POP STUFF: HOT STUFF

Chef Chintan Pandya and Restaurateur Roni Mazumdar have conclusively and irrefutably given Indian cuisine permission to be itself in the same way European cuisines long have, enticing the American palate instead of bowing to it

- SOLEIL NATHWANI

It was a happy coincidence that in the height of a New York midsummer last year, July 4th to be precise – that most explosive of American holidays celebrated with fireworks that give Diwali a run for its money – I found myself having a meal at the newly opened Dhamaka in the city’s Lower East Side; the Hindi ‘dhamaka’ loosely translating in English as ‘blast’, in the best sense. The dish that was setting off my own gustatory fireworks was the goat neck dum biryani which had arrived at our table in its cooking pot, sealed under a dome of crisp dough. Our waiter cracked open the golden-brown exterior, letting an aromatic cloud waft into the hot summer air, before giving the layers of meat, rice, fried onions and spices inside a mix; a final melding of flavors that had already been slow-cooked to perfection. The goat was so tender it fell off the bone and melted like butter in my mouth and the rice – slender grains of basmati, wore the masala like a glove. The duo behind Dhamaka, of Mumbai-born executive chef Chintan Pandya and Kolkata-born, Bronx-raised restaurateur and founder of Unapologetic Foods Roni Mazumdar, had an unapologetic hit on their hands. Before the New Year rang in Dhamaka had landed on the most hallowed best restaurant lists in the country including that most vaunted spot – number one on New York Times critic Pete Wells’ list of top ten New York City restaurants.