{"id":10724,"date":"2025-06-24T12:39:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/10724\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T12:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:39:23","slug":"new-nyc-restaurant-haymarket-opens-by-saga-alum-in-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/10724\/","title":{"rendered":"New NYC Restaurant Haymarket Opens by Saga Alum in June"},"content":{"rendered":"

London-born chef India Doris<\/a> will open modern European restaurant Haymaket<\/a> in Chelsea at 326 Seventh Avenue, near West 28th Street, on Friday, June 27. The starring dish is peri peri chicken, a nod to her Jamaican grandmother, who jazzed up the very British meal of Sunday roasts<\/a> with spicy jerk chicken. It\u2019s also an acknowledgment of Nando\u2019s<\/a>, the South African chicken chain that has become synonymous with London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Doris remembers loving Nando\u2019s as a kid, but when she returned as an adult, she thought, \u201c\u2018Yeah, this is not as good as it used to be,\u2019 and I tell people there are better places.\u201d For peri peri chicken, the meat is marinated in a sauce made out of the namesake pepper<\/a>, also known as bird\u2019s eye chile, resulting in a burst of spicy and tangy flavors. She knew she had to add her own take to the menu because, \u201cI want to just stop everyone asking about what it\u2019s like and just show them what it is,\u201d she says. The restaurant\u2019s version is a deboned half-chicken doused in peri peri marinade and served with a side salad and a single crispy little chicken wing ($36).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Natalie Black\/Haymarket<\/p>\n

Doris has spent time in kitchens in Normandy, Spain, and London. She moved to New York<\/a> in 2016 to join the Nomad team, where she met Haymarket co-owner Alex Pfaffenbach. She also spent time at the then-Saga Hospitality, now-Kent Hospitality restaurants<\/a> such as Crown Shy<\/a> and the two-Michelin-starred Saga<\/a>, which she joined in 2019 and worked her way up to executive chef. But then, it was time for her to open her own restaurant.<\/p>\n

Haymarket has \u201cthis very unique perspective on European food, but seen through the lens of someone who grew up in a Caribbean household,\u201d says Pfaffenbach. He\u2019s the former director of development of the hospitality company Quality Branded and had worked at Eleven Madison Park. He also owns<\/a> Upper East Side bar Lucille\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 75-seat, 2,200 square-foot Haymarket has a 15-seat bar in the center and includes lots of greens and burnt oranges, from the chairs to the banquette. The walls feature a custom-paneled mural by Nashville artist Charlotte Terrel, displaying English and Hudson Valley countryside scenes. Doris and Pfaffenbach will also open an unnamed-for-now basement bar at the same address in late July. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The dining room of Haymarket. Natalie Black\/Haymarket<\/p>\n

The menu is divided by snacks, appetizers, pastas and grains, entrees, and desserts, a collection that Doris describes as \u201ca bit spicy, a bit bolder.\u201d It\u2019s a reflection of how she ate growing up and traveling around the world. \u201cI\u2019ve collected all these things and I just put my twist on it,\u201d she says.\u201dThe flavors are a bit deeper, and it\u2019s just like how I would eat it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Outside of the roasted peri peri chicken, the rest of Haymarket\u2019s menu reflects Doris\u2019s English-Caribbean-New York food sensibilities. There are salt cod fritters, another ode to her grandmother, who often made salt cod; lamb and mushroom skewers, her version of the kebabs that Londoners are so fond of; and braised oxtail with oxtail jus and crispy cheddar cheese polenta. <\/p>\n

The dessert menu is short and simple, reminding Doris of childhood treats. It features a layered mango-coconut-lime pudding made with a mango and lime gelee, a mango and young coconut relish, rum syrup-soaked crisps, creme patisserie, and shaved young coconut. \u201cIt\u2019s like a proper pudding,\u201d she says, with trifle vibes, too. There\u2019s also the strawberry cheesecake Swiss roll and the mocha creme caramel, where the mocha sauce is poured at the table. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Alex Pfaffenbach and India Doris. Natalie Black\/Haymarket<\/p>\n

Kent Hospitality bar alum Chris Figueroa is running the cocktail program. He had worked at Saga, Crown Shy, and Overstory, and was one of Punch\u2019s Best New Bartender finalists<\/a> in 2024. The menu includes the Tall & Crisp section, with options like the Hay Barbie, an egg white sour cocktail with mezcal, aquavit, cacha\u00e7a, pickled beets, ginger, and saffron; and the Stirred & Bold category includes the Cafe du Bois, an Old Fashioned with brandy, bourbon, scotches, coffee and maraschino liqueurs, and a cacao nib tuile garnish. <\/p>\n

Figueroa will also oversee the drinks at Haymarket\u2019s forthcoming bar later this summer. While the team fine-tunes the details, Pfaffenbach explains that it\u2019ll serve as Figueroa\u2019s \u201ctrue love letter to New York City bars and his experiences as a born-and-raised New Yorker.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pfaffenbach is a fan of New York history and decided on the name Haymarket after the 19th-century dance hall<\/a> in Manhattan. \u201cBecause it was [in] the Tenderloin district in the 1890s, it was not the most savory place, but everyone came from Fifth Avenue to party, they came from the tenement area to party,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone from all stripes coming together in this part of town to enjoy themselves.\u201d There\u2019s also the connection to the famous London district<\/a> of the same name.<\/p>\n

With Doris and Pfaffenbach\u2019s fine-dining backgrounds, they want Haymarket to be fun and hospitable. \u201cYou can have this beautiful seamless experience with this really thoughtful food, but be in this raucous dinner party atmosphere,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that\u2019s the way we think about it: a raucous yet precise dinner party.\u201d<\/p>\n