In celebration of CultureFest, we’re sharing the people, cultures and flavours behind Selwyn’s local eateries. For Deep Kumar of The Bicycle Thief Lincoln, that journey stretches from the Himalayan foothills to Italy and ultimately Selwyn, where he now brings an authentic taste of Italy to the heart of Lincoln.
For Deep Kumar, the road to running one of Lincoln's most popular neighbourhood dining spots hasn't been a straight line. To the contrary, it has run through the snow-capped mountains of northern India and the bustling trattorias of Italy before finally settling in Canterbury.
As owner and head chef of The Bicycle Thief in Lincoln, Deep brings an unexpected cross-cultural perspective to Italian cuisine. Growing up in a small village in Himachal Pradesh in the foothills of the Himalayas, food was never something bought off a shelf.
"We didn't have big food franchises there," Deep recalls. "In summer, you grew vegetables and that's what you eat. Or you would preserve them for winter. It was very much what we could grow ourselves, or what we traded with people in the village."
After formal chef training in southern India and a stint studying in Rotorua, Deep's culinary curiosity eventually led him to Italy, drawn by the parallels between Italian and Indian food—both fiercely proud of their culinary histories, and both rich with regional variations. Working his way through the trattorias of Italy, he traded dishwashing and prep work for hands-on lessons in pasta and pizza.
Among the chefs who taught him along the way, one stood out: Giovanni, in Naples, whose name Deep later borrowed for his own restaurant. His first Giovanni's opened in Rotorua in 2016, followed by Mamma Rosa Pizzeria in the same city—before a second Giovanni's opened in Christchurch in 2018.
It was The Bicycle Thief, though, that would become his biggest project. The restaurant first opened in Christchurch's Latimer Square in 2007, before relocating to Tai Tapu in 2014—taking over a heritage building dating back to 1875, previously home to the Rossendale wedding venue. But trade dropped off outside the busy summer months in the countryside location, and Deep wanted somewhere customers could reach more easily, especially through winter.
In 2025, he brought The Bicycle Thief to Lincoln—creating something that went beyond simply serving Italian food. Alongside it, Deep also owns Ratana Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in Rolleston, which he opened in 2022.
“When you come to The Bicycle Thief, we want to provide you with that real Italian experience,” he says. It's an experience built around fresh pasta, traditional Italian dishes and a restaurant designed to feel unlike anywhere else in Lincoln.
“It's a journey to Italy without leaving for Italy,” Deep says.
Deep says the December reopening exceeded anything he'd experienced before. "We were hitting about 100 to 120 people through the door every single day when we opened and we had a waiting list right through until March," he says.
Current menu favourites include Arancini, Pappardelle Al Ragu, and Tuesdays are Locals Night—any pizza or pasta for $25, finished off with a scoop of gelato, the way it's done in Italy.
When it comes to setting down roots in Selwyn, Deep says he’s found a place that reminds him of home.
"Why I like Selwyn is because it's close to the snow and close to the mountains," he says. "And it still has that village feeling. It's not too crowded, and everything is very accessible."
When asked why he's never opened an Indian restaurant—he gets asked that a lot—Deep says he’s in no rush.
"Indian food takes a lifetime to master," he laughs. "The spices, the balance—it's ever-evolving. I don't think I'm ready for that one yet.
CultureFest 2026 is on Sunday 13 September, 10am–3pm at the Lincoln Event Centre — a free, family-friendly day of live performances, international food, and hands-on cultural activities celebrating Selwyn's diversity.