Best Indian Food: Madras Masala

Pastel oranges and greens dot the walls of Madras Masala’s Packard Street building — a location celebrating its first anniversary in November. Madras planted its roots on Maynard Street for 20 years before a fire destroyed the old building in January 2023. That wasn’t enough to deter owner Gopalsamy Ramanujam, who opened the Packard Street location in November 2023. Since then, he has continued to deliver a harmonic blend of North and South Indian cuisine to the Ann Arbor community. 

Ramanujam described his approach to Madras Masala’s menu in an interview with The Michigan Daily.

“The menu is a mix of South and North Indian, and also of Indian and Chinese,” Ramanujam said. “Butter chicken is North Indian food, but chicken curry is South Indian food. We mix the combination of tradition. We want to bring Indian tradition to here, so our food is for everything in Indian cuisine.”

Ramanujam recounted his experience getting back into business after the January fire that destroyed the old building, and how he took a risk to bring his restaurant back, even if it wasn’t downtown.

“I didn’t sleep for four days,” Ramanujam said. “I couldn’t figure it out. After that, I looked for a downtown space to open it. I didn’t get any big space downtown. It came out a little risky, but I wanted to open my restaurant again.”

Many University of Michigan community members are still committed to visiting Madras’ new location. In an interview with The Daily, Ramanujam said the Packard Street locationhas given more local families an opportunity to enjoy the restaurant’s dishes because it is closer to the suburbs.

“Usually the downtown lunch crowd, like University professors and students, will come regularly for lunch,” Ramanujam said. “The turnout is a little bit less, but we’re getting family growth. Our community is always a very good support.” 

As the Packard location gears up to celebrate a year of being open, its owner is committing to giving any customer who enters the restaurant a positive experience.

“I always feel I need to make good food,” Ramanujam said. “I need to give good food and good service to my customers, my guests or whoever.”

Daily Staff Reporter Thomas Gala-Garza can be reached at tmgala@umich.edu.

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