Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Dhamaka’s burst of fame

In NYC, reservations at Dhamaka sell out in minutes. Its India pop-up won locals over too. What’s Chintan Pandya’s secret?

If you are interested in food, then you have probably heard of New York’s Dhamaka. In the year it opened (2021), the New York Times put it at number one in its list of the city’s top ten new restaurants. (All restaurants: Not just Indian restaurants.) It is, by any objective standard, the most successful Indian restaurant in the Western world.

The year Dhamaka opened, The New York Times put it at no 1 on its list of the city’s top 10 new restaurants. (Will Ellis)

Chef Chintan Pandya’s food is so full of flavour that it is impossible not to like. His mutton is from older sheep on an Arizona ranch. He makes his own paneer. He chooses the rice with each dish.Then there are chef tricks, like using red onions instead of white. (Paul McDonough)

Chef Chintan Pandya will not stop at intestines. A meal cooked by him can be nose-to-tail eating with no limits. (Adam Friedlander)

Pandya (left) and CEO of Unapologetic Foods, Roni Mazumdar (right) have picked dishes from all over the country and cooked the best versions possible of them so as to make Dhamaka so successful. (Clay WIlliams)

Dhamaka only accepts reservations for a 30-day period. (Will Ellis)