Robin Godwin: Fast Casual South Indian Concept ‘Krishna Aunty’ Coming to Cross Street Market in Federal Hill

Fast casual South Indian concept Krishna Aunty is opening in the next couple of weeks at Cross Street Market in Federal Hill. Krishna Aunty will fill a stall vacated by Phubs last year.

Krishna Aunty is owned by the husband and wife Joseph Moroney and Divya Gopal. Moroney is from Ireland and Gopal grew up in North Carolina with parents from South India. The two met in London and moved to Baltimore last year.

Gopal works full time in finance. Moroney was a lawyer in Ireland and London and “didn’t want to move sideways or backwards” in his legal career when moving to the United States. He always wanted to start his own business, so came up with the idea for Krishna Aunty.

Moroney was used to North Indian dishes commonly available in the United Kingdom, but found the food Gopal was eating at home much different. He really enjoyed the cuisine and figured there must be many others who would enjoy this style of food as well.

The duo launched Krishna Aunty a year ago as a virtual restaurant based out of B-More Kitchen in North Baltimore. Moroney said he wanted to start virtually to learn more about the business before investing too much capital. They later began searching for a pop-up space as the next step for the business.

Gopal and Moroney met with Caves Valley Partners about a space at Cross Keys in North Baltimore, but both parties decided it wasn’t a great fit and decided to look at Cross Street Market instead. Krishna Aunty has committed to six months at the market and Moroney hopes it will eventually become permanent.

The inspiration for the name comes as Krishna is the middle name of Gopal and Moroney’s son and the first name Gopal’s mother. Aunty is a “respectful and informal term for an older woman in India,” said Moroney.

Moroney said Krishna Aunty is “homestyle Indian dishes, but convenient for an American lifestyle.” The menu offers wraps in an Indian flatbread as well as bowls using rice, spinach, or a rice and spinach combination. Moroney said 60 percent of the menu is suitable for vegans or vegetarians.

The combinations that come as a wrap or bowl are Channa Masala with chickpeas stewed in garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, chili, and cumin; the Beans & Potato Kura with potatoes and green beans infused with the flavors of ginger, garlic, and chili; Aloo Gobi with potatoes and cauliflower flavored with ginger, garlic, turmeric, chili, and coriander; Andhra Chicken with chicken cooked in cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric, and chili; and the Keema with ground lamb with peas infused with cloves, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, garlic, and ginger.

“Having worked in a job where you are in the office all day, I like the idea of having something that is a good healthy option that isn’t compromising on taste and isn’t going to leave you still hungry,” said Moroney.

Krishna Aunty will be open every day at 11am and will close Sunday to Wednesday at 8pm, Thursday at 9pm, and Friday and Saturday at 10pm. It will be available on the delivery apps and for online order on Krishna Aunty’s site.

Moroney said he enjoys that Cross Street Market is walking distance to his home in Federal Hill and likes the market concept.

When asked about up the ups and downs of Cross Street Market coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moroney said, “One of the things very important to me was that the people involved in the market were very enthusiastic about plans going forward and had concrete ideas. As these plans are now starting to come to fruition, people will come back in large numbers and, as vendors, we need to give them a reason to come back.”