Everything You Need To Know About Priyanka Chopra's New Restaurant
Two days ago, Priyanka Chopra Jonas announced on Instagram that she will open an Indian restaurant, named SONA, at 36 East 20th Street in New York City. "SONA is the very embodiment of timeless India and the flavours I grew up with," she explained in the post's caption. SONA will be the actress and debuted memoirist's first restaurant, and is set to open later this month.
While it may seem strange to some to open a restaurant during the coronavirus pandemic, further slides from the Instagram post show Priyanka Chopra Jones performing a Puja, a Hindu prayer ritual, back in 2019, which indicates she has had the rent for the space paid for well over a year, and sees the introduction of the vaccines as a pivot point. According to Eater, SONA will open initially at 35 percent capacity, though "the exact number of seats hasn't been disclosed yet."
They did, however, receive the broadest conceptual sketch of the menu from Maneesh Goyal, the businessman with whom Chopra Jonas collaborated to create SONA: "From the streets of Mumbai to the beaches of Goa to the charm of Old Delhi, SONA's menu spotlights all that you could ever desire from the subcontinent." In other words, we will have to wait and see.
You might recognize her chef
A good sign, however, is the chef Priyanka Chopra Jonas has attached to the restaurant: Hari Nayak, whom she describes in her posts as "a masterful talent, who has created the most delicious and innovative menu, taking you on a food journey through my amazing country."
The name will be familiar to fans of the food network, specifically fans of Bobby Flay – in the first episode of Season 26, Hari Nayak served as a judge for Beat Bobby Flay. Hari Nayak was invited was because he was already a renowned restaurateur with establishments set in Bangkok, Mumbai, and Hoboken.
SONA will mark his first attempt to open a restaurant in New York City, despite having learned his trade there. In his own Instagram post, Nayak explained his previous reticence in committing to a New York based restaurant: "New York has always been my most cherished dream. And like every beautiful dream it had to be perfect." With such enthusiasm building, SONA may just stave off an early fate in a landscape currently unforgiving to newer culinary enterprises.