know for a fact that ValenciaTim over Valencia way says there is a great shortage of decent Indian restaurants over there - have you thought of starting a restuarant/cafe type of business??????
I for one love Indian food and regularly visit our local here in Heywood which is a great success and i know if i was over there i would be hunting out a good Indian for us there too.
Please keep us posted of your future.
Love Sam xxx

Casa Santo Estevo

The OP may have a good idea, but there are two things that they should be aware of. We write this with knowledge of our customers and food regulations.

1)As already stated the Spanish do not like Indian food very much, so that may limit your market a bit. If they do it seems to be the more miler types. However taste can still be good and spicy.
2)The other thing is you will have to have a certificate of Manipulador de Alimentos .The certificate and course will be in Spanish, plus and you will need to be inspected by the health inspector every now and again, i.e. on how you store the food and preparation.

However have you thought about how you are going to obtain supplies of good quality spices? There must be some one in Spain but maybe finding who will prove a bit harder than you think.
Good luck with your ideas.

Lionda

We've been told by a friend of ours (born and brought up in India) that there is a good Indian restaurant near us, we have yet to try it but I'll let you know if it's good. We've already tried one locally and although it was good it could be better.

AdrianTO

Here is another option, and if I were you, this is what I would do. I would start by setting up a market stall. A lot of towns have market days. For example, every Saturday there is a street market in Puerto Banus, every Thursday there is a farmers market in San Pedro. Even during the winter these markets are PACKED with the Spanish and with tourists. None of the markets I saw had any indian food stalls. Start with something simple, maybe even one dish, chicken curry and rice, who doesnt like that? Or even a chicken biryani, that is something the Spanish can relate to, it is a meat+rice paella type dish. Price it reasonably, maybe around 6 Euros a plate. At your stall put out some flyers adveritising indian cooking classes and/or home catering. Gauge the market reaction. Then decide how to proceed. If nothing, I would think you could take home a couple of hundred euros of profit each market day. In the summer months, probably more. Once you develop a reputation for good food and have a following, you can expand that to catering or a restaurant even.

Lionda

6 euros for something most people won't have tried before....that's a lot! Half that makes more sense. Speculate to accumulate.....like your idea

SueG

Now that is what I call a brilliant idea

AdrianTO

Well, sure, but I was calculating that for a restaurant size portion. That is around 200 gms of chicken. And I wouldn't recommend using anything but Basmati rice, and spices are not cheap either. He is not going to be buying in bulk the way restaurants do, at least not to start. So I would estimate the cost of ingredients alone to be around 2+ Euros.

But, sure one could offer a smaller half size portion for 3 Euros and he might end up selling more of those in the long run.

jdr

Do the councils in Spain allow hot food stalls on markets though ?
Plus there is a rotor system here as there are not enough places for the stall holders every week.

Lionda

That's more like it...less waste also

Yes they do here ....well I have seen hot food stalls, whether they are legal or not though

jdunbavin

There is only one Indian Restaurant here in Sevilla and it is always packed and it is not that brillant. There are a lot more expats here now with Airbus. I for one would love to have a good Indian Resaurant or someone to come and cook one for me here in Seville and I know a lot of my friends (inc. some Spanish) would love it too! Good luck!

fionamw

Hi, just dropped in to say Yay! a positive thread! Good luck NewPerspective, AdrianTO's come up with what seems to me to be a sound idea....nb love Indian, doubt if our neck of the woods would provide you with much trade, though

noelrosie

There is an Indian resturant in Pego, which manages to do a three-course lunch for 9E .. haven't got to eat there ourselves yet (when you come over to Spain just for holidays, why would you not want to eat Spanish food) but have heard good reports!

But, jdunbavin, could you please PM me with the details of the Indian restaurant in Seville (or post on here if that is allowed) ... I know for a fact that our daughter and her friends at University there would love a change from the Spanish/Italian restaurants which abound. They occasionally visit the Irish bar by the Giralda, which does a nice Irish breakfast, and have found Chinese food ... but an Indian would make a real change!