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Fifteen
years ago we undertook a survey of the Indian restaurant scene
showing that there were less Indian restaurants in the entire USA
than in London. At the time there were little more than 1100 Indian
restaurants, often of questionable standard but what a difference 15
years makes.
In 2008 there
choice of venue in USA for Indian cuisine is huge and growing and is
the home of many of the top chefs from India. It was recently
estimated there are 107 million Indians in USA, double the figure of
just 10 years ago.
As it did in
UK, this has produced a thriving curry industry that we in Britain
can no consider second class.
In Washington
alone there is a choice of 85 good class Indian restaurants to choose
from. These include Bombay Club (815 Connecticut Avenue) and Rasika
(633 D Street), both owned by Ashok Bajaj where the Clintons and
other past presidents and celebrities are a regular occurance. Rasika
has gone from strength to strength under ex Bombay Brasserie Chef
Vikram Sunderam.
Others in
Washington include Bombay Palace (branch in London) with Chef Balbir
Singh (2020 K Street) ; Indiebleu (707 G Street) and Chef Hartzer ;
Indique (3512 Connecticut Avenue) Chef K.N. Vinod and Heritage India
Georgetown in Connecticut Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue.
New York has
its own scene led by America's only Michelin starred Indian
restaurant Devi (8 East 18th Street) run by master tandoor chef
Hemant Athur and Suvir Saram. Others include Chola (232 East 58th
Street) with Executive Chef Shiva Nataraja, named as one of the top 3
in USA by Zagat in 2006. Chola is part of a group including Jaipore,
Bombay, Tadka and Malabar Hill with Spice Club and Dhaba soon to
open. Dawat is the home of actress and cookery doyen Madhur Jaffrey ;
Banjara (97 First Avenue) with Chef Tuhin Dutta and Earthen Oven at
53 West 72nd Street is famous for fine food and courteous service.
Other top
restaurants are Samir Shresta's Salaam Bombay (319 Greenwich Street
owned by Ramesh and Kadar Shah's Bombay Investment Group ; Tabla (11
Madison Avenue) with Chef Floyd Cardoz often booked a month in
advance and Tamarind (4-43 East 22nd Street) owned by Avatar Walia,
known for its food and lively atmosphere.
Another new
one to watch is Tantra in Los Angeles run by Natran Singh, cousin of
London's Vineet Bhatia.
It would seem
that the Indian restaurant industry in America is in a very healthy
state at present and growing to move closer to challenging Britain as
the world's curry centre outside India.
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