A former Woolworth warehouse on smartest East 22nd Street is the setting for the most enthralling new Indian restaurant to arrive in Manhattan in years. The transformation of the 4500-square-foot space is so stunning, you'd swear it was formerly Tiffany's. The lightning is certainly similar: silvery and sleek and flattering. The best seats in the house are in raised mahogany - framed booths on either side of the skylit dining room, rendered semi - private by opaque partitions. A gleaming display kitchen is glass-enclosed, and boasts three tandoori ovens.
Tamarind's intensely dedicated proprietor Avtar Walia, who's co-owns the superb Dawat, managed to tap Raji Jallepalli-Reiss as his executive chef; she shuttles between her famous Restaurant Raji in Mempis (!) and Tamarind. Wherever she is, there is sheer culinary magic. From your first crisp crunch of papadom smeared with thick pungent tamarind paste, you know you're in for something completely different. Jallepalli-Reiss is the author of Raji Cusine: Indian Flavor, French Passion, and I can think of no better description of her astonishing omni-Indian cooking.
To test the mettle of those grills, try strips of lamb marinated in lemon juice and garlic and given a hale spicing that will gang up on you. Don't miss the tandoori scallops, medium-rare and lovely in their wheaty bird's nest. Most of the shrimp I encounter in restaurants is distressingly overcooked; Tamarind gets it exactly right, and serves it in a searing chili masala sauce.
Similarly, chicken breasts suffer in many a kitchen. But Noorani Kabab features deeply marinated, actually juicy chunks kissed with saffron.
Three generous venison chops in a wet tandoori rub to keep them moist and quite tangy.
Along with it all, lemon revivifies basmati, and breads are unusually delicious, especially poori and a nan with nutty, crimson, dried fruit stuffing.
Finish with delightfully lemoned fried dumplings called ghujjia, stuffed with coconut, cashews, and raisins.
Many are the complex pleasures spun at Tamarind.
—Tom Steele