Buffalo Grove has a new fast-casual option for pan-Indian cuisine. Naani's opened at 298 McHenry Road inside The Clove, the village's sprawling town center redevelopment, offering biryanis, curries, chaat and more.
The restaurant is the second for owner Taran Singh, who has lived in Buffalo Grove for nearly 20 years and works full-time as a data scientist, according to the Daily Herald. Singh, who is originally from northern India, called the restaurants his passion project, per the same account. He first opened Naani's Cafe in 2024 at 776 S. Route 59 inside Naperville's Mall of India, a 116,000-square-foot South Asian commercial center that opened in 2020 inside a converted former Walmart, according to the Daily Herald's earlier reporting.
Singh told the paper that Naani's aims to be more affordable than Indian restaurants generally are, serving dishes from both northern and southern India. The menu spans biryanis, curries, chaat, Indo-Chinese dishes, tiffins, snacks and desserts, and he recommends the biryanis or curries to anyone looking for a spicier dish. The most popular item, he said, is chole bhature, a plate that pairs chickpea curry with deep-fried leavened flatbread.
What's On The Menu, And What It Costs
Regular biryanis run $12.99 to $17.99, while biryani buckets cost $25.99 to $35.99, the Daily Herald reported. Curries range from $11.99 to $16.99, and the weekday lunch thali is priced at $16.99 for vegetarian meals and $18.99 for nonvegetarian ones. Punjabi samosas start at $3.99 for two. Singh markets the food as something all cultures can enjoy, the outlet noted.
Naani's arrival also marks the return of Indian cuisine to the site of the former town center, which Kensington Development Partners and UrbanStreet Group have been rebuilding into a $150 million, 22-acre mixed-use hub known as The Clove, according to Patch. The project includes roughly 78,000 square feet of new retail space, a central public park and mixed-use residential space, and grew out of concepts in the village's 2018 Lake Cook Corridor Market Study and Plan.
A Growing Dining Lineup At The Clove
The Daily Herald noted that The Clove is still filling storefront space even as its dining roster grows. Chick-fil-A opened there in September 2023, followed by Guzman y Gomez in November 2023, Panda Express in July 2024, and Dutch Bros Coffee more recently. Singh said he hopes Naani's can help spur additional business to the development.
Buffalo Grove Village President Eric Smith called Naani's a welcome addition to the village, noting that residents have been asking for more locally owned restaurants, according to the Daily Herald. Smith also pointed out that Naani's is a family-owned business, a detail he said fits with what the community has wanted to see at The Clove.
A Demographic Backdrop To The Expansion
The new restaurant also lands in a village where Asian residents make up nearly 30% of the roughly 43,000-person population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. That demographic backdrop sits alongside a residential boom at The Clove itself: the development's seven-story building, The 250 Residences, holds 294 luxury apartments and is more than 90% leased.
The Clove is also expected to gain a long-awaited grocery anchor. Whole Foods Market signed a lease in March to occupy a 43,000-square-foot space originally planned for Amazon Fresh, with an opening targeted for 2027 after village officials approved an 8,000-square-foot fulfillment section, the Daily Herald reported separately. Kensington Development Partners has continued expanding the project's footprint as well, purchasing two adjacent vacant outlot parcels formerly occupied by Burger King and Boston Market in January 2025 for further commercial buildout.
The momentum at The Clove has already shaped planning elsewhere in the village. Buffalo Grove officials this year approved changes to convert the former Dominick's building into a Sprouts Farmers Market and fitness center; a separate apartment proposal was still awaiting review by the Planning and Zoning Commission, according to the Journal & Topics.
