101 new NYC restaurants

Benares

It's a sign of maturity to admit shortcomings. Seriously, go ahead. When it comes down to it, all but the most learned foodies would have a hard time identifying northern Indian cuisine from southern, eastern from western. So let's get real granular for a second and focus on the northern state of Uttar Pradesh; specifically, a little nip of Uttar Pradesh in a restaurant called Benares in the Theater District, Manhattan, New York, USA. The kitchen there is run by Tamarind chef Peter Beck who, in a nod to the region, is making more than 20 vegetarian dishes including a Kashmiri soup of roasted turnip and beetroot, pigeon peas, fennel, ginger, garlic and cumin, and achari bindi made with fresh okra cooked ‘in dum' with pickled spices, onions and tomato). The menu also includes meat and seafood dishes like sevai tomato kurma (mussels, scallops, rock shrimp and crab claws tossed in a garlic tomato sauce over Indian style rice noodles) and tandoori hen (whole Cornish hen marinated in lime, ginger, cumin, garlic and garam masala and cooked in the tandoor oven), plus some exotic cocktails and 25 wines meant to take on the complex flavors of Indian cooking.

Benares
240 W 56th St
Between Broadway and 8th Ave
212-397-0707

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