“It’s how we eat Indian food at home,” says Shiwanti Widyarathna about the thinking behind Nirvana’s menu. “You have a spread of food—it’s not just one sole chicken dish. We have daal, a vegetable, a protein, raita, pickle…everything one could want.”
Shiwanti Widyarathna and her husband, chef Chaminda, have co-owned Cinnamon, Rhinebeck’s adored Indian restaurant, for over a decade. While Cinnamon’s menu is known and loved, Widyarathna saw the opportunity to do something different with the new location in Woodstock—a chance to offer guests a dining experience closer to home.
Realizing that the average diner won’t order multiple entrees just for a dinner date, the Widyarathnas innovated with the menu format, centering an authentic and wholesome Indian dining experience. Many entrees at Nirvana combine two or more items—the chicken dum biryani has a pillowy layer of naan resting on top. For Nirvana’s malai kofta, Punjabi vegetable dumplings in a cashew almond sauce are encrusted with quinoa. Nirvana’s menu also has chaat for the table—an array of Indian street bites and pastries.
Brunch Bounty
The atmospheric and swanky interior created by Nirvana’s plum walls and abundant natural light is the perfect setting to savor Saturday or Sunday brunch. Hallmarks of brunch are a satisfying spread where savory meets sweet, heavy on carbs and, usually, boozy.
For full-spread cravings, “thali,” meaning plate or tray, is Nirvana’s answer. The menu offers two brunch thalis—chicken or vegetable. Thalis are round platters containing seven or so individual items. The generous portion size is meant to be shared and eaten with one’s hands.
In the center of Nirvana’s thali is spiced rice with crispy chapati. The dishes that surround the rice may be up to chef Chaminda, or the season that day, but can include idli, a pillowy steamed rice cake; sambar, south Indian vegetable stew; hot pickle; a masala omelette; daal; papadum; and a dessert such as rice kheer, a rice pudding made from saffron-scented milk, rose water, and cardamom topped with cashews and raisins.
No flavor or texture is missed from the experience. “It’s like a mini buffet,” Widyarathna explains. Nirvana’s thali is curated—a journey of heat that evolves—tang, sweetness, and color marry and carry over into the next component. The offering is also reasonably priced, at $20 for the vegetarian option and $25 for meat.
Alongside a plentiful brunch is a colorful cocktail menu: a lychee martini, mango margarita, and saffron blossom are a few drink specialties where elegant garnishes and flavor-packed pours greet the senses; a traditional drink menu of wine, beer, coffee, and chai is available, too.
Brunch is a meal often enjoyed communally with friends or family—Nirvana’s communal table accommodates large parties for any occasion. The meal itself encourages diners to connect with one another over the experience of textures and tastes.
It also offers a window into the creative ways the Widyarathnas source flavors. When the couple travels, they stop in villages and off-the-beaten-path restaurants to see what other cooks are up to, always hunting for fresh tastes and preparations they have not yet tried. “We bring the flavors back, so we are not simply serving another vindaloo that everyone knows, but something innovative and inspired,” Widyarathna says.
Chaminda, who left home of Sri Lanka at 18 to train as a pastry chef, flexes his creativity, playing with regional variations. “At Nirvana, we bring southern flavors that are not always so common in dishes,” Widyarathna says. For example, Nirvana’s menu celebrates tamarind, a sweet and sour fruit commonly used in south Indian dishes, featured in the baingan bartha, a tender melt-in-the-mouth eggplant offering.
Nirvana’s dishes of inventive flavors prepared with farm-fresh Hudson Valley produce, reimagine familiar favorites while delighting the palate.
Nirvana’s brunch is offered on Saturday and Sunday from 11:30am to 3pm. Regular hours can be found at nirvanawoodstock.com.
Nirvana
4 Deming Street, Woodstock, NY
