NoMad just became louder in the best possible way. INDN Small Plates & Cocktails steps onto the Manhattan stage with poise and purpose, a jewel-toned room where spice is not garnish but doctrine.
Billed as New York City’s first all-Indian cocktail bar, INDN does not dabble in flavor; it pursues flavor with precision, elevating it until the familiar becomes thrilling again.
At the helm are Simran “Sim” Bakshi, Kanika Vij Bakshi, and Vicky Vij—the hospitality family behind Bukhara Grill’s legacy and one of the city’s most respected Indian catering operations. Their new venture reads like a love letter to North India written in modern New York syntax: a cocktail program that converses with the plate, and small plates that answer back with clarity and heat.
The thesis is ambitious and beautifully executed. INDN crafts original cocktails from the bold spices and rich flavors that define beloved Indian dishes. Each drink arrives with an intentional partner: street-food classics prepared as they are in the northern regions of Punjab and Kashmir, cooked by a team with pedigrees from prestigious Indian hotels. The result feels both rooted and current, as if tradition slipped into a well-cut tuxedo and decided to dance.
Consider the Butterface. The team clarifies a mezcal base until it shines, then infuses it with Empirical Ayuuk, fenugreek, garam masala, and lemon. The cocktail does not merely accompany butter chicken; it distills the dish’s spirit into the glass, offering smoke, silk, and a measured savory glow without weight. It is comfort sharpened by technique, memorable after the last sip.
Service follows suit with intelligent warmth. Staff read your palate quickly—your tolerance for heat, your affection for smoke, your mood for citrus—and guide you through combinations that feel bespoke rather than scripted. The room stays elegant without stiffness.
Conversation lifts; shoulders drop. You recognize that “elevated” never needs to mean “precious.” It can mean confident, exacting, and generous.
What INDN captures best is the cadence of modern Indian hospitality: unafraid of intensity, meticulous about balance, and devoted to pleasure. The kitchen preserves the crunch, tang, and late-night electricity of street food while plating with clean lines and bright edges. The bar returns the favor with cocktails that listen. Nothing shouts over anything else; everything amplifies.
In a city that often files the personality off its next big thing, INDN keeps its edges polished and true. It honors the decadence of yesteryear—the long dinner, the perfect pour, the unhurried conversation—and threads it through a very now sensibility. Flavor leads. Craft answers. The night stretches in the best ways
INDN, 30 West 30th St., NoMad. 917-261-2379. For more information, visit INDNnyc.com.
