Among the many great surprises I found at Kidilum — the South Indian restaurant that is the focus of this week’s podcast — was one that shouldn’t have been a surprise at all. The expected surprises were certainly welcome: fish, chicken, and goat curries from coastal and inland Kerala; a broad array of hard-to-find (in NYC) starches, breads, and rice cakes; and powerful cocktails like the signature mango-brine martini and a mango-passionfruit-tequila concoction that went down a little too easily. But those forms and flavors are what you’re always kind of hoping to find when you go out to eat.

No, what took me by surprise was that Kidilum felt like a party. Seriously — everyone in the big, stylish, modern room looked like they were having a fantastic time. Hot outfits, wide smiles, palpable energy. I saw big groups of what looked like old friends reconnecting, and I watched strangers discuss their favorite dishes from one table to the next. People hadn’t come to Kidilum just because the food and drink were reported to be first-rate — they were there to have fun.

Here at Shut Up ‘n Eat, we put a lot of weight on that word, fun. We are always on the lookout for creative, ambitious, well-executed cuisine, of course, but we want restaurants to feel welcoming and joyful. We want to savor not just the dishes but the experience of a night out. And right now, in New York especially, I’m seeing that a lot at one kind of restaurant: Indian. From Kidilum to hotspots like Ambassadors Clubhouse, the level of style and energy has ascended right alongside that of the cooking, with neither feeling forced or artificial. The Italians would call this sprezzatura — how do you say that in Hindi (or Tamil or Malayalam or Kannada)?

This isn’t some brand-new phenomenon, however. South Asian restaurants in NYC have felt playful and raucous going back decades, from Curry in a Hurry — what a name! so much cooler than some reference to Bombay or the Taj Mahal! — to the cluster of eateries around East 6th Street in Manhattan, with their dense, jungly webs of fairy lights. Only one of those remains, Panna II, and I feel lucky to have celebrated a birthday there in my 20s — it was loud and crazy and I’m still amazed we didn’t all burn to death in an electrical fire, and even though I don’t remember what my friends and I ate, I treasure the experience more than some of the tasting menus that left my brain as soon as I left the restaurant.

Here’s a tidbit from the podcast that I still can’t get over: Sometimes, says Kidilum’s chef, Vinu Raveendran, diners come in and ask for hot sauce! Coming from the Dubai restaurant world, where people couldn’t handle too much chili heat, he wasn’t prepared for this. But that’s how New York has evolved, I guess — we need that kick!

This is neat! Last week Beehiiv, the system we run everything here on, launched a new “Community” feature. Essentially, it’s a forum where all of us — i.e., YOU as well as the Shut Up ‘n Eat crew — can talk about food, chefs, restaurants, and more. We’ve got channels for cities around the world, for chefs, for drinks, for home cooking, and for discussing these newsletters and podcasts. Got a question about where to eat in Tokyo or Chicago? Got a hot tip about a new tapas bar in Baltimore? This is the place to bring it up! Plus, it’s free — go check it out at shutupneat.com/community.