Jersey City's Exchange Place district has a brand new reason to draw a crowd. Punjab Meet House opened its doors to the public on July 3, 2026, bringing a menu built entirely around the food of pre-partition Punjab to the ground floor of one of the neighborhood's newest towers. It's the first New Jersey location from a hospitality group that's spent the last decade building a reputation across the river in Manhattan, and it arrived with more buzz than most restaurant openings get, including a public endorsement from a Michelin-starred chef before it even opened its doors.
The Team Behind It
Punjab Meet House comes from Bungalow Hospitality, led by CEO Jimmy Rizvi (also referred to as Ahtesham Rizvi in some local coverage). Since 2015, Rizvi and his team have opened nine restaurants across the New York area, building a portfolio that includes GupShup in Gramercy, known for Bombay-style street food and playful cocktails like a rum mango lassi, and Bungalow in the East Village, which holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Rizvi personally lives in Jersey City, and has said he wanted to bring the same level of dining his group built in Manhattan to his own neighborhood, pointing out that roughly 12% of Jersey City's population is of Asian Indian descent and that the area's Indian food options had leaned heavily toward casual and takeout spots up to this point.
The rest of the ownership team includes Arafat Rizvi, who oversees the group's financial strategy and business operations, and Shaila Rizvi, the creative director behind the interior design and brand identity across the group's restaurants.
In the kitchen is executive chef Zahir Khan, a third-generation chef who previously helmed GupShup. Khan trained across several well-regarded Indian restaurant groups, including Punjab Grill, Masala Library, Farzi Café, and Made in Punjab, before joining Bungalow Hospitality, and his approach leans on classical technique applied to a modern presentation.
Ahead of the public opening, Punjab Meet House hosted a friends-and-family preview event that reportedly drew strong praise from early guests. Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna, a longtime collaborator with the group and co-founder of Bungalow Hospitality Management, publicly endorsed the restaurant before it opened, describing it as a tribute to Punjab and its traditions.
The Concept: Pre-Partition Punjab
What sets Punjab Meet House apart from a typical Indian restaurant menu is its specific historical framing. Rather than serving broad, pan-Indian dishes the way some of Rizvi's other restaurants do, the entire menu is built around Punjab as it existed before 1947, when the partition of British India split the region between the newly formed India and Pakistan. That means the food draws equally on Indian and Pakistani culinary traditions from the historic Punjab region, treating them as one continuous food culture rather than two separate cuisines. It's a framing that leans on themes of shared heritage, communal dining, and hospitality that predate the political border, and it's a genuinely distinct angle in a New York-area dining scene that already has plenty of general "Indian restaurant" options.
The Space
The restaurant occupies about 2,245 square feet on the ground floor of Haus25, a 56-story residential tower in Jersey City's Exchange Place district, sharing the ground floor with Meximodo. The interior was designed by Shaila Rizvi Studio using décor and furnishings imported directly from India, drawing on the visual language of Phulkari embroidery, a traditional Punjabi needlework style known for its bold, colorful geometric patterns. The result aims to recreate the feel of a traditional Punjabi home rather than a conventional restaurant dining room, with vibrant colors and handcrafted details spread across both the bar and table seating areas.
Menu Overview
The menu moves through chaat, seafood, tandoor, and slow-cooked mains, all tied back to the shared Punjab region.
| Category | Example Dishes |
|---|---|
| Chaat & Street Food | Panj Dariya gol gappe with black chickpeas and tamarind |
| Seafood | Amritsari macchi, Lahori jhinga double roti |
| Tandoor | Chicken chargha, Qissa Khawani barra |
| Mains | Kunna meat (slow-cooked goat curry in mustard oil), sarson da saag |
| For the Table | Haneeth lamb, a whole bone-in leg of lamb seasoned with Yemeni spices and slow-roasted overnight, carved tableside |
The haneeth lamb is the menu's centerpiece dish for larger groups. It requires 24 to 48 hours' advance notice since it's slow-roasted overnight before being carved tableside, and its Yemeni seasoning is a reminder that Punjab Meet House's "shared history" framing extends beyond just India and Pakistan into the broader spice trade routes that shaped Punjabi cooking. Early press coverage has also called out the smoky chicken tikka and haneeth goat ribs as standout dishes from the opening menu.
The Cocktail Program
The bar program is built with the same historical storytelling as the food menu, with drinks named after and inspired by Punjabi history and culture rather than generic cocktail names. Two standouts from early coverage:
- Toshakhana – a whiskey sour made with pressed dates and clove
- Sheesh Mahal – a clarified buttermilk-based cocktail with vodka, roasted cumin, and black salt
Both lean on spices and techniques pulled from the kitchen rather than a standard cocktail bar playbook, which fits the restaurant's broader approach of treating the bar as an extension of the dining room's storytelling rather than a separate program.
Reservations and Hours
Punjab Meet House took walk-ins only during its opening weekend, running from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Reservations opened shortly after launch through Resy. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.
Why It's Worth Watching
Punjab Meet House represents Bungalow Hospitality's first expansion outside of Manhattan, and it's landing in a neighborhood the ownership knows personally rather than a market they researched from a distance. It's also a genuinely uncommon restaurant concept: instead of a broad regional Indian menu or a single-country Indian or Pakistani identity, it's built specifically around Punjab as a shared, undivided culinary region, which isn't something you find get its own dedicated restaurant very often. Combined with a design team, chef pedigree, and public endorsements that already carry weight in the New York Indian dining scene, it's a strong early candidate to become a genuine destination restaurant for Jersey City rather than just another new opening.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Punjab Meet House located?
Punjab Meet House is located at 25 Christopher Columbus Drive in Jersey City, on the ground floor of the Haus25 development in the Exchange Place district.
Who owns Punjab Meet House?
It comes from Bungalow Hospitality, led by Jimmy Rizvi, the team behind Manhattan restaurants GupShup and the Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded Bungalow.
What kind of food does Punjab Meet House serve?
The menu is built around the food of pre-partition Punjab, blending Indian and Pakistani culinary traditions from the historic region, including chaat, tandoor specialties, slow-cooked curries, and a whole roasted lamb dish for larger groups.
What is the haneeth lamb dish at Punjab Meet House?
It's a whole bone-in leg of lamb seasoned with Yemeni spices, slow-roasted overnight, and carved tableside. It requires 24 to 48 hours of advance notice to order.
Do I need a reservation at Punjab Meet House?
Reservations are available through Resy following the restaurant's opening weekend, which was walk-in only. Given the attention around the opening, booking ahead is a safe bet.
Details on hours, menu, and reservations may change as the restaurant settles into regular operations. Check directly with Punjab Meet House for the most current information before visiting.
