Ashok Bajaj x Chef Vikram Sunderam x Me: Passion Built the Empire, This Chef Brought It to Life

Inside the empire behind Rasika, Bombay Club, and now Malabar.He told me he gets high without taking any drugs, just from walking into his own restaurants every night. After 35 years and ten restaurants, he still means it, and that is the whole story in one sentence.This week I sat down with two people who basically invented modern Indian dining in America, on location at their newest restaurant, Malabar. If you have ever wondered how one person builds a ten restaurant empire, survives a pandemic downtown, and still shows up in person every single night, this conversation has the real answer.Ashok Bajaj is the founder and CEO of Knightsbridge Restaurant Group, the man Forbes calls DC’s gastronomic power broker, the guy behind Rasika, Bombay Club, Bindaas, Sababa, Rosselli, and now Malabar. He opened the Bombay Club in 1988 and changed how this country understands Indian food. Alongside him is Chef Vikram Sunderam, his partner of two decades, a James Beard Award winning chef who ran London’s Bombay Brasserie before opening Rasika with Ashok in 2005. This is a DC food podcast conversation about Ashok Bajaj, Vikram Sunderam, and the Indian restaurant scene in Washington DC, thirty five years in the making.Key TakeawaysAshok Bajaj has run ten plus restaurants in Washington DC for over three decades and still visits several of them in person every single night.Malabar exists because Ashok tore down a struggling concept called Rosedale and rebuilt it from scratch, his philosophy is stop, rethink, and flip when something isn’t working.Chef Vikram Sunderam has partnered with Ashok for over twenty years since opening Rasika together in 2005, earning a James Beard Award along the way.Ashok is candid about downtown DC’s post pandemic struggles, including a real conversation with a landlord about a building that dropped from 140 million dollars to 40 million in value.Vikram explains the mastery behind dishes like the palak chaat, where getting the oil temperature exactly right matters more than any other single step.Ashok Bajaj said, “I get high without taking any drugs on these things.”Chef Vikram Sunderam said, “We’ve got a gastronomic bromance, you would say.”Timestamps00:00 Nycci opens at Malabar and introduces Ashok Bajaj’s story02:51 Ashok Bajaj joins the show03:15 Growing up in India and choosing hospitality over commerce05:09 Opening the Bombay Brasserie in London in the 1980s11:36 Starting Knightsbridge Restaurant Group after a deal fell through in Sydney12:03 Why Washington DC became home in 198720:09 How Rasika came together after a trip to Paris24:08 Ten restaurants later, and the pivot that became Malabar33:54 Downtown DC’s changing economics and the landlord conversation38:31 Chef Vikram Sunderam joins the conversation42:16 How Ashok and Vikram partnered to open Rasika in 200549:37 What makes Malabar’s coastal Indian menu different55:12 Rapid fire questions and one word for DC’s next chapterConnect with Ashok Bajaj and Chef Vikram SunderamAshok Bajaj Website: knightsbridgerestaurantgroup.comAshok Bajaj Instagram: instagram.com/ashokbajaj_dcAshok Bajaj LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ashok-bajaj-ab01b716Chef Vikram Sunderam Instagram: instagram.com/chefvikramsunderamChef Vikram Sunderam LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vikram-sunderam-a5226446Malabar: malabar-dc.com