Inside Badshah, The New Brooklyn Restaurant Where A Generational Indian Food Legacy Gets A Modern Twist

BROOKLYN, NY— When Chef Abhishek Sharma opened Badshah in Park Slope on July 7, he brought more than a new Indian restaurant to Brooklyn.

Sharma, 38, stacks his new wave fusion menu onto his family’s restaurateur portfolio, which began decades earlier in New York City kitchens and continued through months of travel across India.

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Located at 212 Flatbush Avenue, Badshah reflects Sharma’s journey from growing up in Flushing, Queens, surrounded by chefs, to studying regional Indian cooking firsthand.

The restaurant, whose name means “king,” combines traditional Indian flavors with the “melting pot of Queens” that shaped Sharma’s upbringing and the wider influences of New York City, he said.

The dining room features portraits of The Notorious B.I.G. alongside images of historic kings, connecting Brooklyn’s cultural icons with India’s royal traditions.

“It is elevated," Sharma said. "We have cocktails to pair really well with our food. The food presentation is very modern and beautiful, and our service is excellent."

Sharma grew up in a family of chefs whose New York restaurant legacy includes Surya in the West Village.

Those kitchens introduced him to the importance of hospitality, technique and preserving food traditions.

His family’s restaurant background became the foundation for his own career, eventually leading him to operate restaurants including Swagat NYC and previously a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen.

But Sharma wanted to continue evolving.

Growing up in New York City, Sharma said he wanted to bridge the distance between his upbringing and his family's heritage.

He spent six months traveling across India, studying the regional cuisines that now shape Badshah's menu.

Rather than recreate a single region’s cuisine, Sharma used his travels as inspiration for a menu that moves across India’s diverse food traditions.

The menu reflects Sharma's travels through India's regional cuisines, serving everything from pani puri, a beloved street food of crisp shells filled with spiced potatoes and tangy tamarind-mint water, to smoky Old Delhi chicken tikka, charcoal-grilled Lahori seekh kebab, peppery Kerala-style mutton irachi, and Mangalorean branzino, a coastal fish dish finished with curry leaf oil and fragrant spices.

The restaurant also introduces modern touches, including Guntur chili chicken bao and coconut fried chicken bites.

The drink program includes wines selected to complement Indian spices, including Riesling, Albariño, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir options.

For decades, New York City's dining scene has thrived on reinvention, with chefs borrowing across cultures as naturally as neighborhoods blend into one another.

But now, in the age of Instagram and TikTok, dining has increasingly become performance art, with restaurants pairing traditional techniques and contemporary influences to create meals designed to engage every sense.

“Now we have to use the element of five senses,” Sharma said. “It has to look good, it has to feel good, the texture has to be there.”

After years in the restaurant industry, Sharma said the biggest challenge, besides keeping up with rising costs, is meeting diners' expectations for an experience that extends far beyond the palate.

For Sharma, that evolution does not replace traditional cooking. Instead, it expands what Indian food can become.

“Your food could be sexy and beautiful,” he said.

Find out more about Badshah here.