There are restaurants where you eat dinner. And then there are restaurants where dinner somehow turns into three hours, several bottles of wine and a conversation you absolutely did not plan on having.
Adda NYC falls firmly into the second category.
Located at 107 1st Avenue in the East Village, Adda is part of Unapologetic Foods, the restaurant group behind some of New York’s most talked-about Indian restaurants. The restaurant serves contemporary Indian food with plenty of bold spices, rich sauces and dishes that practically demand another piece of paratha.
But here’s the detail many people may not know: “Adda” means a place where people hang out. More specifically, it refers to the kind of gathering spot where people sit around a table, talk for hours and let the food keep coming. In other words, the name is essentially a warning that you probably shouldn’t schedule anything immediately afterward.
The menu certainly encourages lingering. There’s peppercorn bone marrow with coconut buttered pao, Wagyu beef cheek lukhmi, Malawani fish curry, baby goat biryani and the restaurant’s signature Butter Chicken Experience.
That butter chicken experience is considerably more elaborate than the average takeout order. It centers on heritage Green Circle chicken, house-churned butter, smoked organic tomatoes, fresh bread, rice and black dal—and requires the entire table to participate.
Adda has also earned a place in the MICHELIN Guide, which highlights its fiercely seasoned cooking and dishes such as roasted bone marrow and seabass fish curry.
So if you’re searching for Indian restaurants in NYC, Adda offers something beyond dinner.
It offers an actual adda.
Just don’t expect anyone to leave on time.
