Saffron Modern Indian Dining will debut June 4 in the Third Ward, combining conventional Indian flavors with up to date plating and cooking methods from past India.
Saffron will open at 223 N. Water St., the place it should have a full bar and riverfront deck for patio eating, together with a eating room seating about 60.
Reservations may be made by means of OpenTable beginning Monday, however they’re not required.
The area most lately held Rivalry Bar.
“It was very bar-esque. … Every part was very darkish,” Fatima Kumar mentioned. “That’s not the look we have been going for over right here.”
She owns and operates Saffron along with her husband, Hanish. His brother and sister-in-law, Manish and Amrita Kumar of New York, are companions within the restaurant.
The restaurant, in a historic constructing with Cream Metropolis brick partitions, now has a white quartz bartop and a customized backbar of woodwork with gold accents.
White, blue, teal, vintage gold and darkish wooden seem all through the restaurant, Kumar mentioned. One wall has a customized mural by Jenny Vyas; different partitions are embellished in massive mirrors and sconces.
Possible in a yr or so, Saffron will open further area for eating on the restaurant’s decrease stage, Kumar mentioned.
The menu at Saffron
Menu gadgets shall be made with conventional Indian spices and flavors, and the restaurant has a tandoor oven for bread and different gadgets. However dishes additionally shall be ready in methods not usually related to Indian cooking, Kumar mentioned.
Among the gadgets on the menu embrace pulled tandoori hen bao buns, one of many small plates, and important dishes of butter hen made with smoked hen and a sauce of purple pepper and tomato, and malai lamb chops which are brined with cardamom and baked within the tandoor.
Entrée costs vary from about $24 to $32.
The menu may have nut-free, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free gadgets, together with gluten-free bread.
“We’re making an attempt to be as inclusive to all dietary wants as we will,” Kumar mentioned.
The bar at Saffron
Many of the cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks from the bar will use contemporary juices, Kumar mentioned, including that Saffron’s head bartender created the drinks for the restaurant.
One drink, for example, will mix cardamom-infused mezcal with ginger, carrot juice, maple syrup, lime and blackstrap bitters.
One other is actually a pisco bitter made with nutty, tart inexperienced mango; the drink is vegan, utilizing aquafaba as an alternative of conventional egg white.
The Saffron quaint, in the meantime, mixes vanilla-infused Bourbon with demerara sugar, Trinity bitters and Apologue saffron liqueur.
Kumar mentioned Saffron is modeled after upscale Indian eating places in New York and elsewhere the place she and her husband have dined.
“We love meals, and we love these locations to eat. We simply wished to deliver this to Milwaukee,” Kumar mentioned.
The menu shall be posted at saffronmke.com. Takeout and supply shall be by means of the Toast on-line ordering platform.
Saffron shall be open for lunch and dinner as of June 4, closed solely on Mondays. Its hours shall be 11 a.m. to three p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays by means of Thursdays and Sundays, and it is prone to be with no break Fridays and Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., if staffing permits, Kumar mentioned.
Contact Carol at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or by means of the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Comply with her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.
