Ruby Bhalla always wanted to open an Indian restaurant, but she didn’t want to create a typical Indian restaurant. In that goal, she has succeeded.

Transforming an unassuming downtown Jamesburg building, Bhalla designed a dramatic dining space: a 180-seat restaurant painted black, with bold lighting fixtures, a high-ceilinged bar with backlit shelves, and a gold tunnel where patrons vie to take selfies. In this space, Bhalla serves food that is equally inviting.

The Spice Tamarind mocktail. Photo: Arron Andrews

Traditional curries, biryanis and kebabs share space with chaats (Indian street food), crossover Indo-Chinese dishes, and selections that cross over even further, into Western cuisine. Such cultural fusion results in offerings like a spicy paneer tikka Caesar salad, fish tacos topped with curry aioli and mint chutney, and naan pizza topped with tandoori chicken and melted cheese.

“I wanted to open a restaurant that was very diverse, even in its food,” says Bhalla, 44. “Indian food, of course, but a lot of fusion foods as well. Where people of any ethnicity could come enjoy themselves and feel like they are part of a family.”

Chef and owner Ruby Bhalla stands in the Instagram-worthy golden tunnel in her restaurant. Photo: Arron Andrews

Bhalla, who lives in East Brunswick, exudes hospitality, a trait she attributes to growing up in the Punjab state of northwest India. “Punjabis are heartwarming people who want to feed anyone who comes to the home,” says Bhalla, who learned to cook from her mother and grandmother in Punjab.

But it wasn’t until her family moved to the United States when Bhalla was 17 that she learned to cook for the masses. Living in Queens, she opened her first business at 18, preparing communal meals for up to 500 people at the local temple. “This is where I got my confidence in cooking,” she says.

Fish curry with lachna paratha, garlic naan and rice. Photo: Arron Andrews

Of course, Bhalla does plenty of tasting and experimenting in the dishes she prepares at Thumkaa, which opened in March 2025 and made NJM‘s subsequent Best New Restaurants list. Working in the restaurant’s 8,000-square-foot kitchen (which she also uses for her growing catering business), Bhalla relishes putting an Indian spin on dishes typically associated with other cuisines, often born of her personal tastes as a modern Indian American woman.

The Caesar salad, for instance, grew out of a desire to order something lighter when dining out with friends. Caesar’s traditional garlic and Parmesan dressing is barely recognizable in Thumkaa’s version, which features dressed romaine lettuce studded with spice-laden tikka grilled chicken or paneer, topped with crunchy noodles.

Borrowing from India’s neighbor, China, the Szechuan-chili momos are a popular choice among Thumkaa’s various Indo-Chinese dishes. These deep-fried potsticker dumplings are bathed in a tangy tomato sauce with onions, green peppers and garlic.

Adding an element of fun, Thumkaa’s chaats offer a chance to sample snack foods typically sold from carts in India. The hands-on pani puri, semolina balls that puff up when deep fried, require diners to crack them open and fill them with potatoes and chickpeas, then a trio of colored waters flavored with tamarind, cumin and mint.

Papri chaat (crispy fried crackers with a mix of toppings). Photo: Arron Andrews

All the spices used at Thumkaa come from Punjab, with dishes like the creamy goan fish curry and the rich lamb kadai blending up to a dozen spices, producing subtly piquant sauces that leave a lingering kick. The silky butter chicken uses a mix of 30 spices, including kashmiri chili, cardamom and nutmeg.

The lamb chops are marinated in ginger and lime before being dry rubbed with a masala spice mix and grilled tandoori style. While most of Thumkaa’s traditional Indian dishes reflect North Indian cooking, the tandoori shrimp koliwada borrows from the Mumbai region, with the succulent shrimp marinated in hung curd (a strained yogurt) before grilling, and finished with South Indian spices.

Desserts include safe choices like crème brûlée and chocolate lava cake, and a few Indian classics, like the paan kulfi, a frozen dessert infused with betel leaves, which Indians savor but I found off-putting. A better option was the ras malai, tender sponge cake bathed in sweet milk and cardamom.

Along with producing an eclectic menu, Bhalla wanted to create what she calls “a fun place that reflects my personality.” To that end, the restaurant has live music on Wednesdays and Sundays.

HOW WE REVIEW: Restaurants are chosen for review at the sole discretion of New Jersey Monthly. For our starred fine-dining reviews, our critics visit a restaurant at least twice with a guest, always maintaining anonymity to avoid preferential treatment, and the magazine pays for their meals. Stars are assigned by the dining-section editor in consultation with the reviewer.

Four stars = extraordinary; three stars = excellent; two stars = very good; one star = good; half a star = fair.