Roni Mazumdar on Community and Indian Cuisine

Created by Roni Mazumdar, Rahi and Adda are two New York City restaurants that serve up critically acclaimed Indian cuisine. Rahi, which means “traveler,” is known for its modern updates to traditional staples like curry and biryani, and an immersive, culturally rich dining atmosphere. At Adda, whose name translates to “a place where people hang out,” diners are invited into a canteen-style environment with expertly made dishes like junglee maas, paneer tikka, and masaledar lipatwan murgh. Though their ambiance and menus differ, both restaurants are important touchpoints for authentic Indian food, made with locally-sourced and seasonal ingredients. Both Rahi and Adda have launched special menus for delivery and takeout during the pandemic, and are encouraging donations to support their staff.

Roni Mazumdar spoke with Squarespace about his inspiration behind the restaurants as well as sharing how he’s working on supporting his colleagues and his community during the Covid-19 crisis. 

SQUARESPACE: What was your motivation and inspiration for opening each restaurant? 

RONI MAZUMDAR: To demystify Indian Cuisine and share the vibrancy of the cuisine with everyone. 

SQSP: What are the primary differences between Rahi and Adda? And how are they similar? 

RM: Rahi is modern Indian while Adda is home-style food from India. 

SQSP: What are some of your favorite dishes offered at each restaurant?

RM: Rahi’s Lamb Shank Biryani, Pumpkin Coconut Curry, and Chili Chili Cheese Toast are my absolute favorites, while the Junglee Maas, Tawa Kaleji and Jhinga Kalimirch give me all the feelings. Each of those dishes bring back the memories from my childhood yet they are so distinctly different from one another. 

SQSP: How has the pandemic impacted your businesses, and what changes have you made in response? 

RM: We had to furlough 90% of our staff members and shut down all in-house dining. In our response, we have decided to think of three different pillars: Our Team, Our Community, and Our Business. We realized that we did not know the exact timeline of things so making plans around a timeline was ruled out. We created a GoFundMe Campaign to help our team in need. We teamed up with ReThink Food and Off Their Plate to provide food for frontline workers while keeping our delivery and takeout open the entire time. We started to look at new ways to reach guests, and recently launched the idea of Biryani Bol. 

SQSP: How are you personally staying connected to the community during this time? How are your businesses staying connected? 

RM: I make it a point to go out there and deliver a lot of the food to the hospitals just so I can meet others and that little presence can give us a sense of sanity in this time of crisis. In addition, I’m going to a mosque tomorrow to cheer on the community members as we provide food for Eid celebrations.

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