SINGAPORE – Many of Madam Parameshvari Kulanthaivelu’s childhood hours were spent watching the chefs in her family’s restaurant as they worked.
From her perch on the second floor of the shophouse in Selegie, she watched them cut and prepare vegetarian fare, including the multicoloured Deepavali sweets that filled the kitchen with hues of orange, yellow, beige and white.
Now at age 74, after retiring from a career in accounting, Madam Parameshvari is back at the family business helping her nephew run the now 100-year-old Ananda Bhavan Restaurant.
It is this spirit of pulling together to sustain the family business that has helped it reach its centenary, she told The Straits Times on July 20 before a dinner marking Ananda Bhavan’s entry into the Singapore Book of Records as the oldest Indian vegetarian restaurant in the country.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam attended the dinner at the restaurant in Syed Alwi Road in Little India with his spouse, Ms Jane Ittogi. They dined with around 150 other guests, including members of the family, staff, business associates and community leaders.
The restaurant debuted a new centenary menu with popular dishes from over the years from various culinary traditions, including banana flower vadai, curry noodles with monkey head mushroom and portobello mushroom briyani.
Originally at Ellison Building in Selegie Road, the restaurant was started by Madam Parameshvari’s father in 1924 and is now run by her nephew Viren Ettikan, 39.
The family lived above the restaurant then, and one could always call out for a thosai or a coffee, she said. The Selegie restaurant closed in 2018.
Today, Ananda Bhavan Restaurant has five outlets, employs 125 staff and has grown its menu over the years from serving only South Indian vegetarian food to include North Indian and fusion cuisine, she said.
It is also constantly innovating, using automation to cope with rising manpower costs, she added.
But things were not always smooth sailing, said Madam Parameshvari, who is now a director at the company, managing its accounting and finances.
Her father died in his 40s, leaving her mother widowed with six young children aged between three and 16 to care for and a business to run.
But her mother’s brother stepped in to help, and the two kept the business afloat until Madam Parameshvari’s brothers were old enough to take over.
The pair – Mr M.K. Ramachandra and Mr K. Nadarajan – took the reins in the early 1970s and expanded the brand to several locations, including Serangoon Road and Changi Airport. The airport eatery has since closed.
But tragedy struck again between 2009 and 2011, when the two brothers died suddenly in the space of two years.
Her nephew, Mr Viren – Mr Nadarajan’s son – stepped up as chief executive, and Madam Parameshvari and her sister, Ms Rajeswari, also returned to support him.
Madam Parameshvari said: “Though the loss of my brothers was painful, we all banded together to help Viren, just as our family has done before. I hope with this spirit we can keep going for another 100 years.”