Ottawa chef, restaurateur and philanthropist Joe Thottungal is well-known in Ottawa for his take on Indian fare as well as his work in the community, but recently he had to make a decision he called “heartbreaking.” Speaking to OBJ last week, Thottungal, owner of Coconut Lagoon on St. Laurent Boulevard and Thali on O’Connor Street, […]
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Ottawa chef, restaurateur and philanthropist Joe Thottungal is well-known in Ottawa for his take on Indian fare as well as his work in the community, but recently he had to make a decision he called “heartbreaking.”
Speaking to OBJ last week, Thottungal, owner of Coconut Lagoon on St. Laurent Boulevard and Thali on O’Connor Street, said he started planning a third restaurant in Almonte in the summer of 2024, having bought a building in July of that year.
“I designed a plan. I made the drawings and everything and submitted them to the municipality of Almonte. I wanted to build this beautiful restaurant,” Thottungal recalled. “Then Nov. 5 (2024) happened and Trump won (the U.S. presidential election). By the time my plans were ready, January rolled in and (so did) the tariffs. The economy was going bad and (we were) thinking about laying people off, so I was a real victim of all these things.”
As trade issues with the U.S. continued into the beginning of 2025, Thottungal said he had to rethink his plans to open his restaurant in Almonte.
“I thought, ‘Is it a good thing to do (this) plan right now?’ and I decided not to do it … It was heartbreaking for me,” he said, adding that he was unsure if patrons would have enough disposable income to support the business if he had gone through with it.
Still holding out a hope that he may be able to open a third restaurant one day, Thottungal said for now he plans to sell the building he bought in Almonte.
Having moved to Canada from Kerala, India in 1998, Thottungal is known in Ottawa for his take on Indian cuisine. He opened his first restaurant, Coconut Lagoon, in 2004 and Thali in 2018.
The pivot on his Almonte plans is not the first time Thottungal has had to roll with the punches. Coconut Lagoon underwent major renovations in 2020 after a devastating fire shuttered the restaurant. He temporarily shifted his Coconut Lagoon operations downtown to Thali, until the “Freedom Convoy” forced him to temporarily close his doors in early 2022.
Still, Thottungal has always looked for ways to give back to the community. A pillar in the charitable community, he is involved with several organizations such as United Way East Ontario and the Shepherds of Good Hope.
During the pandemic, he joined forces with volunteer-run community kitchen Food for Thought Ottawa, helping the non-profit serve more than 200,000 meals to less fortunate residents in the city.
His efforts as a philanthropist and businessperson were recognized with a Community Builder Award and the Order of Ottawa in 2020, as well as the 2022 Newsmaker of the Year award as chosen by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade.
Thottungal is the author of two award-winning cookbooks. His first, Coconut Lagoon, won a gold medal at the Taste Canada awards in 2020, with his second cookbook, My Thali, winning the same award in 2024.
Last month, My Thali, which was written in partnership with former Ottawa Citizen food critic Anne DesBrisay, was named “Best of the Best” for Indian Food Culture in the World at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
