Junoon Brings Out The Best Of Indian Cooking

Indian food can be a tricky sell in New York. For most Indian restaurants, people either find the aromatic burst of flavors and senses to be an illuminating experience they can’t get enough of, and for others it’s the bane of their culinary existence. At Junoon, the incredibly lauded and hailed fine dining Indian restaurant in Flatiron, this cultural cuisine steps onto an all new level where one can’t help but celebrate it.

Junoon is a big dining room, where as some Indian restaurants in the city are simple, tiny, subterranean locales that need to be crammed into, Junoon brings out the fanfare for its diners with ample room at tables, comfortable seating, and perfectly timed service. As for the sucker punch of scents, there is none at Junoon, the restaurant has the smell of food, of course, particularly as dishes are being brought to tables from the kitchen, but the upstairs neighbors don’t stay up all night calling the restaurant about anything other than getting a reservation.

After retaining its Michelin Star for yet another year, Junoon continues to impress. While the space is not new in the city, its success largely stems from never growing complacent in that success—as evidenced by it’s rotating menu, expanding wine list, and innovative cocktail program, that now contains an entire page of Game of Thrones character inspired options. The staff are unfussy and happy to debunk any of the myths of Indian dining, which in this reporters case meant telling me when things were/were not going to be very spicy. (For some reason, I always think Indian restaurants will be like the food version of playing Minesweeper on PC’s.) The staff are also incredibly insightful on the menu, and helpful in describing the various spices that go into dishes.

The prix fixe and tasting menus are the two flagship meals here. For the prix fixe menu, the best appetizer dishes are the cauliflower and crispy eggplant options. Each come with a plate of dips and dahls with the perfect balance of tangy flavor and a spice to warm your mouth enough for the next dish. For a main course, the lobster is a perfectly prepared pot of flavor from fresh seafood to the spicy (that’s right, I went for it) sauce over it—and pairs perfectly with the garlic naan bread too. Fair warning to all those eating here: there is a lot of food that comes with each portion, and its all delicious, so it may be good to consider not only what you’re hungry for now, but what will still make for a great next-morning lunch (the chicken tikka is as perfect hours later as it was on the plate fresh.)

No meal would be complete at Junoon without cocktails and dessert. The cocktail I recommend that pairs best with every course of the menu is the gin and tonic, made with homemade gin from the bar manager that incorporates both traditional Indian ingredients like digestive leaves and Darjeeling tea. The desserts are also beautiful; Instaworthy pops of color with their four-flavors of icy lassi pops in pink, yellow, and green to light up any Instagram feed.

For anyone looking for a night of incredible food with a fine dining blend, Junoon is a perfect fit. While every other modern American restaurant with a white tablecloth are fine options for those looking to have an elegant evening, Junoon transcends past them all with something unique to bring to the table. It comes as no surprise that they’ve been so successful for so long.