It’s out with the Ancient and in with the ‘divine’ at 1726 Chestnut St., with last Tuesday’s opening of Sura Indian Bistro.
The restaurant is the latest endeavor from the team behind Ancient Spirits & Grille, which had occupied the three-story space since 2021. The name Sura comes from Sanskrit for “of the gods.” The overhauled menu, co-owner Syam Namballa told Billy Penn, explores centuries of Indian culinary arts.
“We’ve revived the old, forgotten cuisines from different parts of the subcontinent,” the 41-year-old said, “and tried to make them as authentic as possible.”
The aim, Namballa and general manager Kiran Sodhi explained, is to reflect the diversity of flavors across the country’s regions.
“We’ve had so many cross-cultural influences coming into India,” Sodhi said, listing Dutch, Portuguese, French, British, and Mughal, “to name a few. Everyone who came in left a stamp culturally, foodwise, and there are certain pockets of India which still associate with that culture.”
One example off Sura’s dinner menu is a Dutch-style tandoori salmon ($26), reduced in red wine and marinated in a spice-infused orange juice over two nights, then grilled and served with a South Indian sauce of tempered mustard leaves, coconut milk, and ginger garlic paste.
A more recent influence can be found in the British-inspired smoked tikka masalas ($22-$36), and a pair of eggs benny options—with or without chicken tikka ($18, $17)—both served with curried hollandaise spice and home fries, off the brunch menu.
Region-specific flavors are represented throughout. Starters like a chickpea flour Amritsari fish fry ($17), and finely minced Lucknow-style galouti (“soft,” or, more accurately “melt in your mouth”) kebabs ($23) stem from different areas of North India. Elsewhere on the menu, pongal (milk-boiled rice) with mutton roast ($28), and a mamsam iguru goat curry ($26) stand as South Indian specialties.
True to tradition, the Hyderabadi biryani ($18-$27) is cooked without tomato or red chili and blended with yogurt, while the Malabar Heaven ($26) is a creamy cardamom and coconut milk curry to compliment the seafood flavors of the subcontinent’s southwestern coast.
Available till 2:30 p.m. weekdays, Sura’s lunch specials also offer regional distinctions, with Northern, Southern, and Mughlai-inspired set menus ($18-$23). Once they arrive from India, tiffins—tiered lunch boxes used for workday food deliveries throughout India —will also be used for a build-your-own-tiffin lunch option.
Royal traditions get a nod too, through Sura’s shikar, or hunting feast. A dinner for two, it includes a soup or salad, naan (butter, garlic, cheese, or green-chile), and a glass of house wine each, accompanying either khargosh (spice-rubbed whole rabbit cooked in a clay tandoor, and quartered over saffron rice and boiled egg, $75), or lamb shank musallam with kheema gravy and rice ($65).
House-made syrups infuse several of the bar’s cocktails ($16-$17)—a ginger syrup for the vodka and elderflower liqueur Endless Summer, a botanical blend for the mezcal and lemon soda Herb of Life, and a chai spice concoction for Sura’s take on an Old Fashioned, the Chai Rye. A dessert cocktail, the Coorg Jamaican Coffee, combines warm brew and coffee liqueur with dark rum and shaved cinnamon, topped with cream.
As with his other establishments—Syam Namballa, along with business partner and high school friend Mahi Reddy, own over 25 multi-cuisine Indian restaurants along the East Coast—Sura’s produce and proteins are all organic and sourced from local farms, with spices shipped from India.
“We want the food to maintain the sanctity and dignity of the ingredients we use,” Namballa said.
The menu at Sura Indian Bistro, which recently opened at 1726 Chestnut Street, explores centuries of Indian culinary traditions. (Ali Mohsen/Billy Penn) 
The Coorg Jamaican Coffee, combines warm brew and coffee liqueur with dark rum and shaved cinnamon, topped with cream. (Ali Mohsen/Billy Penn) 
Sura Indian Bistro’s nalli biryani; slow-braised goat on the bone with biryani masala and basmati rice. (Ali Mohsen/Billy Penn) 
The Indian Madder cocktail is Sura’s twist on a whiskey sour. (Ali Mohsen/Billy Penn) 
Traditional kachumber salad with freshly chopped cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and herbs, at Sura Indian Bistro, 1726 Chestnut Street. (Ali Mohsen/Billy Penn)
Through the shift from Ancient to Sura, the restaurant interior has remained mostly untouched—the same 115 seats across two floors, with a third level divided between two event rooms with a capacity of 32 and 18 (there’s also an elevator). The bigger change has been in the kitchen, with new executive chef Sagar Hajare. Prior to arriving in Philly two weeks ago, Hajare had held the same position at Indian restaurants in Georgia, Texas, and Arkansas, with previous stints in China, Japan, and Singapore following four years of culinary school in India.
“It’s a proud feeling, always, to share something from your country,” the 29-year-old chef told Billy Penn. “And food is the best way to share your culture.”
He’s recently made an addition to the menu with baingan bharta, a grilled eggplant starter popular throughout the subcontinent’s regions, and another key component in a culinary lineup designed to “bring you all the way from Philadelphia to India,” he said. “[And] it’s cheaper than a flight.”
1726 Chestnut St. | 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 10 p.m., Friday; 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Sunday | $9-$75 | (215) 478-8777 | surabistro.com
