Since Gymkhana debuted on the Strip late last year, it has outpaced every expectation.
“We thought we’d do well, but the response has been overwhelming,” executive chef Srikant Kumar tells the Weekly.
He credits a simple rule: Don’t tamper with what works.
“When we change countries, we stay true to Gymkhana’s identity,” the chef says.
The London restaurant—rooted in North Indian cooking with Southern and Western flourishes—has crossed the pond exactly as it is: premium ingredients, with none of the authenticity lost in transit.
That identity carries weight. Founded in 2013 in Mayfair, the upscale district of central London, by the Sethi siblings of JKS Restaurants, Gymkhana earned its first Michelin star in 2014 and a second in 2024, becoming London’s first two-Michelin-starred Indian restaurant. The Las Vegas outpost at Aria marks the concept’s U.S. debut (other locations are in Riyadh and Doha).
Chicken butter masala
Kumar came up through the Oberoi in New Delhi, learning the classical technique and discipline that anchor his cooking, then refined his sense of luxury at Amal in Dubai. But it was Karma Modern Indian in Washington, D.C., where he learned to read an American room: how a U.S. diner expects Indian food to arrive, and what it takes to win them over.
So Gymkhana Las Vegas is the London menu, faithfully rendered, plus a handful of dishes built exclusively for this city. Chief among them is the Goan lobster curry, reimagined for the Strip. In the U.K., the dish uses Goan prawns; here, Kumar swaps in Maine lobster—sweet, fresh and doing the heavy lifting. The sauce is a rich coconut base brightened with palm vinegar, cumin, onion and garlic.
“The hero of the dish is the live lobster,” he says. The Vegas crowd agrees. It sells out most nights.
This is also the first Gymkhana menu anywhere to feature beef. The Wagyu Keema Naan ($28)—spiced Wagyu mince baked into the bread, served with cucumber-cumin raita—disappears fast, while the beef short rib pepper fry ($32), stir-fried with South Indian spices and flaky Malabar paratha, is gently spiced rather than fiery.
“We didn’t go wrong there,” Kumar says. More beef dishes are coming.
The tandoor oven sits at the center of it all with masala lamb chops ($75) and the tikkas ($28–$34), charred to perfection.
“It’s more instinctive than time-based,” Kumar says of cooking over live fire, and getting a kitchen to that level takes people, not just equipment. London chefs flew in for the first two months to train the team, Indian cooks came from home, local staff filled out the line. The collective is a point of pride for Kumar.
If it’s your first time at Gymkhana and you’re unsure where to start, you can’t go wrong with Gol Guppas ($24), those crisp little shells of fried wheat puffs, potatoes and moong lentil sprouts; and Aloo Chaat ($26), crispy fingerling potatoes, sweet yogurt and tamarind chutney.
Move on to the tandoori masala lamb chops, smoky and charred straight off the fire, and finish with butter chicken ($36), a familiar dish elevated here, and garlic naan for mopping up every last bit of sauce. It’s a run that hits every section of the menu and shows off exactly what Gymkhana does best.
For Kumar, the one sentence he hopes to hear from diners on their way out is this: They just had the best Indian meal of their lives.
Given the enthusiastic response so far, plenty already have.
GYMKHANA Aria, 702-590-9520, gymkhanarestaurants.com. Sunday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 5-10:30 p.m
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