4 trendy Long Island Indian restaurants

Long Islanders have long enjoyed local Indian food. Now, a number of entrepreneurs are changing things up by adding an ambitious bar culture and personalized esthetics. It all makes for a lively ripple effect that is spreading in all directions — in other words, closer to you.

Kahani, Huntington

400 New York Ave., Huntington; 516-442-8030, kahaninewyork.com

"Punjabis, we’re from Northern India. We drink heavy, eat heavy and party a lot," said Raja Singh, who co-owns the new Huntington spot Kahani. When it opened in October, the moody candlelit space styled itself a Punjabi cocktail bar; there is substantial food, too, so you can enjoy a full dinner or simply grab some chakhna, the bar bites that go with drinks.

"Something that’s very flavorful, spicy. It cuts well with the liquor ... Colonels Gobi [fried cauliflower with roasted garlic and chili glaze] … that’s a dish that we have here," Singh said. "That’s how [drinkers] can last throughout the whole night.

Growing up in a family that spent summers barbecuing at their home in Queens, Singh and his brothers, Bobby and Rana, became interested in food from an early age. In 2024, the three opened the Huntington smashburger spot BRGRS as a tribute to Rana, who’d spent years recovering from a car accident. (Singh explained that their family is Sikh, so they don’t have the same taboo about beef that Hindus have.)

The brothers also wanted to pay homage to their Punjabi culture, so they opened Kahani right down the street, in a space formerly occupied by an Italian restaurant called Lasagna Ristorante. A slew of renovations later, the room is a cross between a sexy Art Deco lounge with forest-green booths and a traditional Indian buffet. The walls are hung with stacked classical art from India.

Many of the dishes, like the stellar 1965 Chicken stir-fry with peppers and aromatic, citrusy curry leaves, are served on flowery vintage plates. "There are over a billion people living in India itself," Singh said. "We wanted to niche in on Punjabi culture, Punjabi spice, a Punjabi vibe."

Kahani’s cocktail menu incorporates Punjabi flavors and seasonings — garam masala, black salt, green chili, cardamom, the complex sourness of tamarind — into tried-and-true drinks such as margaritas and mojitos, but if you really want to delve into the world of Indian spirits, you’d best venture to Commack. Here on the North Shore of Suffolk County, a storied restaurateur has opened a sprawling upscale establishment with Long Island’s largest Indian whiskey selection.

Saffire, Commack

6330 Jericho Tpke., Commack, 631-486-2808, saffireli.com

Saffire in Commack is the 32nd restaurant owned by Chani Singh (no relation to the Singh brothers), who has had a hand in places across Long Island as well as New York City and, for a spell, Moscow. The 40-year industry veteran returned to the business after a 10-year absence in June, with a splashy shopping-center place that is large enough to hold 150 people.

Kebabs and curries dominate, and in the latter category you can have bone-in chicken, lamb, goat, shrimp or paneer cheese in any of the sauces; on a recent evening, a lush, tomatoey bowl of shrimp achaari was tangy with pickling spices. "In Commack, people are craving simple Indian food. No fusion, nothing," Singh said. "Here I even started steaks, but nobody wanted them. They just want straight Indian food — simple, elegant, good. That’s all they need."

Even so, he has been "shocked" at how knowledgeable his customers have become over the years. He credits this to Indian food becoming more of a staple than it was before, as well as his growing network of Indian and Pakistani customers, whom he caters to by keeping, aside from the alcohol, a zabiha halal food menu. (In short, "halal" refers to what is permissible under Muslim law; "zabiha" refers specifically to meat.)

But Saffire distinguishes itself with the bar program, which boasts 15 to 20 Indian whiskies. They differ from traditional Scotch, made from malted barley, as most of them are made from molasses, Singh said.

"Because it’s so hot in India, [whiskies] mature much faster than they do in Scotland. An 18-year-old whisky in Scotland, you get that flavor in four years in India," he said. "Indian whiskeys, even though they’re really up there in flavor, they’re not up there in price. That’s the best thing about them, because anybody can buy them without breaking the bank."

During a recent afternoon, Singh popped back and forth between the bar and the dining room, offering up tastes of his beloved whiskies. Each one had a vastly different flavor profile than the others, but the smoothest selection was the Rampur, aged in European sherry casks that provide sweetness and round out the flavors.

That day, Rayna Kolodeny, 19, from Smithtown, was having lunch with her mom in the corner. On break from her studies at Penn State, Kolodeny seemed to be extremely knowledgeable about Indian food and culture. A song came on the speakers, and she instantly knew what it was and began to translate it from Hindi. "I have a lot of friends in college who speak Hindi. And they’re from different parts of India," she said. "The food [here] is amazing. It’s very flavorful. … they put a lot of different spices in the dishes. My spice tolerance is pretty high."

During a quick conversation, she said a lot of Indian food buzz is coming from social media. "I’ve seen changes, trends, mixing and blending of dishes and drinks. There was chai and matcha blended, that I’ve seen on Instagram or whatever, in the city."

Varli Indian Street Kitchen, Williston Park

78 Hillside Ave., Williston Park, 516-500-9429, varlikitchen.com

Certainly, chai, a spiced tea, is having a moment. And Varli Indian Street Kitchen put its spin on a tradition that’s become a viral trend in India: Bun maska chai. Consisting of milky chai served with a light, fluffy buttered bun, this cheap and cheerful teatime snack, which originated in the Iranian cafes of Mumbai, is now enjoyed any time of day by everyone from newspaper sellers to Instagram-besotted tourists.

At Varli, it appears on the street-food side of menu and arrives on a miniature replica of a charpai, the traditional Indian bed that owner Varli Singh — a Renaissance woman entrepreneur of Indian descent who grew up in Egypt and Dubai — slept on as a child. It’s just one of the many whimsical details at this Williston Park restaurant, which opened in fall of 2022.

Varli Singh (no relation to the previous Singhs) spent more than a decade running an Indian food magazine (also named Varli) and promotional food festivals, where she hobnobbed with top chefs from around the world. So, a restaurant was a natural next step. She settled on a former vegan bakery by her house, and she and her daughter Aira spent a year and a half turning it into an Indian cafe. The small space is now packed with murals and vintage Bollywood posters alongside imaginative furnishings.

"I wanted to showcase India in a small place like Varli. I want people my age, even older than me, to feel nostalgic when they enter this restaurant," she says. "A lot of people give me that feedback that they’re in Delhi. Some people say they feel they’re in Mumbai. So, this makes me feel good."

On weekends, the restaurant opens early to serve a full menu of desi breakfast bangers such as Eggs Kejriwal, a cheese-and-chili concoction served over toast, or a Masala Half Fry, vibrant with green chilies. But the space truly comes into its own each evening, when the cocktails and street foods come out to play. 

A sweet sipper called the Mumbai Local ($13.99), served in a decorative ceramic cup, tastes of bourbon and sour tamarind. It’s inspired by the spiced waters you have with pani puri (semolina puffs). You might also need a samosa, okra "fries" or … loaded cheese fries? In North India, where Singh’s mother hails from, spiced masala fries are a thing, she said. Varli dials it up by plopping on melty cheese, sriracha mayo and a robust mince of chicken keema. The seasoned fries remain crisp even underneath this spicy, savory onslaught — and they are a highlight of the menu.

Banjara, Bethpage

390 N. Wantagh Ave., Bethpage, 516-998-1300

What goes around comes around. You can find culinary opulence in a Bethpage strip mall, which is where five New York City industry veterans felt comfortable opening their genre-pushing venture, Banjara. Sandeep Cheema and Fukhvir Singh are managers, while Shrey Saini and Rohit Jaiswal head up the kitchen.

Rohit’s brother Akash Jaiswal, the bar manager, has created a playful cocktail list that draws from Indian spirits and nostalgic flavors, such as Parle-G biscuits, a favorite crunchy cookie since 1939. The beautiful Bombay Sour ($14) features an Indian single-maltwhiskey (distilled using barley grown in the foothills of the Himalayas) and cashew-based brandy from the state of Goa, rounded out by a fragrant masala spice mix.

Banjara has a bigger thumbprint on Instagram than it does in real life. During a recent afternoon as the crowd began to filter in, a photographer was set up in the back taking shots of the restaurant’s many interactive dishes — chicken tikka thighs, for instance, hanging from a rack before being set on fire. The flaming chicken still didn’t prepare us for the visceral food experience that commenced. Strands of paneer cheese shaped into pinwheels. A splayed-out barbecued sea bass fillet doused with a fruity coconut-milk curry, poured from a seashell.

The fragrant dum chicken biryani, baked under a flatbread dome and pierced tableside, is cooked in the Awadhi style: The rice and meat are partially cooked separately, then layered under a crust and slow-cooked. When the server cuts open the top, a plume of steam envelops the room with the fragrance of saffron, rosewater, vetiver and ittar. Even a slightly less theatrical dish, the laal maas, or smoked goat curry, was pumped with the deep, distinctive Mathania chili flavor of Rajasthan. For dessert, stop and smell the rose kulfi, the fresh-tasting Indian ice cream shaped into little edible roses that pop out of a vase. It doesn’t get much more romantic than that.

"Everybody is a foodie, right?" Rohit said. "There are very few modern progressive restaurants on Long Island. We thought, ‘Let’s do this because nobody is doing it here. ... Let’s give it a try, let’s see how people would like it.’ People want that vibe, to go to the city. Let’s take that vibe and bring it to Long Island."