The Line: Modern Indian Restaurants Grow

Welcome to The Line, a newsletter for Cary and Western Wake from The Assembly Network. The Line connects the dots for local life with timely info, relevant news, interesting people and expert guides. 

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Off the Top: Cue The Office theme: I’ve got paper flyers for The Line launch event, and I’m looking for community message boards and other places to hang them. Reply if you know a good spot!

🚉 Arriving Now

1. Indian restaurant expansions in 2026
2. Events for MLK weekend
3. A new book club in Apex
4. Did you guess the coffee shop?

–Sarah Day

Coming to Western Wake in 2026: Modern Indian Restaurants Grow

Kaara Modern Indian photos by Matt Ramey for The Assembly Network

It’s no secret to anyone in Cary, Apex, Morrisville, and Western Wake County that our towns host some of the best international cuisine restaurants around. It’s reflective of our diverse communities. 

Now, there’s a growing appetite for the modern Indian dining experiences created by local restaurateurs, as Jasmine Gallup writes: 

Kaara Modern Indian opened in late fall 2025 in the new Sweetwater Town Center development in Apex. 

“We haven’t seen any place that is upscale in this area,” Kaara Modern Indian co-owner Bala Mummidi told Gallup. “That gave us a motive to start a restaurant with ambience and good food, a combination of both.”

Cheeni in RTP, from James Beard Award-nominated chef Preeti Waas, also opened in late 2025 at a new development in Research Triangle Park, Horseshoe at Hub.

“This April, popular Cary restaurant Urban Angeethi plans to reopen following a massive renovation,” Gallup writes. 

“And later this year, the team behind Durham’s Urban Turban Indian Grill and Bar plans to open a new restaurant in northern Cary: Reserve—Elevated Indian Dining,” in The Arboretum, home to Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Giorgios Bakatsias’ Naos restaurant.

Keep reading for more about each of the restaurants, including food specialties and expansion details.

Look for more features on what’s coming to Western Wake in 2026 in our Thursday newsletters this month.

📰 Previously: Salem Street’s 2026 transformation in Downtown Apex

🗓️ The Line launch party is another way we’re kicking off 2026! The Line is moving from  soft-launch mode to its full presence in the community. 

• Celebrate and get creative with us, and be part of the future of local journalism in Western Wake County. 
• RSVP for our launch party, which will start at 5:30 p.m. on January 28 at The Matthews House. 

In Brief | What I’d Tell You Over Cortados

🗓️ Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, and events lead up to the holiday. 

• Cary Dreamfest includes a showing of Good Trouble and discussion at The Cary Theater on Friday, stories and crafts at the Page-Walker Arts & History Center for elementary-age kids 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Saturday, the 2026 Dreamfest Cultural Arts Celebration on Saturday night, an interfaith service at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Christ the King Lutheran Church, an outdoor day of service at Cary parks and more. 
• In Apex, town events include a Black Author Exhibit and Creative Contest Presentation 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Apex Senior Center; a unity march and breakfast gathering beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday and MLK worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday, both at Apex First Baptist Church. 
• Holly Springs will host a Day of Service at Hunt Recreation Center 9 a.m. Monday with a collective project. Attendees will contribute to a “paint-by-number mural, transforming collaboration into a piece of community art.”

🗓️ The Mobile Museum and Fenton Martin Luther King Jr. Community Day will be in the Cary development’s square 12-2 p.m. with STEM activities for kids from the North Carolina Children’s Museum. Free, but register. 

What Else?

🏥 Duke Health’s planned growth in West Cary: The Triangle Business Journal reports on a 35-acre land purchase on Green Level West Road near its Duke Health Cary campus. Long-term plans include an inpatient hospital. 

📚 New book club in Apex: Southern Peak Brewery’s new location in Sweetwater (with pizza) just launched a book club, meeting on the first Monday of the month. 

💘 Pop-Update: Goodbye, North Pole on Chatham. Hello, The Love Shack. The Cary Beach House at 232 E. Chatham Street in Downtown Cary is now a Valentine’s Day theme. 

Did You Guess the Coffee Shop?

It’s Meeple’s Brew in Morrisville! Not just a coffee shop, but a board game cafe. 

Bianca H. guessed it correctly first, with a note that she enjoys Meeple’s for its wide selection of games and appreciates the business’s waste reduction efforts, including the use of glass and metal straws for on-site sips. 

Meeple’s Brew has two locations; This one is in Morrisville, tucked in the Park Place Shopping Center off Chapel Hill Road. The other is in Cary by Bass Pro Shops.

Try: A menu of breakfast sandwiches and waffles, smoothies, milkshakes, waffles, and of course, coffee or tea. 

What else to know: A game library pass is $5/day, with kids 12 and younger free with a paying adult. There are hundreds of games to play, from Ticket to Ride to Catan. 

Find it: 9545 Chapel Hill Road, Morrisville. Hours for the Morrisville location are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

The Line will be back in your inbox Tuesday!