Semma looks great! The Indian places I remember best - although I only went to each of them once - are Tamarind and Bombay Bread Bar. I can’t remember a thing about Tabla, although I’ve been there. And I had the requisite number of cheap 6th Street meals.
It’s not that easy for me to find someone to eat Indian food with, though. The people I know who like it are mostly not in Manhattan anymore.
Actually, I was thinking mostly about Cote.
We’ve been to Cote once and enjoyed it. We did the Butcher’s Feast. It’s a substantial amount of food.
One warning. It gets very LOUD. We went early (5 p.m.) on purpose because we had heard about the noise issue. At first, it wasn’t busy. But by the time we finished about an hour and a half later, the place was full, and the noise level had risen to an uncomfortable level for us. We were very happy to be leaving.
Thanks for that info. I hate noise in restaurants, so that puts Cote on the back burner for us.
Stochastic comments:
The other desserts there are also uncompromisingly Indian-oriented, although also with frills, as opposed to so many other Indian restaurants that have caved and offer mousse and suchlike.
But, people are always suckers for the exotic and the slam of raw spice. And that’s what I object to most of all – the friggin’ raw, harsh, almost uncooked spices at Adda.
True confession: I’ve eaten there, but not yet at Dhamaka, but I am working on my well-heeled nephew to take me there for their rabbit.
I’ve also liked the food from Khiladi (lamb ghee roast, idli nuggets), but their menu seems reduced right now.
All thoughts towards what we don’t get in Boston.
In agreement on that dessert. But I loved the chikki!
@bcc you may also want to look into a la carte options — I’ve been there (ages ago) at lunch and off times, and sometimes ordered just one dish (iirc it was the pickle-sticky rib — not it’s official name and a dessert another time we went for drinks).
I thought about mentioning Tamarind, which used to be my (high end) favorite for many years, but I’ll caveat it now and say their appetizers are still excellent, but the mains were very disappointing the last few times (though to be honest, their mains were always disappointing unless it was the malai halibut or the special dishes like the raan).
So I don’t know if you prefer full plated meals, but as with most things I end up liking a couple of dishes here and other dishes there, which makes for a nice progressive meal but may not be everyone’s cup of chai 
(On raw spice issue at Adda I had to go find my earlier comments)
Thanks. Saar looks particularly interesting. I’ll also take a look at Khiladi.
I suppose one could go to Tamarind and just order appetizers. We’ve done that at other places just to keep the quantities down.
I went to Semma one Sunday night in January and the following Friday went went to Dhamaka. I prefer Semma though I thought Dhamaka was very, very good. Ready for a return trip to both actually (still have not tried Adda).
On the Korean front, Jua is absolutely outstanding. Also have really enjoyed Her Name is Han and Atoboy.
For Chinese, I am a fan of Cha Kee, which is relatively new. Their tenderloin noodle dish with Okra is outstanding. Recently went to Spicy Village. Talk about a lot of fun. I am always a fan of BYO places, but for this place, the food was absolutely the star of the show (though the Ladera Chard we brought to go with it was also not bad at all).
Thanks for your post! I’d love to hear more about dishes you’ve liked at these places. That dish at Cha Kee sounds up me and my girlfriend’s alley.
At Dhamaka, my absolute favorite thing was the Bharela Marcha. These are sweet peppers that are stuffed with peanuts and spices. They are so, so, so good.
We’ve eaten at Wayan and enjoyed it very much.
We’ve never been there and might have to try it. Meanwhile, we’ve been eating soft shells at our neighborhood Italian place in Brooklyn Hts. (Noodle Pudding) for about a week now. Sautéed, not battered & fried.
We’ve mostly had them at Great NY Noodletown.
Agree completely, Steve, I’ve been trying to eat my way through his menu, and have not found a clunker yet! Great vibe too!
Ah well, sweet peppers and I don’t get along well. 
When it comes to Korean, these are some of my favorites from the past few months:
Anything in particular you like at these places, and what neighborhood (other than Barn Joo) are they in?
