Tamil restaurant Semma awarded best in city by New York Times

A Tamil restaurant has been named the best restaurant in New York City. The New York Times have published their annual 100 Best Restaurants in New York City for 2025. Topping this year’s list is Michelin starred Semma.

Semma, which means “fantastic” in Tamil, is a deeply personal tribute to the chef Vijay Kumar’s upbringing in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. New York’s diners had never seen Indian food like this, dominated primarily by North Indian cuisine.

On socials, Chef Vijay said, “Still trying to get the right words, because never in my life did I think something like this could happen… that a kid from the small town in Tamil Nadu could one day be standing here, lifted up by his team, at the Number One restaurant in New York.”

Chef Vijay Kumar (formerly of Michelin-starred Rasa in Burlingame, Calif.) opened Semma in 2021 in the heart of Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Semma received their first Michelin star in 2022, the only Indian restaurant in New York to receive the award, and retaining its star in 2023 & 2024.

The 41-year old chef originates from Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, in Southern India. The highly recommended dishes ant Semma include gunpowder dosa, attu kari sukka (lamb sukha), nathai pirattal (snails), and erel thokku (prawns).

This week, Chef Vijay Kumar won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in New York State, one of the most prestigious honours in the US culinary world, which is famously referred to as the ‘Oscars of the food world’. A first for Indian & Tamil cuisine.