Owner and chef Nirman Shah, born in Maharashtra, India, has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and worked as a professional chef for 25 years. Before moving to the United States, Nirman earned a degree in food technology and hotel management and worked as the chief chef at a luxury hotel.
He opened Nirmanz Food Boutique, his namesake, in Sugar Land in April 2017. Nirman combined his love for Bollywood and cooking in the Bollywood cinema-themed restaurant. Bollywood movie posters he designed line the walls, and ambassador car pieces and a rickshaw brought over from India decorate the dining room.
“He’s an artist of his own. You can see that in the way he does his presentation of any dish that you order in the restaurant,” Nirman’s wife Niyati Shah said.
The restaurant is run by Nirman, his wife and his three daughters. The family values service above all else, Niyati said.
“It’s all about the service and making people feel at home. When they see all five of us working at the restaurant, they feel like they’re at home,” Niyati said.
The menu consists of nearly 200 authentic Indian dishes, including North and South Indian food and Indian street food, fast food and drinks.
“That’s why we call it Nirmanz Food Boutique because it’s everything that he has learned and created his own recipes of and different cuisines of Indian food,” Niyati said.
Raj kachori, a wafer bowl filled with spiced black chickpeas, yogurt and chutneys, is popular among customers as well as chicken tikka masala and dosas, an Indian crepe. Niyati said each dish is made to order and can be adjusted to accommodate anyone’s desired spice level.
Good presentation is important to the Shah family, too, they said.
“We don’t just make a dish and call it a day. We put so much effort into putting different garnishes on each dish,” Niyati said.
Customers can dine in or order takeout and delivery, and the restaurant also offers catering services on the weekends.
It serves a diverse customer base with customers visiting multiple times a week for anything from a full meal of comfort food to just a cup of coffee.
“In the city of Sugar Land, there’s a very diverse community, and we don’t just have Indian customers. We have all types of people that come,” Niyati said.
The family has provided hundreds of meals to the community during hardships such as Hurricane Harvey and the pandemic.
With community support, the family opened another location of Nirmanz Food Boutique in Richmond in November, this one an upscale, fine-dining establishment serving vegetarian Indian fare.
Nirmanz Food Boutique
16338 Kensington Drive, Ste. 160, Sugar Land
832-532-0699
www.nirmanz.com
Hours: Mon., Wed., Thu., Sun. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9:30 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-10 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; closed Tue.
