I cannot stop devouring the bowl of chaat. Over the years, I’ve eaten several hundred renditions of the multi-textured, taste bud-spanning Indian street snack-turned-restaurant staple, but this one is an especially irresistible iteration. A tumble of golden fried kale, crackly but still toothsome, is punctuated with bright pockets of dried cranberries and fresh pomegranate seeds, adding a tart yet sweet counterpoint. Also in the mix: curry-rich chana masala, playfully referred to on the menu as sloppy Joe chickpeas.
The kale chaat is my first dish at Tamashaa, a glitzy, glammy Indian restaurant that opened in mid-May in the heart of Columbia Heights, taking over the Heights space. The venture is powered by restaurateur Rajiv Chopra, who owns Bombay Velvet in Reston, chef Manoj Goel, an industry veteran whose career began in New Delhi, and general manager and beverage director Satyam Rai, whose resume includes time at Sean Brock’s Husk in Charleston and the Treasury by Indian celebrity chef Harpal Singh Sokhi in the Boston suburbs.
Tamashaa means performance in Hindi, an ideal that shines through on every level. Everywhere you look around the dining room, well-lit by a sweep of windows, there are vibrant bursts of color—rich purples, brilliant oranges, burnt gold—along with flashes of greenery. At the back of the restaurant, past the service bar and kitchen, is a small 10-seat lounge where guests can enjoy a cocktail before moving to the dining room for their meal.
The design was overseen by Rajiv’s wife, Shivani Chopra, who gave the space a bold Bollywood sensibility that really pops, including an eye-catching backdrop for diners looking to capture their experience for social media.
What’s happening on the plate is just as pretty. Decorated with a purple pansy and a pair of red-veined sorrel leaves, deep-fried soft-shell crab wallows in rich coconut curry the color of a bouquet of marigolds. Or there’s the riff on bhel puri: a tower made of makhana, popped lotus seeds that play like oversize puffed rice, which are mixed with a pair of chutneys to add zip and zest, plus creamy avocado and vivifying mint emulsion.
Speaking of chutneys, there’s a range of unexpected flavors that will rotate with the season. Right now, options include tomato fennel, smoked pineapple, and gooseberry cilantro. Although they come with featherweight crisps for dunking, they’re even better with a few pieces of one of the breads, such as warm amul cheese and onion kulcha, black garlic naan, or paratha.
Desserts are designed to be worthy finales to the performance. A real showstopper is the chocolate dome, partially gilded and crowned with an orange flower and hiding pistachio ice cream yellowed with saffron and enriched with cardamom and cinnamon. Around this fertile island is a sea of not-too-sweet rabdi, Indian condensed milk, a worthy complement to the other components.
The meal is designed to be enjoyed tapas style—a bit of this, a nibble of that, a few scoops of something else (though if someone tries to take more than a bite of my kale chaat, I just might have to fight them). There are nearly 60 dishes on the menu, meaning there are plenty of options for almost every dining philosophy, allergy, and aversion.
Currently open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, the restaurant hopes to start offering brunch in late summer. The menu will include some existing dishes, as well as exclusive offerings, such as Kerala-inspired fried chicken with curry leaves on spicy waffles, masala-accented omelets, and anda bhurji, Mumbai-style scrambled eggs spiked with green chilies.
Tamashaa, 3115 14th St. NW (202) 918-1000. tamashaa.us.