Paramjeet Bombra is the head chef of Gulaabo, a new restaurant in New York City focusing on the cuisine of Punjab in northwestern India and eastern Pakistan.
Bombra is a native of Punjab and had cooked all over India before arriving in New York and working at modern Indian gastropub Baar Baar, whose owners opened Gulaabo as a vehicle for the chef to highlight the cuisine of his native state.
Since opening the restaurant this summer, Bombra has been thrilling guests with items such as Amritsari Kulcha — a long and dramatically presented flatbread — goat curry made using his grandmother’s recipe, and a traditional dessert of cottage cheese balls that he tops with saffron ice cream.
Among other aspects of Punjabi culture that Gulaabo celebrates is its hunting tradition, which is reflected in the menu’s fried quail kebab and its rabbit curry.
Bombra discussed his strategy for developing the menu and his plans for the future.
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