Over the last three months, Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been performing in the critically acclaimed Netflix movie The White Tiger, publishing the best selling memoir and introducing a sustainable haircare line, which is not yet done.
The actress recently took to social media to announce that she had “grown her love for Indian food into the new New York City restaurant, Sona.”
“Sona is the very personification of Timeless India and the flavours with which I grew up,” she said, announcing Instagram’s opening.
Chef Hari Nayak, an advisor for popular Dubai restaurants Masti, Moombai & Co and Bombay Bungalow, will be in charge of the restaurant. Although Masti is known for its playful, Indian cuisine in the global arena, Moombai & Co is an old-school partner in the Dubai trade centre that aims to take diners back to the traditional Iranian and Parsi cafés of India on a journey.
“I’ve been asked for years why I haven’t opened my own New York restaurant, my home for over two decades when I have gone to many far corners of the globe. It’s because New York was always my greatest dream. And it must be perfect like every beautiful dream,” the chef said in an Instagram post.
Although little is revealed on the menu to date, “India timeless in the heart of NYC,” the restaurant’s slogan seems to suggest an Indian authentic food. Nayak has referred to modern dishes and Priyanka Chopra has added that he’ll take diners through his home on a “food journey.”
The project involves a partnership with restaurant managers David Rabin and Maneesh Goyal, who have made Priyanka Chopra Jonas the “creative force of Sona.” The project is a collaboration.
“Priyanka had all her fingerprints across Sona from design to menu to music and even name,” Goyal said on Instagram. The word “Sona” in English is “gold.”
“There is no one who personifies ‘global Indians’ better – and more boldly – than Pri. Sona is so fortunate to have her at our corner.”
Clearly, restaurant plans have been in operation for some time. Priyanka Chopra Jonas shared the pictures of the puja (prayer ceremony) she took in 2019 to bless the space with the posts that announce its launch. The photographs also feature her husband, the singer, Nick Jonas.
Sona is located on 36 East 20th Street in New York and will be available to the public at the end of March.
