From Madurai to New York: Meet SEMMA chef Vijay Kumar.

IIt isn’t that South India eating places are on the prime New York Instances Annual record of 100 greatest eating places in New York Metropolis, beating others at Atomix and Le Bernardin. However Semma, a comfortable Tamil restaurant in Greenwich Village, New York, did that. The creator of Madurai-born chef Vijay Kumar – Tamil slang time period for “unbelievable” – It received first place in 2025, simply 4 years after its debut in 2021. SEMMA was ranked seventh on the identical record final 12 months.

In a world the place Indian delicacies is finally postponed for a very long time World consciousnessI really feel that SEMMA’s rise is private and symbolic. “That is an unbelievable honor, particularly for eating places celebrating meals from villages in South India,” Vijay, 44, stated in an unique interview with IndianExpress.com. “However it has additionally been verified that our delicacies belongs to the world stage, in its true kind.”