The chef behind the world’s first Michelin-starred Malaysian restaurant is currently getting ready to develop a brand new pub concept for the East Village.
Chuppa Rastam is the latest project to come from celebrated chef Salil Mehta. Mehta is well-known as the leading mind behind Laut, the city’s first Malaysian restaurant to earn the highly coveted Michelin star. In addition to Laut, Mehta is also well-known for his more recent concepts, Singlish, Wau, and Chard. In fact, the story of Chard’s development was first broken by yours truly, and now the highly acclaimed chef is getting ready to develop a brand new concept.
Teaming up with partners Eden Chuang and David Chu, Chef Mehta is currently getting ready to launch a brand new “British-Indian Pub” called Chuppa Rastam. The name roughly translates from a Hindi phrase meaning “a dark horse”, or a person who keeps quiet about their skills and surprises others with unexpected feats. A sample menu attached with their proposed liquor license application reveals that the new spot will serve a wide array of British-Indian starters like paneer bhurji, bar chaat, ram ladoo, gunpower idli with rasam, guac and chips, and papadams and dip, as well as entrée dishes like Malabar fish and chips, chili fish, keema pie, and tikka masala burger.
Chuppa Rastam is currently expected to open up at at 214 East Ninth Street, moving into a space that was previously occupied by a hair salon. The location is expected to seat about 35 guests inside, and will feature two stand up bars along the perimeter of the restaurant. There are no plans for an outdoor space at this time, and the bar is expected to feature three televisions as well.
Chef Mehta and his team are currently in the process of acquiring a new liquor license for the space, and are getting ready to meet up with the local community board to propose their new concept. They are currently proposing operating hours of 5:00 PM – 2:00 AM Tuesday through Saturday, 5:00 PM – 12:00 AM on Sunday, and will be closed on Monday. While the team is still quite a ways off from sharing further details, you can follow Chef Mehta on Instagram for updates on all of his latest projects.
