Dhamaka (restaurant)
Dhamaka is an Indian restaurant in New York City. History and focus. The restaurant's founders, Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar, initially planned to open the restaurant in the summer of 2019, and announced their plans to do so in February 2019. Pandya and Mazumdar, respectively the chef and owner of Dhamaka, had previously collaborated on restaurants Rahi and Adda. The founders pushed the goal of opening in 2019 to early 2020, and later fall 2020; the restaurant ultimately opened in February 2021. The delays in 2020 were due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The restaurant is in Essex  Market. The restaurant's popularity has received coverage in the press. Richard Morgan, writing for "Eater", highlighted the restaurant's Rajasthani khargosh dish, a whole rabbit, as "perhaps the most impossible-to-order dish in NYC". The restaurant serves the dish only once a night, and diners must pre-order and pre-pay for the dish. The restaurant's founders aim to highlight regional Indian dishes rather than focusing on either northern or southern Indian foods. Reception and accolades. Pete Wells, restaurant critic for "The New York Times", gave Dhamaka a positive review. Wells was unable to order the rabbit , and Richard Morgan attributed the popularity of the dish in part due to this failure. The restaurant was nominated for the James Beard Foundation's Best New Restaurant award in March 2022.