The restaurant at 2105 Old Middlefield Way, Suite C is modeled after dhabas, or small roadside eateries in India that don't have refrigeration so only serve a few dishes until they sell out for the day, Singh said.
"That's what I wanted to do: to make fresh food every day (with) a very limited menu," he said.
Photo courtesy Gurinder Singh.
In d Go serves a few entrees, including the above butter chicken, goat curry and chana masala, plus rice, roti and dessert.
Singh said he grew up uninterested in studying the pursuits Indian society expected of him, such as becoming a doctor or engineer, so his parents sent him to Switzerland to study hotel management. He stayed in Switzerland for two years until a fateful call from his uncle, who asked if he wanted to come back to India to take a job in a restaurant.
Singh came to the United States in 1998 and worked as a server before opening a slew of his own restaurants over the next 15 years in Pennsylvania, California (including a stint in Mountain View) and Australia. In 2009, he moved back to India to learn more about Indian cooking and opened a restaurant there as well.
Several years later, he returned to California and started two new Indian restaurants, including a 9,000-square-foot banquet hall in Modesto that was fully booked with events for 2020. After the pandemic shutdown took effect last spring, Singh eventually saw the writing on the wall and shut it down.
"Covid has disrupted many people's lives and no one knows better than us how our life went from fully booked events to fully closed," Singh said.
Gurinder Singh cooking in the kitchen at the newly opened In d Go in Mountain View. Photo courtesy Gurinder Singh.
At In d Go, he's keeping things simple and small for now. But he hopes to roll out a meal delivery program for local tech companies when their offices reopen and has a large production kitchen that can churn out a high volume of food.
The menu includes some vegan options, including a vegan paneer tikka masala with garlic fried tofu instead of paneer cheese, and lassi made from homemade cashew and almond milk, coconut cream and mango pulp. The kitchen cooks with cashew to reduce the amount of cream in savory dishes, Singh said.
You can also order sides of the restaurant's homemade ghee, mango chutney, hot sauce and raita.
With the challenges of opening a new restaurant during the coronavirus, Singh is offering a 20% discount on all orders through the end of January.
In d Go is open for takeout only, Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4-8 p.m.
