We’ve lost some of our best modern Indian restaurants in recent years in San Francisco, like August 1 Five and Taj Campton Place. Thankfully, we just gained the brilliant new TIYA in San Francisco’s Marina District from chefs and brothers Sujan and Pujan Sarkar.
Opening May 8, 2024, this is their first solo collaborative project. The Sarkars came from SF and Palo Alto’s ROOH, which are still going strong, while Sujan has run Indian restaurants all over the nation and world, from London to India.
I’m delighted to say TIYA may best reflect what I’ve loved about their cooking at numerous restaurants for years. 2024 James Beard Award-nominated chef Sujan still runs his Chicago restaurant, Indienne, where he’s mainly based. Pujan lives in SF and was head chef at ROOH SF for seven years.
TIYA is centered on the brothers’ warm hospitality and gentle manner, qualities I’ve long appreciated in them. The restaurant showcases their playful approach to Indian dishes and flavors, combined with California’s unparalleled ingredients and forward-thinking vision. Add to this Izler Thomas’s inspired culinary cocktails, which honor Indian ingredients and SF neighborhoods, plus eco-conscious, thoughtful wines — some from Indian Californian vintners — and we’re talking a “whole package” restaurant I’d already dub one of SF’s very best Indian restaurants alongside Copra and Besharam.
The space is inviting and features a textural, color-packed design inspired by Eastern India’s native green parrot. Imagine two rooms in teals, greens, and blues contrasted by yellow and floral wallpaper, a dramatic oval bar, velvet chairs, and artwork by Indian artist Saurav Das. A four-course tasting menu for $90 with an optional $55 wine pairing makes for a full night out with your choice of dishes, while à la carte options keep it flexible for a feast or just bites and cocktails at the striking bar.
You’ll never suffer for flavor, color or vibrancy with the Sarkars’ dishes. They do beautiful things with chaat, India’s savory snacks, many of which I’ve enjoyed in countless versions. Take, for instance, their reimagined yogurt chaat with tamarind, mint, and oxalis leaves, formed into a fluffy mound and topped with a nest of crispy potato strips and freeze-dried strawberries — simply wow.
Their hamachi bhel is a twist on bhel puri, featuring raw hamachi wrapped around charcoal-grilled young millet instead of the traditional crunchy puffed rice. It’s paired with green mango, red onion, and sol khadi with kokum, an Indian sour plum from Goa, where they drink it to cool the body down in hot, Indian summers.
Their lamb keema and gunpowder seabass in Alleppey curry both delight, but the vegetarian dishes are equally creative, such as a jackfruit keema inspired by their mother. Slow-cooked until tender, the jackfruit sits on a bed of green peas and potato mousse, topped with fried potato strips. Both the jackfruit and lamb keemas come with a side of masala babka, inspired by Pujan’s visits to SF’s Jane the Bakery and Indian pao bread. This pao-babka mashup symbolizes the SF-India fusion the brothers excel at.
Another vegetarian standout is the morel malai, or Himalayan morel mushrooms under shaved truffles from Dorsia, and squash blossoms stuffed with spiced house paneer, all in a cardamom parmesan yakhni, a play on traditional yogurt gravy.
Their butter chicken in smoked pepper makhani curry, laced with fenugreek and lemon foam, is perfection. Then there’s the ghee goat leg, braised and cooked a la plancha in birria taco form, vivid with Chettinad spices. Hot damn.
It’s Mexico-meets-India in a uniquely Californian way — hearty, gratifying, and ingeniously crafted. I’ve been craving Indian-style quesabirria ever since! And don’t skip dessert, especially the coconut payasam (pudding) with sunchoke ice cream, coconut caramel, and cashew nougatine, all topped tableside with a frozen coconut rice cryo-mousse, a frozen liquid nitrogen cloud.
Straight from Mumbai to SF, Thomas’ cocktails at Pippal in the East Bay already impressed me with their lively flavors and elegant presentation. He continues that vibe here, with TIYA’s cocktails celebrating SF, from Chinatown to Japantown, alongside a gin and tonic menu and zero-proof options. One of the most fun cocktails is the Mission District, a mix of Campo Bravo Blanco Tequila, salsa verde, lime, house nopales cordial, acids, and salt, garnished with a tortilla chip. It’s food-friendly, gently spicy, and playful.
Likewise, the North Beach cocktail is a winning tribute to our beloved Italian neighborhood and its 1970s legend, Golden Boy Pizza. Thomas toasts housemade sourdough bread and infuses it with Parmesan cheese for 48 hours in vodka, then filters it with liquid nitrogen for a fizzy touch. The vodka is mixed with cherry tomato juice, pickled basil, and olive oil for a silky, savory Martini twist.
A crowd-pleaser is the crushable Marina, a creamy mango lassi with rum and pistachio. From wine pairings to by-the-glass options, there are plenty of under-the-radar gems, like a dry, aromatic Greek Inomessiniaki Moschofilero Mati Fortuna white wine, or unfiltered, fascinating 2023 Scythian Wine Co. Cucamonga Revolution rosé of Zinfandel and Palomino grapes.
Have I mentioned this a “whole package” kind of experience? From service to decor, food to drink, TIYA is a notable new Indian destination restaurant worth going out of your way for. I’m thrilled the Sarkar brothers are showing us fully what they’re about. And it is a beautifully delicious thing.
// 3213 Scott Street, www.tiyasf.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
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