Daru

Barman Dante Datta and chef Suresh Sundas, who met working at Rasika West End, add playful twists to Indian classics at this popular dining room just off the H Street corridor. Start with a round of cocktails incorporating garam masala or Darjeeling tea as you dig into bites of dahi puri—crisps filled with herby liquid—and Szechuan-spiced bison momo dumplings (a nod to Sundas’s Nepalese roots). Bone-in lamb shank in a Kashmiri chili-coconut curry is a showstopper, though don’t overlook sides like smoky mashed eggplant and black dal made even creamier by an orb of burrata.