The camel and the ‘illegal pheasant’: Welcome to NYC’s wildest Indian restaurant

Veerays is the best new Indian restaurant East Midtown has seen in many, many years.

Chef/owner Hermant Mathur’s dishes, from the popular coconut and black pepper prawns (a $18 starter) to the rarely served camel kebabs (a $35 main), blew me away.

But beyond the food, Mathur and co-owner Sonny Solomon have made some strange decisions.

Veerays hides behind a narrow door frame on East 45th Street, without a sign. It gives it the feel of an after-hours venue on Avenue C rather than an upscale pleasure den in the heart of corporate Midtown.

I wish they would put up a sign saying, “Veerays Exquisite Indian” – or something. East 40s isn’t exactly Indian culinary nirvana, so why not let people know about it?

Then there’s the decor. The main dining room and a small nook, perfect for seduction behind it, have a “roaring twenties” theme with lush red velvet banquettes, a swooping turquoise sofa and an abstract white wall panel black with Patagonian quartz.

As if that weren’t enough of a cultural mash-up, the soundtrack on my last visit included Yusef Lateef’s “Love Theme from Spartacus” and 1950s hard-bop classics by Art Blakey.

But all the confusion is happily forgotten on the plate.

Mathur earned a Michelin star at each of his two previous New York restaurants, Devi and Tulsi. His work at Veerays, in collaboration with Chef de Cuisine Binder Saini, again showcases his sure hand with North and South Indian styles.

The “Jazzy breads” – the theme extends across sections of the menu – were uniformly excellent, particularly the amul cheese and garlic-olive naans.

A starter of spiced ‘Anglo’ tuna and potato cakes ($18) – “made for British colonial officers”, we were helpfully informed – crackled on the outside and burst with flavor on the inside.

Then there’s the camel, sourced from a New Jersey farm called Fossil Farms. It was a little too dry on one visit, but deliciously moist on another. It is deep fried and comes out hot from the tandoor oven.

Don’t be ashamed if you’ve never had it – it’s no more challenging to taste than lamb or goat. Plus, Mathur is a tandoori master who knows how not to grill meat and fish.

The Millionaire Moliee ($44) is his take on Chilean sea bass, firm yet moist, served in a lively coconut mustard gravy with coconut rice.

Illegal Pheasant ($35) is served in a sizzling tomato and ginger curry. Why that name?

“He flew in from Mexico,” the manager said, adding, “That’s a joke.”

The Bootlegger bison, described on the menu as a “modernist South Indian favorite,” is an enticing blend of red and green bell peppers, curry and mustard seeds.

After all, Veeray’s antics aren’t just a little weird. They do him a disservice. I’m about to break with the cliche – Indian restaurants have lots of marble elephants.

But the theme of the gangster motif is silly and may offend Italians and Indian-Americans alike.

The restaurant’s owners and chefs are identified on its website as “The Don,” “The Underboss,” “The Consigliere” and “Madame Queen,” the name of a 1920s Harlem gang leader. Lamb chops ( $48) are called The Don’s Lamb Cops. What were they thinking?

Skip the speakeasy button and let Mathur’s cooking speak for itself.