The home of the Scandinavian Festival is quickly becoming known for another world of spices.  

Aroma of India is one of Junction City’s newest restaurants, offering a menu of foods popular in the Punjab area of South Asia. Opened by Satpal Singh in January of this year, the restaurant is part of his family’s Indian food joints in Lane County. 

Singh moved to Eugene in 2019 from India. Growing up, cooking was his passion when he was learning from his mother, and he says he’s continuing to learn every day. Whether he’s at home or at the Junction City restaurant, he’s trying out new recipes. 

“Every time I’m making food, I’m thinking, ‘If I can eat it, then anybody else will eat it,’” Singh says. 

Aroma of India is Singh’s second restaurant endeavor. He took over the Sardarni’s Kitchen in 2023, a food cart that runs outside Monkey’s Paw Tiki alongside three other food carts. He says the cart is now operated by his brother. 

Eugene boasts a healthy selection of Indian restaurants, from the longstanding Evergreen Indian Cuisine in the Washington Jefferson neighborhood to Royal India near Valley River Center. 

When Singh was developing his menu, he says he looked at what the other Indian restaurants offer. Other Indian restaurants in Eugene prepare their food in the styles of different regions of India. Royal India and Taste of India have menus focused on North Indian cultures, and Evergreen’s is South Indian. 

How Singh prepares his menu’s gravies — which are used as a base to various dishes — is how he differentiates himself from other restaurants. His onion gravies and tomato purees, he says, are prepared in a style more traditional to his Indian home state of Punjab. “I’m making it the traditional Indian way, like my mother made,” he adds. 

While Singh works in the kitchen, he says he experiments with gravies, the base to many of his menu’s dishes. Finding that right balance of spices is key for Singh, as too much of one thing can shift the flavors too far. But with that gravy base, Singh says it allows him to be versatile with customers and cook food to order. 

“Every time a customer orders, we make it fresh,” Singh says. “We are not making food in the morning and then serving it the whole day.”

With about half the menu dedicated to vegetarian dishes, Singh says he wondered if he had too many non-meat options. But he’s heard praise for those items. A vegetarian himself, Singh is quick to recommend the mutter paneer and the malai kofta, which features fried potato dumplings in a creamy sauce, as his favorite items on the menu.

The mutter paneer is seemingly the lighter dish on the menu, being a tomato-based sauce with a healthy heaping of peas and cuts of paneer, an Indian cheese. The malai kofta is more on the mild side for the restaurant with fried potato dumplings with a sweet flavor all in a creamier sauce. 

But carnivores can still get their meat fix. With tandoori, biryani and other curry options, Aroma of India has plenty of dishes that put meat in the center. For those seeking the thrill of a spicy dish, they’ll find refuge in the chicken kadai, a dish filled with bell pepper, onion and spice-tinged sauce. 

For the two worlds of vegetables and meat, Aroma of India has saag, available with chicken or lamb. Saag is a mix of leafy green vegetables and Singh says it’s one of the more popular dishes in the Indian state of Punjab and the Pakistani province of the same name.

Singh is planning to open a second Aroma of India in south Eugene around November this year. He says he plans to open the restaurant around 24th and Willamette Street. 

But for now, Singh relishes the success that he and Aroma of India have had in Junction City.

“Many times, we’ve had customers here and they’re eating Indian food for the first time in a long time, and we have people here who have been eating Indian food for a long time,” Singh says. “They say it’s different and out of this world.” 

Aroma of India is at 510 Greenwood Street, Junction City. Hours are 10 am to 10 pm every day. 541-234-2029. The Eugene location is planned for 2490 Willamette Street. 

Sardarni’s Kitchen is at 426 Main Street Springfield. Hours are 11 am to midnight Thursday through Sunday, noon to midnight Monday through Wednesday.