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Desi roots, global taste—that’s been the driving force behind Badmaash, the Los Angeles hotspot redefining Indian cuisine. For over a decade, Badmaash founders and brothers Nakul and Arjun Mahendro have been shaking up LA’s food scene with their bold, no-rules approach, blending classic Indian flavours with a rebellious, street-style attitude. The restaurant has built a cult following, redefining what Indian food tastes like in the U.S. And for the first time, Delhi got a taste of the Badmaash experience at Zomaland, where the team didn’t just serve food—they put on a show.
From a deep-fried butter chicken sandwich that had the crowd rushing the stage to their signature chicken tikka poutine, Badmaash’s masterclass was anything but ordinary. Between bites, t-shirts were thrown into the crowd, hip-hop beats blasted through the speakers, and spontaneous rap battles broke out—turning a cooking demo into an unforgettable moment.
We caught up with the duo to pick their brains on Badmaash’s take on Indian food, future plans and more.
ELLE: Describe Badmaash in three words.
Nakul Mahendro (NM): Issa. Badmaash. World.
ELLE: What are some Indian dishes you ate growing up?
NM: On weekends, it was Paranthe, Matar Paneer, and Suji Kheer that my dadi used to make. Our parents would tell us to eat something and we would just eat it. We’re very well-cultured and blessed to have been born and raised in this family. I think a part of my family felt that because we lived in Canada, it made us lose a little bit of our culture. They made immense efforts to give us as much of our sanskaar as we could take, and it lit a fire in both Arjun and me to continue that on our own.
ELLE: What’s the wildest idea for a dish that made it to the menu at Badmaash and was it a hit?
Arjun Mahendro (AM): We invented a dish where we took Parle-G biscuits and made ice cream sandwiches. We just ate all the broken pieces that were left in the kitchen. So, we invented a Parle G fried chicken in which we marinated our chicken for two days in ginger garlic lemon spice-salt seasoning. Then we breaded it with the crumbs of Parle G, deep fried it and served it over a Serrano cream which is this white spicy creamy sauce. It is the best thing ever, I love it and miss it so much. We are bringing it back a hundred per cent.
ELLE: Do you create mash-ups based on your guests’ suggestions?
NM: It's nice to hear a lot of our guests tell us, “This was great. Do you know what you should do? You should take this and this and put it together.” And look, it's not my favourite thing to hear because it's someone telling me what I should do. Imagine someone who's a doctor who spent their entire life being the best doctor they can, telling me who has dedicated his entire life to being the best artisan for his craft, what to do. I wouldn't tell him how to be a doctor. It just doesn't work.
But it's an honour for me to hear it because it comes from a place of excitement and love. Because it comes from a place where their moms, for example, used to make dhokla. And they had fried chicken. So they probably thought of making fried dhokla and making a sandwich out of that, which actually is a good idea. I just came up with that. So it's an honour to listen to it.
ELLE: Many chefs are bringing nostalgic elements to their menus today. But you’ve been doing it at Badmaash by incorporating dishes from your childhood. What are your thoughts on this?
NM: Every dish we’ve served has a purpose, a reason to add up to something. So when we’re serving you a spiced lamb burger, people think that that is a fusion item and something from our past. When friends and family would come over, my dad would be at the barbecue. When we wanted hamburgers or hotdogs, our Tauji would say, “Take the lamb kebab, put it in a bun with ketchup and that’s a lamb burger!” Although, at that time, it was something we hated, we love it now, and we have incorporated it into our menu.
ELLE: What are your thoughts on fusion food in today's culinary landscape and how has it evolved?
NM: Fusion food gets a bad rep today because it's been done poorly, and we're not fusion food. We're true, authentic food. You have to remember that fusion food is a concept that started to pop off in the ‘80s and ‘90s and I had a wonderful experience with it. Ever since I was a 15-16-year-old kid, one of my favourite restaurants of all time, was Vermilion in Chicago by Maneet Chauhan, our homie now. She took Indian cuisine and fused it with South American cuisine because it beautifully showcased the parallels between these two. If you think about it, the cuisines are so similar – you've got naan roti, tortillas, cilantro, onion, and tomato. You've got dry spices like turmeric and cumin and then you've got the regionality of it all like Brazilian, Mexican or Peruvian cuisine. There are some similar elements but they're all done differently.
So I hope we come back to this because right now, fusion food is all about taking crazy things and putting them together just to get an Instagram shot. I hope if any chef were to do fusion cuisine, they would bring it back to that time when it was something that made you go, “Oh yeah, these two cuisines complement each other so well.”
ELLE: What's one thing about Indian food that surprises your diners the most,
NM: That it is not all spicy. When we first opened, 11 and a half years ago, we were on our Open Table and would see so many reservations that had first-time Indian diners. So that was really cool as we got to give them the introduction. And those people were always blown away as to how soft and elegant some of the flavours were and not crazy spicy.
ELLE: What’s the craziest food combination or street food you’ve tried?
NM: Pizza dosa at Vile Parle station. Why does every street food guy grate a whole brick of cheese onto everything? To me, that's crazy because it softens the flavour of what you're eating. Don't give me a pizza dosa. Give me a ghee dosa, extra crispy.
ELLE: What are your future plans?
NM: We are opening our third location of Badmaash at 1616 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice. The question we’ll answer by opening Badmaash 3 in Venice is what would Badmaash look like if it never existed and it opened for the first time in Venice? World domination is on the list as well.
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