Kanyakumari NYC
South Indian restaurant · Chelsea
20 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003
Highlights
Coastal South Indian cuisine, flavorful curries, fresh seafood, and biryani
Coastal South Indian cuisine, flavorful curries, fresh seafood, and biryani
"This Union Square spot (from the team behind Laut) doesn’t hold back. Everything from the slow-cooked beef encrusted with spices to the sweet and salty duck with curls of coconut packs a level of flavor that feels unfair to other restaurants. The menu is mostly coastal South Indian, although the chef is from Mumbai, so it makes sense that not everything stays on theme. Even with its chandeliers and neon accents, the room feels casual, but don’t let that throw you off. This is a special place." - molly fitzpatrick, bryan kim, neha talreja, carina finn koeppicus, sonal shah
"Kanyakumari is just west of Union Square, an area that is rapidly filling with great restaurants. The Indian restaurant specializes in coastal cooking, with spicy dishes from cities and regions like Bangalore, Mangalore, Goa, and India’s southernmost city itself, Kanyakumari. Chef Dipesh Shinde’s menu includes a luscious, coconut-laced chicken curry from his hometown of Mandad in the state of Maharashtra. Other standout dishes include a gargantuan beef rib flavored with sauteed Madras onions from Malabar and roasted pumpkin in a peanut sauce from Udipi. Know before you go: There’s a prix-fixe menu for brunch, where the $32 meal comes with a choice of entree and side, plus all the chutneys." - Emma Orlow
"The menu at Kanyakumari near Union Square is mostly coastal South Indian, and it’s full of dishes that assert themselves with chilis, Tellicherry peppercorns, and fried curry leaves. For a place you can get into last-minute, it’s a top-tier option." - bryan kim
"The Eater Award-winning restaurant — whose name stemming from a town at the southern tip of the subcontinent — offers a refreshing take on the regional Indian cuisine. It treats its menu like a seagoing voyage along the coastline, mainly from Kerala to Mumbai, making stops along the way at places like Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, where chef Dipesh Shinde is from, offering Malvani chicken. Every dish here is a geographic adventure." - Nadia Chaudhury
"It's always useful to have a date-night appropriate, halfway-festive option near the crossroads of Union Square. With a few chandeliers, some neon and—most importantly—coastal South Indian dishes that go heavy on spices and fried curry leaves, Kanyakumari (from the folks behind Laut) fits the bill." - bryan kim, molly fitzpatrick, willa moore, will hartman, sonal shah
