Three Mumbai expats reunited in Toronto to open this splashy new Indian restaurant
Aangan was years in the making
Name: Aangan
Contact: 556 College St., aangantoronto.ca, @aangan.toronto
Neighbourhood: Little Italy
Owners: Tatoba Rane, Vedangi Rane and Abhishek Sharma
Chef: Mukesh Padaya
Accessibility: Not fully accessible
Tatoba Rane, Vedangi Rane and Abhishek Sharma first crossed paths at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai. While Vedangi worked back of house, Tatoba and Abhishek were in the front, climbing the ranks to management positions.
“I worked in-room dining while Tatoba managed the rooftop bar,” says Abhishek. “He was ending his shifts as I was starting mine. We knew of each other and respected one another, but we never actually worked together.”
Abhishek stayed in Mumbai for a time, but Tatoba and Vedangi (who later married) moved around the world, working for luxury hotel brands including W and St. Regis. “Vedangi and I wanted to grow our family, but at the time we were living and working in the Maldives,” says Tatoba. “The island, though beautiful and exotic, isn’t the best place to raise children, so we decided to move to Canada.”
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In 2020, the couple landed in Toronto, and after navigating the bureaucratic maze of securing a work permit and weathering the pandemic, Tatoba joined Adrak as restaurant manager in 2022.
Meanwhile, Abhishek had moved to Vancouver. “I got a work permit and a job at a pizza shop. Coming from fine dining, it was new and foreign to me, but I loved it.” In 2022, he received permanent residency and headed straight for Toronto, where he applied to work at Adrak.
“Out of the blue, I got a DM on Facebook Messenger,” says Abhishek. “It was Tatoba asking if I was the one who applied. He hired me on the spot.”
The pair worked together at Adrak for a year before moving on to help open Black and Blue in 2023—Tatoba as AGM and Abhishek as restaurant manager. They spent the next two and a half years there, quietly sketching out plans for an upscale restaurant that would showcase the cuisine of their home country through a modern, elegant lens.
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“When we both resigned, our boss, Emad Yacoub, said he wouldn’t let us go unless we were going somewhere that deserved us,” says Abhishek. “When we told him we were branching out on our own, he graciously accepted our departure.”
Now, Aangan—Hindi for “courtyard,” which is often considered the heart of the home—casts a polished but unfussy spotlight on India’s coastal cuisine. It’s the stuff of quiet ambition and deeply personal cooking.
The Food
Despite the glut of Indian restaurants in the city, the Mumbai-bred team thought Toronto’s understanding of India’s cuisine was narrow, often confined to curries, rice and naan. The menu at Aangan branches out to include dishes from all over the country, reimagining traditional coastal fare with modern precision and inventiveness. “Our menu is an attempt to elevate and showcase our culture,” says Abhishek.
The menu spotlights generational recipes, like their take on kombadi vade, a celebratory chicken curry from the Konkan region, made using Tatoba’s mother’s recipe. Or tandoor-fired meats layered with smoke and prepared with restraint. Even familiar staples are reworked with finesse: the paneer terrine features delicate ribbons of the cheese, rolled and folded with fresh herbs like a savoury roulade. It lands somewhere between saag paneer and a pesto-laced cannelloni.
The Drinks
Aangan’s zero-proof cocktails and their boozier counterparts incorporate Indian ingredients and flavours. The fruit-forward Kashmiri Royale, for example, takes its cues from the mountainous Kashmir region, known for its apples and plums. There’s even a drink made with mangosteen sourced directly from Tatoba’s own courtyard in India, weaving a personal thread through a program that feels as transportive as it is technical.
The Space
With its luxurious fabrics, ornate metalwork, jungle-themed wallpaper and stained-glass peacock behind the bar, the dining room feels like picnicking in a palatial garden. And every plush banquette is angled to create the intimacy of a private corner table—so each guest is made to feel like royalty.
Erin Hershberg is a freelance writer with nearly two decades of experience in the lifestyle sector. She currently lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two children.
