Semma is the brainchild of Indian-born chef Vijay Kumar and his partners at Unapologetic Foods, who together realized in 2021 that New York City had no restaurant specializing in authentic Southern Indian cuisine. Located in Manhattan’s West Village, Semma is their solution, serving the kind of food Kumar enjoyed while growing up in Tamil Nadu in the south of the sub-continent. He prepares each dish just as he remembers it, without any toning down or tampering to suit American tastes. It’s personal, regional, and unapologetically Indian. Contrary to Kumar’s initial worries, this approach has been welcomed by an audience hungry for authenticity and not afraid of the spiciness or simply the otherness of what was once considered ‘poor people’s cuisine.’

The heart of Semma

The colorful design and vibrant atmosphere of the space itself helps prepare guests for the explosion of flavor that awaits them. The long dining room is decorated with paintings of banana palm trees that bathe the place in greenery, the woven mats that cover the ceiling recall houseboats in Kerala, and the chairs are of a design that is iconic in Southern India. The desired effect of all this is to represent India in all its brilliant vitality, transporting diners there before they have even tasted their first mouthful.

Executive Chef Kumar was raised in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state in India, where he developed a taste for cooking while helping his mother in the kitchen and on their frequent trips to his grandparent’s remote farm. The memories he cherishes from these trips include hunting for deer, foraging for snails, and cooking in mud pots over an open fire. So, when his desire to study engineering proved unachievable on financial grounds, Kumar was happy to opt instead for a culinary education at the State Institute of Hotel Management in Tiruchirappalli. On graduating, he found work at the Taj Connemara in Chennai, where he spent three years before embarking, literally, on a three-year stint on a cruise ship. Next, seeking the opportunity for greater independence and creativity, he moved to the US. Based initially in California, he spent six years in a restaurant called Dosa in San Francisco, before moving to Rasa in Burlingame, where—as Chef de Cuisine—he prepared Indian cuisine with a Californian twist, overseeing the restaurant’s receipt and retention of a Michelin star.

It was in 2021, following conversations with industry friends Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya of Unapologetic Foods, that Kumar decided to transfer to the East Coast to run Semma in NYC, with the aim of recreating, as authentically as possible, the home cooking of his childhood in Southern India.

Semma was listed by The Infatuation as one of New York City’s Best New Restaurants of 2021, appearing the same year in Bon Appetit’s list of Best Restaurant Meals, according to staffers. The following year, it received its first Michelin star, which it retained in 2023. In 2024, Semma took seventh place in the New York Times list of the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City.

The Chef

Vijay Kumar is Executive chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Semma in New York’s West Village, where he serves ‘unapologetic' Southern Indian cuisine based on the dishes he used to help his mother prepare as a child growing up in Tamil Nadu. His early experiences of hunting deer and foraging for snails at his grandparents’ farm and cooking the results over an open fire inspired him to attend culinary school and have reemerged in his menus at Semma. Prior to his move to New York, Kumar spent 12 years working in California, latterly at Burlingame’s Michelin-starred Rasa.

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