My friend and fellow Dame, a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Surbhi Sahni recently opened her first solo restaurant Tagmo in South Street Seaport. At Tagmo, she serves a variety of her favorite homestyle dishes from India.

By the time this posts, the small shop in the front of the restaurant will be selling her sweets, South Asian cookbooks, chai and spices.

Surbhi’s no stranger to NY Indian fine dining; she worked at Michelin-starred Devi and Tulsi. She also was the Creative Director of Saar Indian Bistro.

One friend started with their Roohafza Spritz ($8), a blend of Campari, prosecco, Indian botanical syrup and lime. The others shared a bottle of their 2019 Clemens Busch Riesling, Mosel, Germany ($52).

We started in the veggie portion of Tagmo’s menu with a Maharashtran dish, sabudana vada. This consisted of crispy tapioca fritters ($15 for three) layered with a spicy, green-hued mint and peanut chutney. Our favorite dish!

Their Delhi version of gobi matar ($13) came with lots of green peas along with the sautéed cauliflower ($13) all flavored with cumin and green chilies. Their thin flatbread — too hot to handle when it arrived at the table — accompanied their smoked ($17) eggplant spiced with green chilies. Once it cooled, we tore a piece of the bread and topped it with that spread.

From the seafood part of the menu, we shared the patra ni macchi, her fish of the day. The  cod was first seasoned with ginger, coconut and chilies then steamed and served in banana leaves ($21) and the eral chukka, the ghee-roasted prawn with Kashmiri chilies, peppercorns, cumin seeds, tamarind & yogurt served over Bengali Kitchri, rice and legumes ($21).

The Haleem on Toast is slow-cooked goat with cracked wheat, lentils, 32-spice blend, caramelized onions and cilantro served on toasted baguette ($19).  Our last entree was the Gushtaba, Kashmiri minced lamb meatballs simmered in cream sauce served with rice ($23).

We did of course indulge in what Surbi is known best for, her six-piece flight of housemade Indian sweets ($15) innovated by her flavor pairings and beautiful artistry. And we sampled the rice pudding with macerated berries & rose syrup($11)

Tagmo
South Street Seaport
226 Front Street
NY, NY 10038
tagmonyc.com/