{"id":133760,"date":"2025-08-10T07:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T07:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133760\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T07:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T07:15:11","slug":"12-fantastic-indian-restaurants-in-nyc-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133760\/","title":{"rendered":"12 fantastic Indian restaurants in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the highlights of New York\u2019s Indian culinary renaissance has been the surge of restaurants specialising in regional cuisines rarely found outside of their home states, let alone on menus halfway across the world. At Chatti<\/a>, which opened near Penn Station in February, the acclaimed Bangalore-based chef Regi Matthew<\/a> makes his first restaurant foray outside India with an elegant eatery focused on toddy shop, or tavern cuisine of the coastal state of Kerala in the south. Think of the extensive \u201ctouchings\u201d menu as Indian tapas: a dizzying, flavourful array of beef fry, coconut prawns, jackfruit cutlets, pan-fried pomfret with gooseberry masala, and much more\u2014bring a big group so you can work your way through dozens of options. On a recent rainy-day visit, I couldn\u2019t have dreamed up anything more soul-nourishing than a steaming bowl of seafood moilee soup, served with feather-light appams. Matthew, who divides his time between India and New York, visited more than 100 toddy shops and sourced 800 recipes as he planned the menu\u2014a tough job, but the results speak for themselves. Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Tamarind Tribeca<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chef-owner Avtar Walia has been something of a trailblazer in the New York City Indian dining landscape, ever since he convinced culinary doyenne and actress Madhur Jaffrey to open Dawat in 1986 in Manhattan. Since 2001, he\u2019s been the force behind Tamarind, a Tribeca institution that revolutionised the approach to Indian fine dining in New York. The tasteful interiors are an elegant backdrop to refined dishes like lobster masala, prawn curry, and Nizami kheema. There may be no shortage of trendy new openings in the city these days, but Tamarind\u2019s staying power speaks for itself. Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Vatan<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could tell you about this Murray Hill fixture, but some things just need to be seen to be believed. The Third Avenue fa\u00e7ade doesn\u2019t begin to prepare you for what lies within: My jaw hit the floor when I walked into the unexpectedly cavernous dining room modelled after a traditional Gujarati<\/a> village, complete with faux trees, thatched-roof booths, murals of pastoral Indian vignettes, and a massive Ganesh statue presiding over it all. Make sure you get comfortable in your booth because you\u2019re unlikely to leave anytime soon: Vatan\u2019s prix-fixe $45 vegetarian menu is an all-you-can eat bonanza. A massive thali<\/a> is regularly refreshed with samosas, sev puris, bhaji, daal, chole, and much more on demand, plus endless ice cream and gulab jamun if you make it that far. Between the endless food and the quirky interiors, this is a place you\u2019ll want to settle into for a while. Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Dhamaka<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dhamaka means explosion, and that\u2019s exactly how this colorful Lower East Side spot landed in New York in 2021. The Unapologetic Foods takeover of New York\u2019s Indian restaurant scene may have begun with Adda (originally in Long Island City and recently transplanted to the East Village) and cemented with Semma, but it\u2019s when Dhamaka opened that I first realized that Indian food enthusiasts in the city were in the throes of a culinary<\/a> zeitgeist.\u00a0 Restaurateur Roni Mazumdar and chef Chintan Pandya were the first team brazen enough to make food exactly how they wanted it, without dialling back ingredients (goat kidney and testicles, anyone?) or spice levels to cater to Western palates. The result was an instant hit with Indian diners eager for authentic flavours beyond butter chicken, and guided everyone else to push their boundaries and expectations of what Indian flavours could taste like. It may have inspired a legion of other restaurants to follow in its footsteps, but Dhamaka, with its colorful interiors and banging Bollywood soundtrack, is always a winner. Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Brooklyn<\/strong>Lore<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lore in Park Slope straddles leans chef Jayesh Kumar’s South Indian roots and European training.<\/p>\n

Sukhbir Channa\/Lore<\/p>\n

The sea bream at Lore is coated with malabar spices and served with hot red chutney.<\/p>\n

Sukhbir Channa\/Lore<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure why Lore isn\u2019t one of the hardest-to-get reservations in New York, but at least that means chef Jayesh Kumar\u2019s Park Slope spot has managed to retain its neighbourhood<\/a> charm\u2014for now. Get there ASAP to try Kumar\u2019s inventive menu, that leans on his South Indian roots and European training (he spent decades in Switzerland before opening Lore in 2022), and like me, you\u2019ll be wondering what kind of a mad genius thought up unlikely mash-ups like roti ravioli, kimchi uttapam, and a steak au poivre with masala butter and fries. Kumar also recently launched a dosa stand at Smorgasburg, and will be opening a bar<\/a> called Folk (get it?) in Park Slope later this summer\u2014with creative globally inspired cocktails and clever small plates like biryani arancini on the menu. Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Indian Table<\/strong><\/p>\n

With its distinctive tangy flavour profiles and heady Portuguese<\/a> influence, the cuisine of the tiny western state of Goa is unlike any other in India\u2014but it can be hard to come by in the city, aside from appearances by vindaloos or the occasional poee bread on menus. But when I\u2019m missing Goa\u2019s famous susegad\u2014laid-back\u2014way of life, I make my way to Cobble Hill\u2019s Indian Table, where Goan chef Eric McCarthy guides diners through a deep dive through classics from his home state: think chicken cafreal, ros omelette, and pork sorpotel, and plenty of coastal classics like the kalchi kodi fish curry and crab cutlets. The dining room, clad in Portuguese-style tiles, is cozy, but when the weather is sultry you\u2019ll want to grab a seat on the back patio stung with fairy lights and feel transported to a veranda in Assagao. Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Queens<\/strong>Angel Indian Restaurant<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to play favourites in Jackson Heights<\/a>\u2014you could eat well in this multicultural hub brimming with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Nepali restaurants for weeks without ever going back to the same spot twice. Angel, however, merits many a return. It\u2019s been a local hit ever since it opened in 2019 (Bungalow chef Vikas Khanna is a big fan), with everything from a standout take on the all-too-familiar butter chicken to dishes like lotus root kofta that are rarer to spot on New York menus, plus plush naans you\u2019ll want to swathe yourself in. But the star here is the dum biryani\u2014in vegetarian, chicken, and goat varieties\u2014that comes shrouded beneath a crust of bread. When the server carves it open to mix the layers together and releases wisps of steam that linger over your table, that\u2019s your signal to feast. Website<\/a><\/p>\n