CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 33 Hungry Fayetteville resident Teresa Dagat spent the first few minutes of her lunch break on Wednesday, sitting in a parked car contemplating one of life's most persistent questions: Indian or Japanese? D agat said that her new job was located near the quaint Cliffdale Road adjacent shopping center, which served as home to two of the most talked about restaurants in town, the Bombay Bistro and the Sakura Restaurant, locat- ed in suites 1101 and 1109, respectively. "I'm not sure where we're going to eat yet, I'm always too indecisive," Dagat said between glances at her phone. "I'm waiting on a friend (to text me back) and she'll be the deciding factor. I haven't been to either yet, but I have heard great things about both, you know? It's better than fast food and I always like to try something different." While both restaurants serve two very different types of dishes and cel- ebrate two very distant cultures, the two have more in common than just an address. Like Bombay Bistro, the Sakura Res- taurant was purchased by its owners only aer the first owners gave up. Own- ers Eva Freeman, her brother Tung-Mei "Tommy" Chou and business partner Judy Gin took over Sakura, which first opened in 1995, in 2012. Freeman said she had worked in the restaurant indus- try for a long time, before retiring, but was tempted to return when longtime friend Gin had approached her about helping her run Sakura. "Aer the (original) owner retired, my friend Judy said, 'come here,' be- cause the place already had very good business. It is really stress free," Free- man said. "I am kind of still retired. No pressure. Business is good. I don't care if we make a lot of money, we just have fun. I watch lunch and Gin watches dinner." For Bombay Bistro's owner Kanila Kishan and her husband Kumar, they had a bit more of an uphill battle to get their restaurant to where it is today. Ac- cording to Kumar, the previous owner did not have the time to give the restau- rant the attention it needed to flourish or stay clean and so he and his wife had to essentially throw everything out and start from scratch when they took over the restaurant in 2005. Kumar said that taking over Bombay Bistro was as much a second chance for them as it was for the restaurant. "What happened 11 years ago, was that I had managed a property in South Carolina, a motel and some dishon- est people had become involved. I lost $130,000 of mine and my in-laws mon- ey. We had nothing aer that," Kumar said. "At that time Bombay Bistro was owned by another couple and they had trouble with the chef. One of our friends lives here in Fayetteville and they asked us to come work for the previous owner. Aer only two months of working with them, they said, 'we need you here, we can't always be here all of the time.' is place was literally run down and made us an offer to buy it." Aer some thought, Kanila sought a loan from her parents, who were still understandably unhappy about the loss of the motel. Her parents agreed to give the two the money, on the condition that Kanila be named the sole proprie- Think You've Missed Out on Registering for Classes? Think Again! Register Now! Registration fees range from $100-$180 each! www.faytechcc.edu/ continuing_education Registration is STILL OPEN for the following Continuing Education Certifi cate programs: Accounting Clerk Online 678 -8446 Administrative Offi ce Assistant Online 678 -8446 CAT V Cabling 678 -8494 Certifi ed Nursing Assistant 678 -7368 Computer Technician Online 678 -8446 Customer Service Representative Online 678 -8446 Electronic Health Records Professional Online 678 -8446 EMT Paramedic 678 -8251 Esthetics and Skincare 678 -0032 Health Information Technician Online 678 -8446 ICD -10 Fast Track for Professional Coders Online 678 -8446 Manicuring and Nail Technology 678 -0032 Medical Administrative Assistant Online 678 -8446 Medical Billing Online 678 -8446 Medical ICD -10 Coding Online 678 -8446 Medical Transcription Editor Online 678 -8446 Records Clerk Online 678 -8446 Registered Medical Assistant 678 -7368 Welding Technology 678 -8494 Working in the Pharmacy Online 678 -8446 CONTINUING EDUCATION Owner Kanila Kishan and her employee, Carlos

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