Sujan Sarkar

Sujan Sarkar represents the vanguard of contemporary Indian chefs in America, drawing on his globetrotting career cooking in renowned kitchens from London to Dubai to reimagine the future of Indian cuisine. He is the chef behind celebrated modern Indian restaurant brands BAAR BAAR (NYC, LA), the one Michelin star Indienne (Chicago), and Indian chai/pastry shop Swadesi (Chicago). He has also conceptualized and developed several other concepts over the course of his decades-long career, including Sifr (Chicago), Rooh (SF, Palo Alto) Feringhee (Chandler, AZ), and Gulaabo (NYC) in the U.S. as well as Trèsind (Dubai) and India’s first artisanal cocktail bar, Ek Bar (New Delhi). His latest restaurant, Tiya, puts a California spin on Indian cuisine and is located in San Francisco’s Marina District.

Sarkar was voted Times of India’s “Chef of the Year" (2016) and was a finalist for a James Beard Award in the “Best Chef: Great Lakes” category (2024). He was also named on CS Magazine’s 2024 “Power List.” He has cooked for the James Beard Foundation, Cannes Lions Festival, among other prestigious organizations around the world.

His restaurant, Indienne, was named one of Esquire Magazine's "Best New Restaurants in America" (2022), Robb Report’s “Best of the Best: 10 Best New Restaurants in America” (2023), Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurants in America” (2023), and Yelp’s “25 Best New Restaurants” (2023). In 2023, Indienne received a Michelin star – just one year after opening – making it the first-ever starred Indian restaurant in the Chicago area (and one of three in the U.S.). In 2024, Indienne was named Chicago’s “Best New Restaurant” by the Jean Banchet Awards, an awards ceremony that celebrates Chicago’s best local culinary talent, and it was also listed as one of Chicago’s “50 Best Restaurants” by Chicago Magazine. On the global scale, Indienne was named a finalist in the "Best Short List" category for the 2024 Star Wine List of the Year International Open, which celebrates great wine lists throughout the world and the teams behind them. The restaurant also received a 2024 “Award of Excellence” by Wine Spectator.