Quick-service Indian food is on its way to Columbia, thanks to The Mint Room

Chicken tikka masala, anyone?

The owner of The Mint Room is launching The Mint Express, a new quick-service Indian restaurant in Howard County that will offer diners a faster option for takeout or a quick bite.

When it opens around June, The Mint Express will occupy a 2,500-square-foot space inside Columbia Palace Plaza at 8775 Centre Park Drive near Maryland Route 108.

The fast casual restaurant will serve Indian staples from both Northern and Southern India as well as a menu of Indo-Chinese dishes. Eighty indoor seats will accommodate dine-in customers.

The Mint Room and Mint Express are owned by Prince Anand, who is the prince of a small town in India. His family also ran restaurants in Mumbai and in Delhi, the country’s capital.

The restaurateur previously operated a number of local bars, including Hub Cap Inn and Hub Sports Bar and Grill on Belair Road in Baltimore. He launched the first branch of the Mint Room in Clarksville in 2016. Locations for the Indian concept in Ellicott City, Hunt Valley and Bel Air came next.

Anand says his two sons, who studied at Johns Hopkins, help him run the Mint Room and hope to expand the business nationally.

Christina Tkacik

christina.tkacik@thebaltimorebanner.com

Christina Tkacik is the food reporter for The Baltimore Banner.

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