This Raleigh hot spot was named one of the best new restaurants in the country
The accolades keep coming for a North Hills hot spot that’s recently been named one of the best new restaurants in America.
Fresh off its Michelin recognition, the North HIlls restaurant Tamasha has been named one of 2025’s best new restaurants in the country by Esquire magazine.
Led by chef Bhavin Chhatwani and owned by married couple Mike Kathrani and Tina Vora, Tamasha debuted in 2024 as one of Raleigh’s most exciting restaurant openings, serving a modern and refined menu of Indian dishes in a stunning glass-enclosed dining room.
Tamasha awards
The honors haven’t stopped, starting with a shout out from Open Table, which called Tamasha one of the most beautiful restaurants in the United States. And most recently by Michelin, which bestowed “Recommended” honors on Tamasha for its new American South guide.
“Ambitious and sleek, fancy but never fussy, Tamasha represents a new milestone in that (Indian renaissance) movement, with a menu that finds common ground between the South and the subcontinent,” Esquire wrote of Tamasha. “Chef Bhavin Chhatwani (a veteran of the Taj Campton Place in San Francisco) slow-cooks pork belly in a Kerala spice mix for twelve hours and folds collard greens into Tamasha’s dal. The restaurant’s owners, husband-and-wife duo Mike Kathrani and Tina Vora, set out to bring refined Indian cuisine to the Tar Heel State, and the state has responded with gratitude.”
Best new restaurants 2025
Tamasha was joined on Esquire’s list by fellow North Carolina restaurant Seaboy near Lake Norman.
North Carolina restaurants missed out on Esquire’s list in 2024, but the year before, Raleigh’s popular Ajja was named one of the best new spots in the country.
