WKND Interview: Meet the chef behind Priyanka Chopra Jonas' new restaurant

On March 6, 2021, actress Priyanka Chopra-Jonas announced the launch of her new restaurant in New York City, Sona, on her Instagram account, calling it a space that was “the very embodiment of timeless India and the flavours I grew up with”. Probably one of the best kept secrets of the culinary world, this restaurant is helmed by Chef Hari Nayak, the Udupi born culinary genius who has left his distinctive stamp in restaurants across the world.

Looking Back

Born in the coastal town of Udupi in Karnataka that has a vibrant culinary landscape, Nayak admits he was always interested in cooking professionally. After graduating from a hotel school in Manipal in 1994, he joined the Culinary Institute of America, New York, and topped the class as an Honors Student in 1998. Sharpening his skills working with chefs like Daniel Bolud, Marcus Samuelson and Albert Adria, he also trained as a pastry chef. “Coming from a small town and doing it all by myself in the pre-Internet days, going to the library and finding the best school in America has been an exciting and wonderful journey. It’s been over 25 years in the chef’s coat, and I am lucky that I progressed my career on the path I wanted.” Interestingly, he never planned his career in terms of opening so many restaurants including Charcoza in Riyadh, Masti and Bombay Bungalow in Dubai, Jhol in Bangkok, Alchemy in Bengaluru and now Sona in New York. “It has always been about what’s next and how do I reinvent myself and how do I keep learning and I have been lucky to get projects that kept me going.” And life has come full circle for Nayak as he came wanting to learn everything but Indian food to become a cookbook author of Indian recipes and someone who has changed the perception of Indian food abroad.

Taking Indian cuisine to the world

His latest project Sona in New York has been in the pipeline for over five years. “Maneesh Goyal, one of the founders and the brains behind this restaurant is a good friend and we met in 2015 where he sounded off his dream of creating this cool New York restaurant to showcase the beauty of Indian food. We wanted to change the perception of Indian food being heavy and oily to just being fun, inviting and casual and it was also something that I had wanted to do in New York. Priyanka (Chopra-Jonas) got involved in 2016. She is a good friend of Maneesh, and we met at a party where she got interested in the project and wanted to be part of it. I can say there is no better global ambassador for India than her in the Western world, so for me it was the perfect partnership.” The team worked on menu development and several tasting sessions, including about 15 with Priyanka and her family before finalising the menu. It also saw delays that included finding the right place and, of course, the pandemic before finally opening doors. “When Priyanka announced the opening, it created this amazing buzz and the restaurant has been blessed and we are booked fully for the next three months.”