Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro, a Freehold Borough restaurant that played a part in putting Indian food on the map at the Jersey Shore, is making national news.
According to USA Today’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year list, the restaurant is one of the 44 places to eat in America. Food writers across the country nominated restaurants that excited them, restaurants they would recommend to friends and family, restaurants they’d return to again and again.
“We call it modern Indian cuisine, but we’ve stuck to our authentic flavors,” owner Archana Sharma said. “We’ve worked really hard on the presentation, the service.”
What makes Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro stand out?
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When Archana Sharma and Shravan Shetty — and partners Sammeer Raajpal and Sidharth Sharma, her son — opened their restaurant in downtown Freehold Borough in 2016, they wanted to show that Indian cuisine could be a superstar.
How many have you been to? Check out USA TODAY’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year.
They took traditional dishes and elevated them. Butter chicken, made with tandoor-cooked chicken in a creamy tomato-based sauce, gets an upgrade with a spiral of cream swirled throughout. Confit duck breast becomes tacos when folded between paratha, a flatbread; and smoked quail eggs arrive perched in a nest, with smoke wafting from the bowl underneath.
The presentation makes the food exciting, drawing diners in.
Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro in Freehold Borough is led by partners (from left) Executive Chef Shravan Shetty, Sammeer Raajpal, Archana Sharma and Sidharh Sharma.
“I was born and raised in America, and going to Indian restaurants was something I enjoyed growing up. They were nice, the food was always good. But it wasn’t ‘that’ vibe,” she said. “I wanted to create something that brought in mainstream America.”
Aarzu was one of few Indian restaurants in Monmouth County when it opened, Sharma added, which made her nervous. She wondered if people would like the food. Aarzu’s popularity and diners’ excitement to dine there proved she didn’t need to worry, and Aarzu is now one of many Indian restaurants in the area.
What to order at Aarzu
For diners who may be new to Indian food, Sharma has suggestions.
Malai chicken kebab with cashew-nut cream and cardamom “is subtle on its flavors, and it’s not overpowering with spices,” she said, making it an ideal dish for beginners.
How we did it: Inside look at how USA TODAY chose its Restaurants of the Year for 2025
Lamb chops chargrilled in the tandoor oven is “something that everybody just loves,” she said, “and then I would say our crispy spinach chaat (served with yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney). It’s almost like a crispy spinach salad. These are all classics.”
Hummus made from smoked garbanzo beans, enhanced with chili garlic crunch and served with sesame naan, also is a hit.
New Zealand lamb chops are a signature dish at Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro in Freehold Borough.
The chefs — Shetty is executive chef alongside Dayanand Shetty, no relation — recently changed Aarzu’s menu for the first time (specials aside), adding dishes like tandoor-cooked octopus with cumin-spiced potatoes, and a street food-style dish of corn bhel, or roasted corn with puffed rice, peanuts, sweet chili and tamarind.
“I do believe Indian food is one of the best cuisines,” Sharma said. “We are so vast and diverse as a country, so our food is vast and diverse.”
See the full menu.
Togarashi papad tikki, an appetizer featuring cottage cheese, Japanese gun powder and papadam crust, at Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro in Freehold Borough.
What’s new
Sharma and her partners are opening a coastal Indian restaurant and bar this year in Asbury Park, as well as a restaurant and cocktail bar on 21st Street in Manhattan.
“That is going to be very elevated, South Indian cuisine with a bar,” she said of the latter. “It’s a big space, with an open kitchen.”
Details: Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro, 30 E. Main St., Freehold; 732-333-0933, aarzu.com.
Book your reservation now on Open Table.
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.
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This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Aarzu Modern Indian Bistro named a top restaurant in U.S.
