You’re invited to share leftover meals with us – Taichung’s Indian curry restaurant launches a “community leftover dining” initiative

▲ The Indian curries at Seven Happiness Kitchen have a unique flavor that’s hard to find elsewhere. (Photo /Seven Happiness Kitchen. Official Facebook page, same applies below)

By Li Zi Yi / Reporting

A newly opened eatery in Taichung, Seven Happiness Kitchen, specializes in Indian curries that you can’t find anywhere else in Taiwan. The founder, Yang Qixi, has launched a program called “Community Leftover Dining,” where daily leftovers are offered to anyone who wants them. Just walk in and set your own price – no rules. You can drop any amount into the donation box, or trade labor, items, or ingredients for a meal.

Yang Qixi confidently shares that to create Indian curry flavors you can’t find elsewhere, she personally visited many Indian restaurants to taste and refine the recipes. Additionally, there’s an Indian team member at Seven Happiness Kitchen who helps adjust the taste. The result is a flavor reminiscent of home-cooked Indian meals—completely different from typical restaurant offerings and hard to find elsewhere in Taiwan.

▲ Spicy and sour pork curry, single-curry set meals.

Serving meals from 2 PM to 8 PM, Yang Qixi not only sells Indian curry rice but also delivers meals to the homeless. She believes that the spices in Indian curry are good for health, and that those in need require more than just food—they need nutrition too. That’s why she chose to offer her homemade Indian curries to the homeless. Seven Happiness Kitchen is just one part of Yang Qixi’s larger “Urban Planning Lab.” Her main goal is to help improve Taichung. As she puts it, Seven Happiness Kitchen isn’t just a restaurant—it’s a social enterprise brand. Every product here is linked to a corresponding nonprofit organization.

▲ Seven Happiness Kitchen.

There’s a lot Yang Qixi wants to do for society. Her first step is to get Seven Happiness Kitchen running smoothly—to show that even without backing from big corporations, ordinary people can run social enterprises and make a meaningful impact while still earning a living. The restaurant also runs other initiatives, such as promoting small-scale farming, hosting DIY workshops, board game nights, and encouraging shops to host TNR (trap-neuter-return) program boxes. For example, she says, “Last night we played the board game Power Grid, which taught us about green energy trends. Through games, we can share new knowledge.”

▲ Menu.

The menu at Seven Happiness Kitchen changes daily, with four main types of Indian curry on offer: mildly spicy “Classic Masala Chicken Curry” and “Indian Spicy Pork Curry,” medium-spicy “Spicy Braised Chicken Curry,” and a non-spicy, vegetarian “Bean Sprout & Mushroom Curry.” To reduce food waste, unsold “leftovers” are available between 8 PM and 10 PM for anyone who wants them. Yang Qixi hopes visitors feel relaxed and not stigmatized. You can work off your meal—by washing dishes, wiping windows, or helping close up the shop—or trade items she needs for a meal. The simplest option? Pay what you think the meal is worth and drop the money in the box.

Seven Happiness Kitchen is just the beginning. Yang Qixi has many more plans, the biggest being the Frangipani Action Salon. In partnership with local shops, single mothers, rehabilitated individuals, and the homeless will ride retrofitted tricycles to sell artisan goods, spread messages, and promote artists’ works. This will then expand to 15 locations across Taiwan. Building on the Seven Happiness Kitchen concept, she also aims to establish direct sales points for organic small-scale farmers and recycle “imperfect” organic produce for the leftover food program. In addition, she plans to collaborate with willing shops to place TNR boxes outside their stores to provide temporary shelter for stray cats—and eventually get them neutered and released.

Seven Happiness Kitchen

Address: No. 40, Huamei Street, Taichung City
Phone: (04)2376-6717