At Korai Kitchen, Nour-E Farhana Rahman and her mother offer authentic Bangladeshi flavors to their NYC community with light, fresh home-cooked food.
The mother-daughter duo opened up the restaurant in 2018. They serve what they call “slow food”. Nur-E Gulshan operates the kitchen side of things, while Nour-e Farhana Rahman takes on the business side.
“So whether you’re craving the tastes of back home, or are just looking to ditch the regular chicken tikka masala, come on over to our house, and let Mama Rahman feed you,” their website reads. “Because you look like you could eat something…”
Korai Kitchen serves up authentic home-cooking
“It wasn’t till I went to my friends’ place that I realized dinner for them was a one-pot dish of pasta or the likes,” Rahman says. She is more used to the variety of that is present in Korai Kitchen, run by her and her mother. “When you go to a Bangladeshi home, the family meal is always a big table of many dishes,” she explains. “Everything is served together. Everyone shares the food.”
Rahman helped her mother start Korai Kitchen to showcase her love for cooking and authentic Bangladeshi cuisine. Prior to the restaurant, Rahman has worked in NGO’s and consulting, as well as starting Knotty Gal. The “socially-conscious accessories business” supports Bangladeshi communities.
Her mother is also a busy woman. First, she runs Korai Kitchen as head chef. But moreover, she owns the New Hilsa Grocery Store, where she sources her ingredients from.
Korai Kitchen fills a Bangladeshi niche
Rahman’s mother, Nur-e Gulshan, immigrated to New Jersey from Dhaka in 1986. She worked in her husband’s convenience store before opening Korai Kitchen. She has always made authentic, home-cooked Bangladeshi meals for her family. In 2015, she started profiting from it, as she started a catering business.
Although many US restaurants claim Bangladeshi cuisine, many of them actually serve broadly Indian food. “The biggest thing we hear from customers is that it’s not as heavy,” Rahman says. She also added that she started the #NoChickenTikkaMasala tag on Instagram to illustrate how distinct Korai Kitchen is.
“Back then, that was probably the logical thing to do to make it accessible; to make it Indian,” Rahman explains. However, Indian cuisine is not a monolith, and Bengali and Bangladeshi cuisine also features differences which have often not been reflected in American restaurants.
For example, Bangladeshi cuisine features a lot of fish due to its geographic position, as opposed to Bengali cuisine. The restaurant boasts a buffet set up, which allows for greater variety than a la carte. “We are not serving anything that I didn’t eat growing up,” Rahman says. “It is like having a meal at our home.”
Some of the vibrant food served up at Korai Kitchen
Jenny Huang for The New York Times
- Three side dishes served at every meal, including potato, eggplant, and tomato-based sides.
Jenny Huang for The New York Times
- Pumpkin shrimp curry and mixed vegetables, cooked in spices.
Korai Kitchen, Alisha Rana
Peruse Korai Kitchen’s menu here.
