The rise of upscale Indian restaurants in the U.S.

Executive Chef Vikas Khanna has plated hundreds of thousands of dinners over the past 20 years — and he’s seen firsthand just how much Indian cuisine has evolved in the U.S.

Khanna, a world-renowned Indian restaurateur, created Junoon, his high-end Indian restaurant in New York City, more than a decade ago to wade deeper into sophisticated Indian dining, ultimately earning a Michelin star for the restaurant — one of the first Indian restaurants to earn the distinction.

As an immigrant in a post-9/11 America, Khanna said his bosses early in his career had been hesitant to branch out and experiment deeper with the broad canvas of Indian cuisine. Instead, he stuck to what he knew worked for the American palette: stereotypical menus and flavors like butter chicken and tikka masala.

But when American chef Anthony Bourdain visited Junoon for the first time, Khanna said he got the wakeup call of his career.

“He said, ‘I don’t understand why you guys want to camouflage your food to please the Western world,'” Khanna told CNBC. “He was saying, ‘You need to patronize the cuisine.’ And that became the foundation of Bungalow in many ways.”

Bungalow, Khanna’s next and highly popular venture in New York, is one of a growing number of Indian upscale and fine-dining restaurants popping up in the U.S. What was once takeout menus and buffets, Khanna said, has transformed into a business segment aiming to rival that of Italian and French cuisine and is garnering growing interest by the day.

According to Jimmy Rizvi, Khanna’s business partner at Bungalow, reservations for the restaurant sell out within 30 to 90 seconds of going live, with nightly waitlists averaging more than 1,000 people. The restaurant opened less than two years ago but consistently serves 300 to 400 dinners each night, becoming a top 10 restaurant in New York City on reservations platform Resy, Rizvi said.

“I definitely think that there’s a knowledge base that’s increasing; there’s more awareness with Indian food,” Rizvi, who also owns the restaurant Gupshup, told CNBC. “And there’s different cuisines within the Indian cuisine … that people are getting aware about.”

Khanna, who has been in the American restaurant scene for more than two decades, said he’s seen the entire landscape shift from “cheap food and curry houses” to sophisticated sit-down establishments.

Fine dining overall has seen a significant upswing over the past few years, Circana foodservice analyst David Portalatin told CNBC, as a post-pandemic appetite for a dining experience beyond just food has seen a boom.

Despite macroeconomic pressure with inflation and a pullback in consumer spending, Portalatin said customer visits to fine dining restaurants in July were up 5% year-over-year.

“One of the bright spots across the restaurant landscape right now is fine dining,” he said. “It’s evidence that the American consumer is once again desiring these unique and differentiated experiences outside the home.”

Along with that, Portalatin said younger consumers, like Generation Z and millennials, have a growing interest in global dishes with their “quest for flavors.” That opens the door for exploring cuisines like Indian food.

According to data from market research firm Datassential, new Indian restaurant openings in December 2024 hit 115, up from just 54 in September 2018. Currently, the firm counts 154 upscale Indian dining restaurants in the U.S. compared with 101 in January 2018.

Resy CEO Pablo Rivero told CNBC that he’s also seen demand for high-end Indian restaurants widen over the past few years.

“Modern Indian restaurants are redefining the category with ambitious menus and inventive formats — and diner demand for these elevated experiences shows no signs of slowing down,” Rivero said. “It’s a clear sign that diners are eager to explore experience-driven, innovative expressions of Indian cuisine at the highest level.”

And while growing American interest in global cuisines has taken off, the Indian American population has also mirrored that growth. According to the Pew Research Center, the Indian population in the U.S. has increased by roughly 3.1 million, growing about 174% since 2000.

That population has also seen a rise in affluence, making a high median household income of more than $151,000 in 2023, compared with just a median of over $105,000 for Asian American households overall, according to Pew.

As reservations at Indian restaurants begin to sell out even faster, investors are also looking to secure a seat at the table.

Just this month, popular U.K. Indian restaurant chain Dishoom gained…