The Fascinating Origins of the Oldest Indian Restaurant in America
Where America first got a taste for exotic India! Decades of curry, culture, and connection — the story of a pioneer OG Indian restaurant shows how Indian cuisine continues to explode across the U.S.
Walking along the billboarded streets of Times Square, you wouldn’t expect to stumble upon one of the oldest restaurants in the U.S. But, that’s where the oldest Indian restaurant was for decades.
Founded sometime between 1913 and 1915 in a location just a few blocks away, Ceylon India Inn was the first South Asian restaurant in the city, and the first Indian restaurant in the entire country.
Ceylon India Inn became known as a gathering place for the South Asian community, offering shelter and affordable, home-style cuisine to the nearby Indian and Sri Lankan sailors, dock, and factory workers, but also students and political exiles, looking to start new lives in Manhattan.
The restaurant went under different ownership after Sri Lankan native K. Yaman Kira and his wife sold it to a Bengali owner in the ’50s and moved to Long Island where the two lived until their passing a decade later.
The new owner renamed the restaurant Curry India and maintained its reputation for serving authentic, Indian cuisine at a friendly price, with a daily vegetarian and non-vegetarian lunch option for just $9.25.
Once located at 148 West 49th Street, the restaurant has since permanently closed, but proudly declared itself as the first Indian restaurant in the U.S. as long as its doors were open!
Via @tastingtable
