For Park Slope, Brooklyn, a spot like Badshah Social feels like a first of its kind. It’s a welcome addition to the nearby Chick-Fil-As, shawarma joints, and Insomnia cookie shops geared toward a quick bite before a game at Barclays Center. For a neighborhood seemingly filled with every cuisine imaginable, it has been lacking a somewhat upscale Indian restaurant. I wandered in on a Tuesday night, exactly three weeks after opening, and was surprised (and not surprised) to find the restaurant bustling, without a single empty table.

Behind Badshah

Enter Chef Abishek Sharma, a fixture of New York’s Indian dining scene by now. His résumé makes the case on its own with establishments like Swagat, Madam Ji, A13 Events (the go-to for luxury destination weddings), and now Badshah—Hindi for “the king.” He didn’t dream this menu up in a Manhattan test kitchen, he went back to India first, hitting markets and street stalls in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat, Punjab, Hyderabad, and the south. The payoff: dishes you already know but rebuilt just enough to surprise you.

Setting the Scene

There’s something genuinely chic about the space, a mashup of Indian opulence and Brooklyn street energy. A Knicks blue and burnt orange palette sets the tone, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto Flatbush Ave, plush orange high-top seating along the bar. Custom framed posters trace a line from Biggie to the Kings of Jaipur, while crystal chandeliers shaped like crowns nod to both the King of Brooklyn and Mughal royalty. Head toward the back and you’ll find a private dining room wrapped in tiger-stripe wallpaper, made for more intimate occasions. Wherever you’re seated, the open kitchen is on full display—tandoors firing and all.

What to Order

Ordering at any Indian restaurant can be equal parts exciting and overwhelming, but Badshah makes things easy. The small plates are the exception, simply because everything sounds good. We gravitated toward plays on dishes we grew up eating, starting with the Paneer and Fig Tikki: a duo of seared paneer croquettes alongside a burnt tomato chutney. It was the Crispy Spinach Chaat that ended up being our favorite dish of the night. Spinach leaves are fried until crisp, then layered with yogurt, tamarind, and spices. It hits that sweet, tangy, savory combination that makes a good chaat impossible to stop eating.

For mains, we couldn’t resist ordering the Lamb Shank Nihari. The lamb is braised overnight until it’s propertly fall-off-the-bone, and sits in a deeply spiced curry that we mopped up with the Amritsari Kulcha and the Laacha Paratha. Protip: If Amritsari Kulcha is new to you (it was new to me too), it’s a paratha layered with potatoes and cheese. There’s also plenty of Basmati Rice if that’s more your thing.

Then came the Dum Biryani, a sealed pot of rice and chicken cooked slowly using the traditional dum method. The technique layers marinated meat with partially cooked rice before sealing the pot and letting everything cook together over low heat, trapping all that steam and flavor inside. Badshah’s version has all the markings of the classic dish without the spice level. And while I’ll always take a biryani that makes me sweat, the restraint makes sense here. Badshah is introducing this kind of Indian cooking to a much wider crowd, and making some dishes a little more approachable feels less like giving newcomers an easy way in.

In the name of mom’s cooking, it was impossible for us to see Dal on a menu and not order it. We went with the Dal Tadkewali, a traditional preparation finished with a tempering of smoked hing, ghee, whole red chili and garlic, a dish that tastes like it’s been made the same way for generations.

For dessert, we went with two of the greats. First, the Motichoor Ladoo Ice Cream, a clever collision of two North Indian desserts we already love. This pairs the ice cream with tiny pearls of boondi and saffron. It’s a fun deconstructed way to take the traditional ladoo and mix it into ice cream. And we had to snag the Mysore Pak, which goes in a richer direction. A classic South Indian sweet with roots in the royal kitchens of Mysore, it’s traditionally made from gram flour, sugar, and plenty of ghee, with Badshah’s version adding green cardamom. The texture lands somewhere between fudge and a buttery cookie. It’s a sweet commonly associated with weddings and festivals, and it more than earned its spot here.

At the Bar

The drinks are just as entertaining. There’s nothing I appreciate more than Indian flavors turned mixology. Expect concoctions that feature everything from Indian gin, green chilis and pistachio rose. Our Green Fire cocktail blended Plantador silver tequila with lime, pineapple, and green chilis, while the Jamun Spice incorporated Blackberry Whiskey with rosé vermouth, ginger, and lemon. Elsewhere, you can find plenty of wine, and Kingfisher beers on the menu.

The Verdict

Badshah Social is the upscale Indian spot we didn’t know we needed in this part of downtown Brooklyn. It’s polished without losing its edge, and confident enough to blend Mughal grandeur with Brooklyn swagger. Go for the chaat and nihari, stay for the cocktails, and save room for the Mysore Pak.