When Jatinder Singh first moved to Rolleston, he'd drive down Tennyson Street and think the same thing every time: I wish there was an Indian restaurant here.
Today, he doesn't have to wish. He's the one doing the cooking. Step inside Indian Dreams Rolleston on any given night, and here’s what you’ll find: young couples sharing a table, families with kids, and locals happily enjoying dishes you won't easily find anywhere else in Canterbury.
While most local spots stick to the familiar favorites, Jatinder's menu leans into a wider, more adventurous spread—pairing delicious street food and Indo-Chinese dishes with Nepalese momos and regional recipes from across India.
Ask for his personal recommendation, and he won't point you to a standard butter chicken. He’ll tell you to start with the honey cauliflower (crispy cauliflower fried and tossed in a tangy sauce), perhaps followed by a tawa lamb tikka (lamb cooked in secret spices and served on a sizzling hot plate).
And then there's the spice test. "Everybody thinks Kiwis don't handle spice," Jatinder laughs. "But I have many Kiwi customers who eat hot food—some even go for the extra hot,which is more than I could handle myself to be honest."
That connection to the local palate is a long way from where it all started. Back in 2011, Jatinder packed his bags in Punjab and touched down in Canterbury, ready to study business.
A year later, he took his first job in an Indian restaurant, which turned into a seven-year stint and ultimately led him to start running restaurants of his own—opening Indian Dreams in Rolleston 2023 (and a second location in Linwood in 2024).
Good things take time, and it was a year to get everything sorted before the doors opened. But Jatinder says the welcome from Selwyn and Rolleston more than made up for it.
"They welcomed us with so much love," he says. “That’s Rolleston for you”.
It's not just the welcome, either—the town's mix of cultures is part of the appeal, Jatinder says.
"Everybody knows it's the fastest growing town in the whole of New Zealand," he says. "There's such a wide community here—so many different cultures all living together. So we wanted to create something that would appeal to everybody."
That same instinct—to provide something for everybody—is behind Jatinder's next move: a food truck, already in the works, that will take Indian Dreams out into the community itself.
“The plan is to show up at cultural events and festivals around Rolleston, serving people who might not otherwise make it through the restaurant's doors.”
There's a handful of new dishes joining the menu in the coming months, too—but ambition has never been the problem for Jatinder.
"I always had a dream to open a restaurant," he says, "and that's why we named it Indian Dreams."
