The Reston Town Center West development will soon have a fine-dining Indian restaurant with velvet booths and a menu that reflects the influence of foreign powers in the subcontinent.
Chef Rajiv Chopra announced today that Bombay Velvet, which will open this month at 12100 Sunset Hills Road, will serve a collection of recipes from five different regions of India: north, south, east, west, and coastal. The food will also show the impact of foreign invaders including the Mughals, Turks, Persians, Afghans, French, Portuguese, Armenians, and the British.
Examples include smoky pulled chicken and corn chaat; lobster malai curry; and Delhi gourmet butter chicken steak. Each dish will sit in elegant plates to pick up the cuisine’s colors.
Chopra, a New Delhi native, has opened three Punjabi By Nature restaurants across Northern Virginia since 2010. He also operates an Indian desserts store, Evergreen Sweets. Chopra is already looking for additional locations and hopes to open a Bombay Velvet location in downtown D.C. by 2020.
Cocktails at Bombay Velvet will focus on homemade bitters, infused spirits, and Indian herbs and spices. That includes a “Tikki” style mixed drink called the Backwaters that comes with coconut water, jiggery, cumin spice, and pineapple blended with dark rum. Another example is the Thandai Colada — named after a popular cold beverage — with rose-infused vodka, almond milk, Thandai mix, fresh cream, pistachio slivers, dry rose petals, and cardamom pearls. There will also be imported wines, spirits, and beers imported from India.
The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner service seven days a week.
The biggest tenant at the Reston Town Center West is Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, a 10,000-square-foot happy hour spot with locations in Ashburn, Virginia, and Annapolis, Maryland. Nando’s and Honeygrow are also new neighbors at JBG Smith’s RTC-West development taking shape next to Reston Town Center and the expanding Silver Line.