ILS-entree

In the middle of a block in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan stands a sleek, distinctively modern take on an old concept: the Indian teahouse. The restaurant is in a two-story, townhouse-style landmark building, which was in fact a local teahouse when it was built in the 18th century. But Bombay Talkie is serving up decidedly spicier and more flavorful dishes than the building’s original occupants.

In the last few years, New York has seen a surge in the number of establishments serving Indian snacks – from the Indian Bread Company and Kati Roll Co. on the casual end to the upscale newcomers Spice Market and Devi. Bombay Talkie lies somewhere in between. Indian snack foods like chaat, dosas, and kathi rolls are presented on sleek, angular, white ceramic plates in moderate portions.

From the evening hours on, Bombay Talkie fills up with Indian food aficionados, local residents, and visitors new to Indian food alike, all eager to partake of the snacks with sophistication offered here.

Owner Sunitha Ramaiah had a simple idea: to create a modern version of the traditional teahouse. The tea business runs in her family; she grew up in Ooty, where her family had tea plantations. Ramaiah has fond memories of visiting local teahouses with her grandfather: “My grandfather would know everyone and they would chat about politics and all. I loved the food very much, it was simple, but you would crave it – students would go, travelers would go, residents would go. I just thought it was a beautiful deal. And I never saw it brought into New York.”

Ramaiah knew she wanted a neighborhood place that would draw locals and repeat customers. She was not interested in being in the trendy meatpacking district in downtown Manhattan, or in being a “destination” restaurant, where patrons would have to be young, tall, and stylish to fit in. “I didn’t want to be part of that scene, because I wanted people to feel like they could come in jeans and sneakers. But at the same time I didn’t want them to feel like they’d have to compromise on beautiful space.”

Designer Thomas Juul-Hansen, who was involved in Jean-George Vongerichten’s Restaurant 66 and just finished designing the restaurateur’s apartment, created an airy modern space with clean lines and simple materials. A long wooden communal table lines the left side of the first floor and leather booths add to the comfortable, contemporary design. A flat screen TV features Bollywood favorites, with the volume off.

Major element behind both the name and design of the restaurant are the huge reproductions of movie posters that line the walls. The painter J.P. Krishna, famous for his work in Chennai, was commissioned for the paintings. So that the restaurant would not become a Bollywood theme spot, the well-known producer of the international band Yerba Buena, Andres Levin, was brought in to do the sound design, a mix of global-sounding tracks.

Ramaiah was a lawyer and had been mulling over the idea for seven years before she decided to take the plunge into the cutthroat New York restaurant business, leaving her legal career behind. “The last law firm I was in was in venture capital, and there were a lot of venture capital companies who were investing in Indian restaurants and businesses that wanted to open franchises abroad,” she recalls, “so I said maybe this is the time to do it. They wanted to franchise around prepackaged food, and I said I wanted to franchise around fresh food, so that’s why I started it at the time I did.” Her goal is to duplicate the concept of the New York restaurant and franchise Bombay Talkie in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The chefs at Bombay Talkie are Gabriel D’Costa and Francis Gones, who were both previously working at Indian restaurants in the U.S. Many of the recipes come from Ramaiah’s mother and are meant to represent snacks from various regions. Menu items from the “Street Bites” section include Chaat and Pau Bhaji. “Curbside” selections include Chole Peshawari and Sukhi Bhindi. “From the Roadside” features dishes such as Chicken Chettinad, Nargisi Kofta, and Pork Vindaloo.

While the restaurant caters to neighborhood residents who may not be used to the spice levels of real street food in India, D’Costa and Gones do not seem to have excessively tempered their menu for the western palate. Still, Ramaiah notes that they don’t have traditional Indian desserts on the menu because they are too sweet for American taste buds. “They are an acquired taste,” she notes.

Aside from various teas and coffees – including Nilgiri House tea and Cardamom Kofi – Bombay Talkie offers several Indian-inspired specialty cocktails, named after the films pictured on Krishna’s canvases. “Ankur” contains pomegranate seeds and juice, tequila, Rose’s lime juice, and Cointreau. “Nayadur” has champagne, lychee syrup, and a shot of brandy. “Umrao Jaan” is a combination of Bombay gin, lime juice, and saffron syrup.

As expected, most customers of Bombay Talkie are not Indian. It is drawing a mix of ages and races, including those interested in the restaurant’s hip factor and those more interested in eating Indian food in fun, clean, and contemporary surroundings. “It’s more interesting than the traditional Indian places – has a neat atmosphere and is not as expensive as places like Tamarind,” said one patron who had come to the restaurant several times with different friends.

Ramaiah did not want the place to be known as just another Indian restaurant. And many of the customers seem to agree. “It’s better than the places on 6th Street,” noted one young woman eating on her own, referring to the block of budget-friendly Indo-Bangladeshi restaurants in the East Village.

Since the restaurant opened in January, it seems to have garnered positive attention and added to the variety of options available for those in the mood for Indian cuisine. Indo-fusion restaurants seem to be the trend of the moment in New York City, with an increasing number of New Yorkers wanting to try something different.

Ramaiah has her own thoughts on why Indian food seems to be increasingly popular: “I think people really want bolder flavors. And to be perfectly honest, I think if South Asians in general weren’t doing so well in the country – be it in business, fashion, and the legal field – I don’t know that there would be as much interest.”

She recognizes that the Indian restaurant business is also changing, with the stature of Indian restaurants growing. “We boomed as a community and people respect it a lot more, and so they take the restaurants more seriously. I think the cuisine has become a lot more sophisticated. It’s not just curry houses anymore.”