A restaurant that once catered to SeaWorld tourists is trading theme-park traffic for small-town Main Street. Curry Mantra Indian Bistro & Sweets, previously located on Westwood Boulevard in Orlando near SeaWorld and the Orange County Convention Center, is relocating to 60 East Main Street in downtown Apopka, with owner Inderjeet Singh telling a reporter the move should happen in about a month.
Singh decided to move the restaurant north, following his family's relocation to Apopka. In a phone interview with Business Debut, Singh said the restaurant is relocating because his family moved to Apopka and residents in the area had been asking for Indian cuisine closer to home. The new spot will seat about 45 guests and sits roughly two blocks from Apopka City Hall at 120 East Main Street, placing the bistro in the heart of the city's civic and commercial corridor, according to the City of Apopka.
The address itself has seen plenty of turnover. The space previously housed Chuck's Wagon Home Cooking before Hicks Seafood House of Apopka took it over with a ribbon-cutting in July 2024, per The Apopka Chief. Hicks Seafood House of Apopka LLC lists 60 East Main Street as its address and was filed on December 1, 2023.
A Menu Built Around Buffet, Fusion and Street Food
Curry Mantra plans to open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. without an afternoon break, the restaurant's target hours per the same account. A lunch buffet will run from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; a specific closed day, if any, would be announced. The bistro also plans beer and wine service under a 2COP license, a Florida permit that allows on-premises and sealed takeout alcohol sales without the minimum seating, square footage, or 51% food-revenue requirements tied to full-liquor licenses, according to Permit Place.
The menu stretches across several regional traditions. North Indian Punjabi staples like butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, chicken korma, goat curry and lamb curry will sit alongside South Indian dosas and sambar, plus Indo-Chinese dishes including hakka noodles, gobi Manchurian and chili chicken. The restaurant will serve halal chicken, lamb and goat, and the kitchen grinds its seasonings and spices individually rather than relying on pre-mixed blends.
Fusion items will round out the lineup, including butter chicken quesadillas, butter chicken pasta, and vegetarian versions made with vegetable butter masala. Singh's team also plans New Delhi-style street foods such as aloo tikki burgers and paneer burgers, along with drinks like mango lassi, Limca and Thums Up. Handmade sweets will include Bengali sweets soaked in sugar syrup, condensed milk sweets, and cashew-based confections.
From India to Central Florida's Restaurant Scene
Singh moved from India to Central Florida at age 12 and started working in Indian restaurants at 16, telling Business Debut the restaurant industry has been his work for 16 years. He still runs a sister restaurant, Divine Indian Cuisine, on West U.S. 192 near Disney's Animal Kingdom, a clay-oven tandoori spot that has operated since 2011 and offers clearly designated vegan options, according to its own listing at Divine Indian Cuisine.
Why Downtown Apopka, Why Now
The move lands in a city that has grown fast and diversified quickly. Apopka's population was estimated at 65,552 in 2025, up 19.4% from a revised April 2020 base. The 2020 Census counted 54,873 residents. The city is the second-largest in Orange County, per the City of Apopka. Census Bureau survey estimates cited by Data USA also show 21.8% of the city's population was foreign-born as of 2024, more than 12,700 residents.
The new bistro will be located on East Main Street in downtown's civic core. Nearby, Apopka's dining and housing landscape has been shifting too: a 192-unit affordable housing community called Southwick Commons opened on Brighton Avenue near downtown in August, adding residential density close to Main Street, as Hoodline reported. Meanwhile, the IHOP on West Orange Blossom Trail closed its doors this month for renovations after operating in Apopka since 2019, with no reopening date yet set.
