Michelin-starred chef brings taste of India to East Village at Bungalow

A Michelin-starred celebrity chef and a high-powered restaurateur have opened a jewel of an Indian restaurant that has transformed a shabby section of the East Village into a sophisticated slice of Mumbai.

Bungalow, which opened last month at a new luxury building on the site of the original Lucky Cheng’s, is tucked between a pizzeria and a funeral home along a quiet stretch of East Second Street.

The unassuming neighborhood businesses stand in stark contrast to the elegance diners find when they step through Bungalow’s flower-covered doors.

The restaurant opens with stairs descending like the Golden Temple, leading to an Indian-style country club reminiscent of British rule on the subcontinent. It features a library, rattan furniture and a bar that leads to a stunning skylit space filled with greenery.

“These mansions are a part of our grandparents’ era,”  Vikas Khanna, the Indian chef who gained a cult following – and his Michelin star – at Junoon in the Flatiron District, told Side Dish.

“Big houses, large extended families, feasts and celebrations year-round. They were a unifying force of culture.” 

Khanna teamed with Bombay House Hospitality’s Jimmy Rizvi, known for Gramercy’s GupShup, to open Bungalow on March 23 – the birthday of Khanna’s beloved sister, Radikha, who passed away in 2022.

“We want this to be a calming energy, almost like you are coming back home,” said Khanna, who is also an author, filmmaker and judge on “MasterChef India” with 4.8 million followers on Instagram.

However, getting a taste of that nostalgia is not easy. A recent weekend night reportedly had 2,000 names on the waitlist for the 125-person occupancy venue. A check of Resy shows no tables for two available well into May.

Bungalow has been averaging around 225 diners a night, Khanna said.

“A few people were lining up at 5 p.m., even though Indians eat very late,” said Khanna, whose admirers include Le Bernardin’s star chef Eric Ripert and cookbook author/model Chrissy Teigen.

At this month’s City Harvest gala, Teigen paid $125,000 to win an auction in which Khanna will cook for 20 people.

For Khanna, Bungalow is about creating culture and community through the food — which is evident as he walks through the restaurant greeting guests.

Those lucky enough to score a table are treated to a refined take on regional Indian-inspired fare, with many of the dishes’ ingredients imported, from unique mangoes to Kashmiri saffron.

Meals begin with crispy papadum and dishes include subtle twists on the familiar, like pan-fried lamb chops or tandoori salmon, before moving to the sublime, like a purple sweet potato chaat, served with ashwagandha pearls and a green mango sauce, and a spice roasted pineapple.

“One of our biggest missions is to have young diners who want to come back with their grandparents,” Khanna said.

The attention to detail extends to the decor, which was curated by Rizvi’s sister Shaila, Bombay House Hospitality’s creative director.

Four shipping containers were imported from Maharashtra, India, filled with “bespoke wood furniture made of teak and mango wood, partitions, frames, wall lights, chandeliers, tableware” and other handcrafted furniture,“ the proud brother said.

“Everything you see at Bungalow is custom-made by our business partners in India. It took a lot of work and coordination — 15 months from start to finish, from conception design to the build,” said Jimmy Rizvi over cocktails at the bar.

The distinctive drinks list includes a Holi Moli spicy mezcal margarita named for the Hindu festival of color, and a Coco the Elephant rum-and-coconut water concoction with coconut cream and mint.  

Even the choice of bouquets — from the Chelsea Flower District — is deliberate. There are many Indians working in the Flower District, says Khanna, who used to live nearby.

“They are helping us grow stuff, including flowers, in the private farms. This is unique. In India, many flowers are part of celebrations.”

Among those is tuberose — known as rajnigandha in India – often proffered as a sacred offering to the gods.

“They are a huge symbol of community,” Khanna said, adding that the restaurant is now also filled with branches of green almonds, a symbol of spring, and Kashmiri Nargis, a type of “very fragrant daffodils, which are a symbol of purity and poetry. “

“We don’t create cuisine. We inherit the celebration, the festivals, even the flowers we are growing,” Khanna said.

“I feel like we can build a huge community with this restaurant as a symbol of our community and our diaspora.”