New York City: Junoon (November 2014)

My spouse and I dined at Junoon for brunch on a Sunday afternoon in late November 2014. We made a reservation online using the Open Table reservation system. Junoon, whose name means “passion”, is open for lunch and dinner daily. Restaurateur Rajesh Bhardwaj owns Junoon.

Junoon is located in the Chelsea/Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan on West 24^th Street between 6^th and 5^th Avenues. As guests enter the front door, they encounter a huge decorative steel basin with candles and a Tree of Life painting in the vestibule before they pass along a 50-foot walkway lined with candles and Tree of Life sculptures toward the two main dining areas. One room, called Jaipur, features a 200-year old arch from the Jaipur Palace in India; the Jaipur room is more private than the main dining area. The main dining room features neutral fabrics and soft lighting and adjoins the open kitchen area. Restrooms are downstairs, past the Spice Room where the restaurant freshly grinds the spices that they use each day. Off the lobby is the Patiala Lounge, which contains an L-shaped bar and regular dining tables, two tables of which are Jhoola swings (glass-topped teak spice tables). The lounge is named after a famous maharaja who loved to eat and drink.

The menu at Junoon includes contemporary Indian food arranged in categories that showcase the five elements: tandoor (clay oven), tawa (cast iron), sigri (open fire pit), handi (curry), and patthar (stone). The menu features a variety of appetizers, main courses, and side dishes for both vegetarians and meat-eaters. Although my spouse and I are Indian food novices, and even though the menu choices (and pronunciations!) were unfamiliar, we chose to order from the regular a la carte menu rather than partaking in the $25 tasting menu (where samplings of six dishes are served concurrently on a curved metal tray) or the $25 three-course prix fix menu.

We shared a layered chicken and lamb kebab as a starter (Noorani Kebab), accented by a fennel-mint salad and yuzu gelee. The restaurant plates this kebab dish served in slices, not on a skewer. For entrees, we ordered a chicken dish (called Hydrabadi Chicken Korma, featuring chicken with a cashew gravy) and a goat dish (called Patiala Shahi, containing goat with a tomato yogurt curry). Both entrees arrived in small copper serving pots. We also ordered a side dish of basmati rice (accented by cardamom and bay leaf) and a specialty bread called Aloo Paratha (wheat bread stuffed with Yukon gold potatoes). For dessert, we shared the rice pudding, which was a complex dish featuring cooked rice, ginger ice cream, caramelized banana slices, almonds, and rum glaze, and topped with a fig slice.

Our lunch at Junoon was an overwhelming success, so much so that it encouraged us to try more Indian cuisine. Junoon holds a Michelin star, and it is easy to see why with the quality food and the exemplary service.