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A platter of kebabs from Gulaabo.
The kebab platter from Gulaabo.
Gulaabo

A Dozen NYC Restaurants for Celebrating Diwali

Plus where to find special sweet treats

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The kebab platter from Gulaabo.
| Gulaabo

This year, the celebration of Diwali lands on Sunday, November 12, with festivities starting Friday, November 10 and lasting through Wednesday, November 15. It’s a festival in which oil lamps called diyas are lit, pujas are performed, homes are decorated, and fireworks are shot off, but it’s also a time to gather with family and friends to share meals.

More than ever, Diwali is becoming a celebration that transcends the home and is more often celebrated in restaurants and cultural spots around town. “A billion and a half people recognize this holiday; it’s about time that it’s becoming more recognized,” says Salil Mehta, owner of Indian restaurant Kebab aur Sharab on the Upper West Side.

“There certainly is a larger trend in the market,” says Surbhi Sahni, owner of Tagmo in the Seaport, noting that this year, New York City public schools are closed on Friday to celebrate.

Read on for 10 more restaurants, in addition to theirs, that match the celebratory mood and can accommodate extended families where guests are invited to linger.

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Kebab aur Sharab

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For the holiday, Kebab aur Sharab will be featuring a handful of specials, including punch amrit and halwa puri chana, with semolina halwa, fried bread, and spiced chickpea. In addition to dinner, available November 12 through 15, the Upper West Side restaurant is partnering with Tagmo in the Seaport to make mithai boxes for a collection of eight sweets ($50) with items like kaju katli (a North Indian sweet made with cashews, sugar, and cardamom) and kesar kaju pista katli (a traditional sweet made with saffron).

A box of sweets for Diwali.
The collaboration box is $50 with sweets from Kebab aur Sharab and Tagmo.
Tagmo

Jaz Indian Cuisine

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This elegant Hell’s Kitchen restaurant puts fine dining flourishes on Indian cuisine, with many dishes — including luscious marinated lamb chops — prepared in the tandoori oven. Vegetarian and meat-bearing curries are available including a particularly lively navratna korma with fresh paneer. There is a full bar with craft cocktails, some of them spicy.

Three brownish dishes in oblong white bowls.
A collection of dishes from Jaz, with navratan korma at the bottom.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Gulaabo

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A Punjabi restaurant that opened in August, Gulaabo, from the Baar Baar team, is offering specials for Diwali in addition to its full menu, including a chaat platter, a kebab platter, Diwali special thali ($25 vegetarian, $30 with meat), and a mithai platter of sweets.

The chaat platter at Gulaabo on a square white plate.
The chaat platter at Gulaabo.
Gulaabo

Adyar Ananda Bhavan

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This East Side specialist in vegetarian and mostly vegan South Indian cuisine pulls out all the stops when it comes to dosas and uttapams, with 25 examples on the menu. There’s the rocket dosa with potato masala on the side and a gunpowder dosa with red chile and mustard powders. Rice dishes like ghee pongal also abound.

A big pancake with four sauces in metal cups.
One of Adyar Ananda Bhavan’s giant dosas.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Jackson Diner

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Jackson Diner was founded in 1980, but by 1983 the typical menu of eggs and burgers had changed to an Indian one, reflecting the reinvention of this part of Jackson Heights as a South Asian shopping district. In this century it moved down the block into a much larger space and is now a favorite for its vegetable and meat curries.

Interior of Jackson Diner with dozens of diners in the brownish premises
The current dining room easily accommodates large groups.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Kailash Parbat

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Kailash Parbat is a restaurant founded in Mumbai (formerly called Bombay) in 1952, reflecting the Sindhi cuisine of what is now Pakistan. It has become an international chain. The food is strictly vegetarian, and the menu contains lots of festive snacks in addition to a marvelous spinach biryani. The dining room is filled with colorful photo murals and latticed wood.

An oblong white bowl of rice and spinach, with a papadum sticking out.
Spinach biryani at Kailash Parbat.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Mithaas Jersey City

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Mithaas is one of the most popular vegetarian restaurants in Jersey City’s India Square neighborhood, thronged with families on the weekends. Regional thalis are available, with a particular region of the country often represented by specials. An added attraction is the expansive sweets counter, sometimes prepared on the spot at a portable station. There are now five locations in New York and New Jersey.

A round metal tray with a variety of colorful dishes, pickles, and wafers.
Lucknowi thali at Mithaas.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Baar Baar

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On Sunday, November 12, Baar Baar will have a prix-fixe menu with live entertainment for $65 per person. The menu comes with an amuse bouche, appetizers, entrees, sides, dessert, chai, and mithai with vegetarian and meat-based options. That day, the restaurant also has a brunch menu with all-you-can-eat food stations, a live DJ set, and other entertainment for $45 per person.

Baar Baar
The dining room at Baar Baar.
Liz Clayman/Baar Baar

This relaxed restaurant tucked under the BQE has a slight Bengali bent but it generally serves food from northern India. Try the mustardy goat curry from Kolkata called kosha mangsho, or the chile-laced pumpkin panch phoron, from Jharkand. Brick Lane-style English Balti curries are also available, in a space decorated with giant agrarian color photos.

An oblong white bowl bobbing with orange squash in a reddish-orange sauce flecked with spices.
Pumpkin panch phoron from Masti.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

From November 8 through 12, chef Surbhi Sahni will serve a five-course, prix fixe menu for Diwali with the flavors of Punjab, where she’s from, and Bengal, where her partner is from. “For this menu, I’ve picked a mix of Piali’s favorite Bengali dishes and some of my Punjabi childhood classics,” she says. It’s $85 per ticket and includes vegetarian and meat-based choices. Mithai is also available in various sizes and prices at the restaurant and online starting at $35.

A teal and brown seat in a dining room.
The dining room at Tagmo.
Molly Tavol/Tagmo

Singh's Roti Shop & Bar

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The diaspora of the 19th and early 20th century took many Indians to Trinidad and Guyana, and it has created its own foodways — adding African and Spanish elements. In Richmond Hill, Singh’s is almost like a clubhouse, with a sturdy steam table on which curries, doubles, bakes, and rotis are displayed and prepared, and the dining room has Indo Caribbean vibes and plenty of room to spread out.

A colorful room with red and blue trim along the ceiling.
Singh’s Roti Shop in Richmond Hill.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Indian Table

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The chef is from Goa, and the menu features food from that state, including several Portuguese-influenced dishes. But it also ventures beyond, including a chaat festively decorated with gold foil and coconut shrimp. The dining room is down a few steps from the street, colored blue and decorated with hanging brass lamps.

A cone of puffed rice and other crunchy things.
A chaat decorated with gold foil.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Kebab aur Sharab

For the holiday, Kebab aur Sharab will be featuring a handful of specials, including punch amrit and halwa puri chana, with semolina halwa, fried bread, and spiced chickpea. In addition to dinner, available November 12 through 15, the Upper West Side restaurant is partnering with Tagmo in the Seaport to make mithai boxes for a collection of eight sweets ($50) with items like kaju katli (a North Indian sweet made with cashews, sugar, and cardamom) and kesar kaju pista katli (a traditional sweet made with saffron).

A box of sweets for Diwali.
The collaboration box is $50 with sweets from Kebab aur Sharab and Tagmo.
Tagmo

Jaz Indian Cuisine

This elegant Hell’s Kitchen restaurant puts fine dining flourishes on Indian cuisine, with many dishes — including luscious marinated lamb chops — prepared in the tandoori oven. Vegetarian and meat-bearing curries are available including a particularly lively navratna korma with fresh paneer. There is a full bar with craft cocktails, some of them spicy.

Three brownish dishes in oblong white bowls.
A collection of dishes from Jaz, with navratan korma at the bottom.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Gulaabo

A Punjabi restaurant that opened in August, Gulaabo, from the Baar Baar team, is offering specials for Diwali in addition to its full menu, including a chaat platter, a kebab platter, Diwali special thali ($25 vegetarian, $30 with meat), and a mithai platter of sweets.

The chaat platter at Gulaabo on a square white plate.
The chaat platter at Gulaabo.
Gulaabo

Adyar Ananda Bhavan

This East Side specialist in vegetarian and mostly vegan South Indian cuisine pulls out all the stops when it comes to dosas and uttapams, with 25 examples on the menu. There’s the rocket dosa with potato masala on the side and a gunpowder dosa with red chile and mustard powders. Rice dishes like ghee pongal also abound.

A big pancake with four sauces in metal cups.
One of Adyar Ananda Bhavan’s giant dosas.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Jackson Diner

Jackson Diner was founded in 1980, but by 1983 the typical menu of eggs and burgers had changed to an Indian one, reflecting the reinvention of this part of Jackson Heights as a South Asian shopping district. In this century it moved down the block into a much larger space and is now a favorite for its vegetable and meat curries.

Interior of Jackson Diner with dozens of diners in the brownish premises
The current dining room easily accommodates large groups.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Kailash Parbat

Kailash Parbat is a restaurant founded in Mumbai (formerly called Bombay) in 1952, reflecting the Sindhi cuisine of what is now Pakistan. It has become an international chain. The food is strictly vegetarian, and the menu contains lots of festive snacks in addition to a marvelous spinach biryani. The dining room is filled with colorful photo murals and latticed wood.

An oblong white bowl of rice and spinach, with a papadum sticking out.
Spinach biryani at Kailash Parbat.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Mithaas Jersey City

Mithaas is one of the most popular vegetarian restaurants in Jersey City’s India Square neighborhood, thronged with families on the weekends. Regional thalis are available, with a particular region of the country often represented by specials. An added attraction is the expansive sweets counter, sometimes prepared on the spot at a portable station. There are now five locations in New York and New Jersey.

A round metal tray with a variety of colorful dishes, pickles, and wafers.
Lucknowi thali at Mithaas.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Baar Baar

On Sunday, November 12, Baar Baar will have a prix-fixe menu with live entertainment for $65 per person. The menu comes with an amuse bouche, appetizers, entrees, sides, dessert, chai, and mithai with vegetarian and meat-based options. That day, the restaurant also has a brunch menu with all-you-can-eat food stations, a live DJ set, and other entertainment for $45 per person.

Baar Baar
The dining room at Baar Baar.
Liz Clayman/Baar Baar

Masti

This relaxed restaurant tucked under the BQE has a slight Bengali bent but it generally serves food from northern India. Try the mustardy goat curry from Kolkata called kosha mangsho, or the chile-laced pumpkin panch phoron, from Jharkand. Brick Lane-style English Balti curries are also available, in a space decorated with giant agrarian color photos.

An oblong white bowl bobbing with orange squash in a reddish-orange sauce flecked with spices.
Pumpkin panch phoron from Masti.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Tagmo

From November 8 through 12, chef Surbhi Sahni will serve a five-course, prix fixe menu for Diwali with the flavors of Punjab, where she’s from, and Bengal, where her partner is from. “For this menu, I’ve picked a mix of Piali’s favorite Bengali dishes and some of my Punjabi childhood classics,” she says. It’s $85 per ticket and includes vegetarian and meat-based choices. Mithai is also available in various sizes and prices at the restaurant and online starting at $35.

A teal and brown seat in a dining room.
The dining room at Tagmo.
Molly Tavol/Tagmo

Singh's Roti Shop & Bar

The diaspora of the 19th and early 20th century took many Indians to Trinidad and Guyana, and it has created its own foodways — adding African and Spanish elements. In Richmond Hill, Singh’s is almost like a clubhouse, with a sturdy steam table on which curries, doubles, bakes, and rotis are displayed and prepared, and the dining room has Indo Caribbean vibes and plenty of room to spread out.

A colorful room with red and blue trim along the ceiling.
Singh’s Roti Shop in Richmond Hill.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Indian Table

The chef is from Goa, and the menu features food from that state, including several Portuguese-influenced dishes. But it also ventures beyond, including a chaat festively decorated with gold foil and coconut shrimp. The dining room is down a few steps from the street, colored blue and decorated with hanging brass lamps.

A cone of puffed rice and other crunchy things.
A chaat decorated with gold foil.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

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