Le Tamaris Restaurant: Cantonese and Mauritian food to relish

Located on the first floor of the Municipal Complex of Vacoas at Swami Sivananda Avenue, Le Tamaris restaurant is the place to be for both Cantonese and Mauritian exquisiteness.

Le Tamaris is a contemporary restaurant, with a seating capacity of 100.  Its state-of-the-art cuisine fuses with the plethora of mouth-watering dishes prepared by the owner and Executive Chef, Kissan Sookha. Event management and administrative work are handled by his wife and co-owner, Anju Girdhari-Sookha.

Cantonese cuisine is one of the eight major styles of Chinese food and Le Tamaris proposes a variety of Cantonese food, among which there is its signature dish: “Le Riz Tamaris”. This colourful dish consists of rice, eggs, capsicum (red, green and yellow), carrots, dark mushroom and chicken. Lamb or seafood is also served upon request of the clients. Sao Mai, seafood platters, sizzlers and gratin are part of this Cantonese culinary exploration. The Mauritian masala fish curry, chicken curry, “bol renversé” and noodles are also available. Vegetarian food lovers are also catered for with gratin, Teokon curry, soup, fried noodles/rice/meefoon and a variety of finger snacks such as cheese and mushroom croquette and Hakien. A variety of liquor brands are also sold.

Opened since 2006, Le Tamaris was initially a snack run by the owner Kissan Sookha. He started this project alongside his video club at Camp Bombaye, Vacoas, in an area called Tamarin, thereby giving the name “Tamaris” to his culinary venture. The business kicked off successfully with a seating capacity of 50. Kissan reminisces with a sense of gratitude and pride that most of his clients were those coming to his video club. “I am a self-made man and I was happy at that time to open a revenue-generating enterprise, as I had saved every penny for it.”

Even with no preliminary training in cooking, the food prepared by Kissan and his appointed Chef was so delectable that he decided to turn the snack into a restaurant. This proved to be a commendable move as Le Tamaris gained more popularity such that its parking area became insufficient to accommodate the flow of clients. This explains the new location of Le Tamaris at the Municipal Complex of Vacoas – a focal place in the town centre which nobody can miss.

All menus at Le Tamaris are affordable and the prices are the same for tourists. Anju Girdari-Sookha highlights that the aim of the restaurant is to provide premium quality food, with the best products at reasonable prices. Le Tamaris has made a special arrangement for physically-challenged people. Besides its toilet, wheelchairs are also provided.

The setting of the restaurant has been designed in such a way that it can host conferences, betrothal ceremonies, receptions, corporate lunches or dinners and birthday parties. There is a private lounge which can accommodate 30 persons. An overhead projector is provided by the restaurant. In a quest to serve more clients, a take-away service for all menus is offered. Kissan Sookha mentions that a home-delivery service in the vicinity of Vacoas, free of charge, is in the pipeline for the year 2017.

Le Tamaris Restaurant can be viewed on Facebook and for reservation or more information, there are the following contact numbers: 696 3192, 5256 8408, 5757 8408. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays at these hours: 11.15 a.m-14.30 p.m for lunch and 6.15p.m -10.00 p.m for dinner. Any query can also be emailed to Kissan or Anju on the following email address: tamaris@orange.mu

The restaurant offers a VIP card, which gives a 5% discount on all menus, to those who come to the restaurant with a printed version of this article. Irrespective of the number of times a client comes to the restaurant with the VIP card, the discount will be valid. Enjoy your lunch and dinner at Le Tamaris!