Inside NYC’s Only Michelin Star Indian Restaurant

[lovely relaxing music]

Semma is the only Indian restaurant

that has Michelin Star in New York City.

Semma is a South Indian restaurant

where we focus on regional Southern Indian cuisine,

mostly from Tamil Nadu where I grew up eating.

As Executive Chef, we also have a such a huge responsibility

to represent the Indian culture, cuisine,

which we enjoy again. [uplifting lo-fi music]

Hello, good afternoon.

Welcome to Semma, this is Vijay

I am the Executive Chef, Partner at Semma.

This is 12:30, let's see what's happening in the kitchen.

Come on in, follow me.

[upbeat lively music]

So we open for service at five

and then we already have a couple of prep chefs

who started the day, who received all the ingredients,

who check the quality,

who started prepping for the whole day.

Alright, I'm gonna be changing and be back, bye.

[knife chopping] [pan sizzling]

Alright, tada ready.

Let's go see the prep chefs, this is Chef Suresh.

Nice to meet you.

So we've known each other for 35 years.

We went to college together, he is my childhood buddy.

He's the one who does all the cooking,

making all the sauces, curries.

Since it's our food, like we grew up eating it,

I don't need to go and check everything,

like, hey, how it is.

Like you know, I don't need to check all the qualities

because he takes kind of everything

so I'm so blessed to have the kitchen.

Each time I preparing four, five dishes at the same time.

So once this batch is done,

we'll be making like another batch

that we keep making till like 4:30

till the service starts.

We don't use anything for the next day

'cause we make everything from scratch just for the day.

What he does is he just cook every single dish

for the whole day.

Because he's very talented that's why he is making

five things at the same time.

When you make four, five things at the same time,

you get things done quickly.

And also it's challenging because you had

to keep an eye on everything, not getting burn anything

to make sure that you maintain

all the quality and consistency.

Our concept is unapologetic food,

so we just like to cook how we cook back home.

I don't think we modify, we don't really try

to turn down any spices.

We just cook how we cook back home,

except the quality is big.

Seems like Chef Suresh is keeping everything under control

so I don't think I need to be here, so he got it.

[upbeat funk music]

We get booked every single night.

As soon as we open the reservation,

we get booked like two weeks in advance.

On top of what we get booked,

we do have about 1,000 to 1,400 people

on notify list to get in.

So we do a free seating, so like five, seven, nine,

so we do about 230 counts a night.

This is our KDS, which is a kitchen display screen.

What we do is, we have a certain dishes

you have to pre-order them, like we have a pre-order crab

so I go to check the reservation,

see how many crabs that we have pre-ordered.

So I just go to the system, I let the chef know

how many they have to prep every day.

So I do track every single day

how many dishes we've been selling it.

That way I can give them exact quantity

that they can prepare for a day

so we don't waste another day.

I'm doing it right here in the kitchen,

so I can interact with the chefs too,

to make sure they have enough quantity

that I'm putting in the system.

Let's say if I put on 10 lobsters

and then they have only five lobsters

that doesn't make sense.

So I'll make sure it's 10 in the kitchen,

I'll interact with them,

make sure they have a right amount of quantity

that they have in the kitchen before I put in the system.

Once it's done, what I do, I just take a picture,

I send it to all the chefs so they know exactly

how many to be made every day.

It looks great, the next thing we're gonna do is

we're gonna move on to the cooking section.

[cheery funk music]

All right it's 3:00 PM,

everybody's in the kitchen right now.

This is our dish pet where all the dishes is being cleaned

and that's the Chef Sebastian is prepping his seafood,

he's prepping his lobster and everything.

So they all prepping their own section.

And then here it is, I think the chef...

What are you make here Marcus?

It's called raita, it's a side dish

which has yogurt, kicking butter, and chopped onions..

Can I taste it?

All right, part of my job as executive chef

is I have to make sure I taste everything.

Everything is up to the standard.

Mm, very good.

Look at the consistency, look.

It shouldn't be too water today, it shouldn't be too thick.

This is a right perfect consistency for raita.

I mean our raita I mean everybody has their own raita

but this is how raita supposed to be.

Very good, thank you.

So right here, these two gentlemen,

they're making potato masala for the Gunpowder Dosa.

This is the boiled potatoes, they just peeling it right now.

Once it's peeled they're gonna mix

with all the spice mixture

that goes into the Gunpowder Dosa.

I think they like to use their bare hands

for the [indistinct] because that's much more efficient

than using the like peeler or whatever it is.

I don't worry too much because I know my team,

but my team is, they always crush it, they nail it,

they do the best job they they can do.

But just to make sure to like you know to double check it,

triple check it because we wanna make sure

every single guest that had the best experience possible.

The majority of our dishes are like very labor intensive,

like let for example a dosa takes three days

to just prep it, just like that every single dish

has like a lot, a lot of prep to do.

So it takes about two to three days to make one single dish.

Can I say one thing?

I was gonna say all these guys for me,

I believe in people who works really hard

who has a dedication passion,

so as you can see all these gentlemen,

they started as a dishwasher like two years ago.

I saw the hunger, the eyes, how they want to learn and grow.

So as you can see they are working the line right now.

They are...

He makes all the pastries,

he does all this expediting when I'm not there,

and he does all the prepping for the whole section.

And that makes me very happy that you know,

I was able to work with them even with the dishwasher,

I was able to give him a chance

and they feel so appreciated.

For next one hour I'll be checking every single section

to make sure that everything's been prepared to our standard

and that they are tasting great.

[lively music]

It is 4:00 PM now I can see the kitchen is so chaos,

you know 'cause we have like one more hour

to open the service.

Dosa, we call Gunpowder Dosa.

It's one of our most signature dish on the menu.

We sell about at least 150 dosas a day.

Every single one gets dosa just so you know.

[steam whooshing]

Alright so I'm just gonna making dosas,

we just have to see some the griddle before you make dosas.

You have to make sure it's on right temperature.

Like you know if it is too low or if it is too hot,

you can't able to get the right color

and right consistencies.

And as you can see have like a three rounds size,

so that's how we make dosa

because that has the right amount of temperature.

Sprinkle some ghee a little bit right here

to make sure nothing gets stuck in the griddle,

it should have some kind of greasiness.

And also you have to make sure

you don't put too much ghee also.

when you put too much ghee it might,

you don't get the texture.

You have to put them equally, that's it.

Otherwise it'd be so thick in the one side

or be very crispy on other side

so it'd has to be spread equally.

Cause when you put the lentils,

all the lentil absorb all the ghee from there.

So they'll be so dry so you have to make sure

you enough ghee in it so...

[cheerful energetic music]

All right, I'm back.

There you go, thank you.

Alright, ready let's go.

[groovy music]

Alright it's 4:30 now, it's a time for pre-shift

so we are gonna huddle together to talk about

what do you have in the book?

Like how many reservation?

What are the dietary restrictions?

Who are the VIPs?

You know all those details.

Tonight we have 174 covers.

We have a pretty extensive first round,

at five o'clock a lot of tables are coming in.

We have a couple dietary restrictions tonight

and we have four crabs pre-ordered, none to sell.

That's pretty much it for tonight.

You guys been crushing it as always.

I don't have to repeat this every single day.

Keep up the good work, that's it.

Amazing, let's rock and roll.

[lively funk music]

All right, it's 4:55, now we are like five minutes

to open the doors so this is the expert station,

we just kind of setting it up.

So you get all the tickets right here,

like whatever they also get a printed version of copy,

so I can also see all the ticket that we have here.

So it can gimme idea something

if takes more than 15, 20 minutes.

So you know, I can see the screen,

how long the ticket has been there.

So I can either, we can go ask them

to expedite as quick as possible

or if something goes wrong or something's not right

for some reason the dish is not executed in a timely way,

we can go speak to the guests for some reason, you know?

[Cameraman] Is it always just quiet

right before a service?

No, they just behaving.

[Chef Vijay laughing]

[plates clinking] [upbeat music]

Plates are cold.

I'm just warming the plates before service.

Can you heat it up some more?

Let's put microwave heat up.

The food has to go hard so we have

to make sure the plate has to be hot

in order to maintain the temperature of the food.

Alright it's 5:10 now, I'm just gonna go upstairs,

take a look, how many guests have been seated so far?

So it gives my idea for the cooks

like you know, mentally get prepared,

like how many tickets are gonna come in.

Yeah, I can already see like almost

like 50% of the dining room

got filled up in 10 minutes so...

How are you?

Welcome, how are you?

[Guest] Good, how are you?

It's all your first time?

Or y'all been here before or?

I've been here before.

Oh thanks for taking all of them here.

[everyone laughs]

[Guest] Really excited.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy it.

[Guest] Thank you.

So just a quick heads up,

almost like 50 to 60% dining got filled up already.

So we are gonna get harder

like in 15, 20 minutes so get ready.

[mixer blending]

Alright, this is our first ticket, it's 5:15.

We have a Gunpowder Dosa and the lamb, the dry lamb,

which is Attu Kari Sukka

Nice alright, one for be one for [indistinct]

one for no one.

[sous chef indistinctly replies]

Yes sir, thank you.

Sometimes look dry 'cause we are the gunpowder.

So I wanna make a little more you know, fresh and ghee like.

Alright guys, thank you 305 please.

[Server] 305. Thank you.

Alright, we got a second ticket now.

Guys, 305 Moilee please.

Thank you.

Jose, 305 Poriyal.

So we have like a four gentleman men in black right here.

Beautiful dressed including Francisco, we call him papa.

Papa is the seen most guy in the kitchen.

So all four of the gentlemen, we call them food runners.

They are the one who takes all our food like so hot,

like piping hot to a table

that they literally run to a table from here,

from kitchen to table that's why they called food runner.

They take turns, they fight sometime.

[Chef Vijay laughing]

[indistinct] And the lamb 404, right?

206, lamb.

Let's say we have 10 prawns, right?

Like we have like 10, 15 prawns at the same time.

So instead of going the KDS one by one, I write in a paper.

Sometimes they make all the six,

seven order prawns at the same time.

I just give the paper to them

so they know exactly what table they have to go, yeah.

When we design the menu,

I also wanted to make them feel

like eating at the home, right?

Thank you that looks beautiful.

305 please, thank you.

And so many food as plated in the wooden plates

because you know I grew up in a farmer family,

like you know grew up in such a small farm

where used to eat food out of like the banana leaves,

and like wooden plates, and like bamboo leaves,

and stuff like that, right?

So I just wanted to bring back the same exact memory,

how I grew up eating it so that's those idea.

Do you know the table number?

202, Chef. Yeah.

You can see that screen get filled out

like to [indistinct] and that's where really busy

like no then we are like super busy.

This dosa even he told me not to give it to us,

give to the guest because he knows

it's slightly darker than usually.

So this is the right color but this is a little too dark

so we're not serving this.

So this either goes to family or we might discard it.

It is the loss of money, yes, but we also take a pride,

we want to make sure that

we get the best food to our guests.

How many seats at the bar got filled up?

How many?

[Sous Chef] Almost everything.

Everything bar got filled out?

And this is called Nathai Pirattal, this is the snail dish.

So this is something that my grandma used to make it,

every time we used to go visit her

during the school holidays, we used to help her

in like foraging snails and at her rice patty farm.

So she used to take us for like hunting,

snail foraging, all those things, right?

Like fishing, so this is something

we used to help my grandmother foraging snails.

Once the snail is foraged,

she used to cook them at the open fire in a mud farm

and then we used to eat in a banana leaf,

literally in the middle of rice patty farm.

So this is something we just want replicate

exactly how my grandma used to make it.

Alright, thank you.

This is for the shoot, please, thank you.

Is all the table got filled up?

It's 5:40.

[Sous Chef] Yeah chef, mostly everything.

Oh yeah, it's picking up now, you can see the heat.

[Chef Vijay laughs]

[Server] Great. thank you.

Can you finish up a little bit?

Alright, this is the...

We call Uzhavar Santhai Poriyal which is seasonal Poriyal.

Uzhavar Santhai means like farmer's market in Tamil.

It's a very simple, very humble dish

that is made with a fresh coconut

and all the seasonal vegetables sauteed with fresh coconuts.

We are using red beets, golden beets,

and butternut squash, and mustard seeds.

Guys can we put some more flowers?

Flowers, flowers, flowers.

Emily? Yep.

This goes to two order, please.

Two Poriyal for 202. 202 for two.

We have a rule that we have to repeat each other.

Like we just wanna make sure we're on the same page.

We wanna make sure they hear me properly,

and I wanna make sure I hear them properly

to make sure we have effective communication

that we don't make mistakes.

Usually the server takes care of the pacing

'cause they coordinate with the guests.

They ask the guests like how do they like to course it out

or they give their recommendation like

how the food can go out

because they know exactly how to pace it out.

Sometimes they like to have dosa as a main courses

so we like to make sure that the food is being sent out

exactly how they want to be.

So that's why that communication's happening.

Two, two, alright, it's almost six now.

I think we almost sold about 30 dosas, more than 30 dosas.

[upbeat energetic music]

The expediting I think can be a little stressful

because every single section is like completely busy

and we have a responsibility

even though if you're busy, it's not excuse.

We have to make sure every single dish has been executed

in a way it's supposed to be.

Like in terms of temperature, taste,

consistency, everything. [cheerful music]

Alright, it's 6:30 now things are kind of slowing down.

Thank you so much for spending the whole day with us

and learning all our stories in the chaos kitchen.

We still have two more seating to go

like seven or nine and get out of here.

[Chef Vijay laughing]

[upbeat inspiring music]