Wid Chapman Infuses an Indian Eatery in Manhattan with Cultural Iconography
May 7, 2021
By Quinn Halman
The street food-inspired menu references cuisine from all over the sub-continent, like the iconography on the custom artwork. Photography by Will Ellis.
Whether following a scent wafting through Essex Street Market in Manhattan’s Lower East Side or catching a glimpse of the vibrant awning on Delancey street, the sights and smells of the Indian restaurant Dhamaka are hard to ignore. Helming the kitchen is lauded chef, Chintan Padya, who tapped Wid Chapman of his eponymous architecture studio to design the restaurant s interior. Translating into “bang!”, Chapman’s design for Dhamaka is inspired by its name, and the notion of