Chef Vikas Khanna is hot in more ways than one. The Indian chef has been featured in People’s Sexiest Man Alive. But his cooking has also taken the world by storm.
He’s not new to the scene. Trained at the world’s most prestigious culinary schools, he has been a judge on MasterChef India and was originally at the helm of the excellent Junoon, the first Indian restaurant in NYC to be awarded a Michelin star. He’s behind GupShup, one of the most popular Indian spots in the city and home to my favorite butter chicken here.
Bungalow, distinct from Gupshup, specializes in “Indian country club cuisine.” The restaurant is in an industrial space that has been decorated with elaborate wallpaper, murals, framed photographs, and greenery.
I went with a large group of friends, so I was able to try many dishes. If I discussed all of them at length, we’d be here all day (most of my reviews are based on a meal for two), so I’ll stick to some highlights. As always, you can find a list of everything we ate at the bottom.
Each one of us had a different favorite dish—the mark of a remarkable meal.
Chef Khanna personally served us the grilled spiced pineapple, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. And all I have to say is… move over, jackfruit, there’s another fruit-as-protein-substitute in town. This dish was like nothing I’d ever tried, with the sweet and tangy pineapple balanced by interesting spices and a creamy sauce. (And the chef actually spent a while talking to my friend and was incredibly gracious and friendly, not to mention his aforementioned looks.)
Chunks of paneer swam in a creamy, nutty, cardamom-forward sauce; the eggplant bharta had so many layers of flavor that we couldn’t identify all the spices; pulled lamb was delicious and savory and incredibly tender, balanced by warm spices; ghee roasted plantains had a slow burn that built to a fiery crescendo. All of the flavors were complex and multifaceted.
I couldn’t help but compare the chicken amrit, pieces of breast in a sauce of tomato and cream and tandoori spice, to the best butter chickens and tikka masalas I’ve tried—and unfortunately, it didn’t hold up to Gupshup’s butter chicken. The sauce was a little less balanced and a little less satisfyingly savory. A necessary caveat and moment of perspective, though: at many other restaurants, this would be among the best dishes.
One of my favorite bites was the five cheese kulcha. Oven-fresh flatbread stuffed with gooey melted cheese: what’s not to like? This is a good option for kids and picky eaters—and adults, too. Served with a cilantro-mint sauce that added the perfect cool and herbal flavor, temperature, and texture to the hot, savory cheesy bread, this was a perfect appetizer.
Because of the size of our party, we were able to try all three desserts. I was thrilled to see a crowd-pleasing molten chocolate cake on the menu, and even more thrilled to find out that it came with gulab jamun-flavored ice cream. Could this Indian donut flavored frozen dessert be as good as the eerily accurate powdered donut flavor of Tatiana’s notorious Bodega Special dessert? In a word, no. I would have preferred an actual gulab jamun. Still, it was a flavor I wish was in rotation at my local ice cream parlor. It was almost closer to a semifreddo in texture than an ice cream, so the firmness was a nice textural contrast to the soft center of the chocolate cake. Otherwise, the dish was not remarkable—but hey, it’s a crowd-pleaser.
The best desserts were the other two. A fragrant rose ice cream—also shaped like a rose, perfect for the ‘gram—was garnished with leaves of melty white chocolate and pistachio, a wonderful mix of fragrant floral flavors with rich sweetness and nuttiness. (White chocolate is not chocolate, but it is delicious. It is welcome in pretty much any dessert I order. I will die on this hill.) Rose, white chocolate, and pistachio is a flavor combination I never knew I needed in my life. Finally, a dish of ras malai, sweet milk-soaked spongy dumplings covered in mango, raspberry, and whipped cream, was similarly sweet, fresh, and satisfying.
Bungalow serves some of the best Indian food I’ve had in New York. Joining a tier inhabited by original and delicious spots like Semma, Jazba, and Dhamaka, it is a perfect mix of comfort food and creative, interesting flavors.
TL;DR: WHAT WE ATE
Loved: five cheese kulcha, pulled lamb, spiced pineapple, paneer, rose kulfi, mango and raspberry dessert, butter naan
Liked: yogurt kebabs, chicken amrit, eggplant, molten chocolate cake
Could have skipped: plantains, sweet potato chaat