Vijay Kumar

Semma - New York, NY

Vijay Kumar grew up in a small town near Madurai in southern India, raised on a family farm as the middle child of four siblings. He spent his early years helping his mother and grandmother with both farming and cooking, an experience that shaped his deep respect for ingredients and seasonality.

After graduating from culinary and hospitality school, he trained with Oberoi Hotels and later worked with Taj Hotels in India as a kitchen supervisor. Upon moving to the United States, he joined the opening team at Dosa on Fillmore in San Francisco, a high-volume South Indian restaurant recognized with a Michelin Bib Gourmand. He rose to become lead chef before departing in 2014. Kumar then joined Rasa as the opening chef, where he led a team of young cooks and helped establish the restaurant’s identity, and earning a Michelin star under his leadership.

In 2021, Kumar left San Francisco, where he had been working as a chef, and moved to New York City to join restaurateurs Roni Mazumdar and Chef Chintan Pandya. Their Unapologetic Foods group is known for presenting Indian cuisine with honesty, specificity, and regional depth.

In October of that year, the trio opened Semma, a restaurant centered on heritage South Indian cooking inspired by Kumar’s upbringing. Since opening, Semma has received widespread critical acclaim. It was named one of the Top Ten Best New Restaurants by Bon Appétit, Best New Restaurant in America by Esquire, and one of The New York Times’ Top 50 Restaurants of the Year. In 2025, Semma earned the number one spot on The New York Times’ Top 100 Restaurants in New York list.

In 2022, Semma was awarded a Michelin star, becoming the only Indian restaurant in the United States to hold that distinction at the time. The restaurant has retained its Michelin star every year since receiving it. In 2025, Vijay Kumar was awarded the James Beard Award for Best Chef: New York State.