Located on Thayer Street, the new restaurant will open tomorrow (20 October) and will join the original Oorja, which launched in Covent Garden in early 2025.
Oorja, which takes its name from the sankrit word Ūrja that means energy, strength and power, serves a range of regional Indian cuisine with menu items that include Calcutta chilli chicken; mango shrimp curry; smoked black daal; and railway lamb curry.
On Sundays it serves an Indian roast, a fusion menu that brings together the British tradition of Sunday roast with Indian flavours and which includes dishes such as braised beef short rib with a spicy coconut sauce; tandoori butterfly spatchcock chicken; a lamb rump coated in a blend of North Indian spices.
Born in India to a father that was also in the restaurant business, Chona studied for a diploma in hospitality at Les Roches before working in Tokyo. In 2017 he returned to India to launch his debut restaurant project, Tippling Street.
He is also behind Japan and Southeast Asian restaurant Gura Gura, which he opened in Covent Garden’s The Yards development in 2023.