Chef Hari Nayak’s dream restaurant
SONA is an Indian restaurant that is the talk of New York City.. The interiors of this restaurant take inspiration from Mumbai’s Fort area which is like an Art Deco District with a large number of buildings in the 1930s and 40s Art Deco style. The hand-plastered wall is dotted with small medallion mirrors from India reminiscent of the decorated mud-houses of Kutch and Rajasthan, while the pink tones of Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings dominate other parts of the restaurant. Arched mirrors, miniature table lamps and Indian textiles are in keeping with the Indian food. To match the name, there are gold columns and the cushioned are covered with black-and-gold textile from India. This restaurant promoted by Maneesh Goyal and Priyanka Chopra Jonas brought in the culinary genius of Chef Hari Nayak, a Daniel Boulud protégé at the helm of Dubai’s Bombay Bungalow and Masti, Bangkok’s Jhol, India’s Alchemy Bangalore, and Café
Spice meals in grocery stores.
Says Chef Hari Nayak, “I hail from Udupi along the coast of Karnataka and studied at Manipal, Udupi. Because of this, Indian coastal cooking specially the seafood dishes from the region between Goa and Kerala remains close to my heart. This is what I serve at my Bangkok
restaurant, Jhol. Apart from the coastal food of India, I have enjoyed a variety of dishes like Pandi Curry from Kodagu or Coorg, ghee roast in Kundapur, Satpura samosas in Amritsar, streetfood in the big Indian cities’’.
He went to The Culinary Institute of America in New York and after graduating joined the French restaurant Daniel, by Daniel Boulud. “At that time, Indian food was far from my mind. I wanted to know more about western food and dishes from different parts of the world’’. Nayak worked with Chef Vikas Khanna, his fellow-alumni from Manipal, to cater Modern Indian Food to people in New York. The book, Modern Indian Cooking, by Hari Nayak and Vikas Khanna (Author), with Daniel Boulud’s foreword was a turning point in his career. He says he has realized it is not just about how the food is garnished, but about keeping it real. It is important to keep focusing on the flavours, techniques and ingredients, and letting
them shine. “ The food I love to cook is seasonal and ingredient-driven, and while exploring new preparations they remain Indian at heart. The dishes at SONA combine Eastern sensibilities and a Western outlook’’. The signatures include the Spicy Salami & Pinenut Kulcha, Grilled Green Garlic Butter Oysters, Crab Puri with Caviar, Buckwheat Bhel, Black Spiced Roast Chicken and Gruyere Cheese Dosa. “We have kept classics like Butter Chicken and Roomali Roti on the menu while experimenting and creating new dishes. Like, Oyster is not part of Indian cuisines that I have had but we have created Roasted Garlic Butter Oysters’’, he explains. Banana- wrapped halibut and Malvani prawns are an ode to his love for the seafood from India’s west coast, while Floyd’s Goan Fish Curry is in memory of the late Chef Floyd Cardoz who has been called the “godfather of modern Indian cuisine.
Nayak says the perception of Indian food is changing. “We started conceptualizing SONA in 2015. Since then, New Yorkers are understanding more about Indian food though there is stereotypical thinking that Indian food is butter chicken and samosas though there are so many lighter and healthier dishes in India’s diverse culinary world. In the western world, we haven’t even scratched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Indian food”, he states. He says,” We are lucky to have Priyanka Chopra Jonas as our promoter. There is no better brand ambassador for India than Priyanka Chopra who has done a lot to popularize Indian culture in the USA’’.
