Vijay Kumar
Semma
Biography
Vijay Kumar grew up on his family’s farm in a small town near Madurai, located in the Southern part of India. The eldest of three children, Vijay helped his mother and grandmother in farming and cooking. It was this childhood upbringing where his passion for fresh ingredients and cooking arose.
Vijay graduated in Hotel Management... READ MORE
Vijay Kumar grew up on his family’s farm in a small town near Madurai, located in the Southern part of India. The eldest of three children, Vijay helped his mother and grandmother in farming and cooking. It was this childhood upbringing where his passion for fresh ingredients and cooking arose.
Vijay graduated in Hotel Management and Catering Technology in India. Upon his graduation, he trained in Oberoi Hotels and later worked in Taj Hotels in India as a kitchen supervisor. His quest for travel led him to work on Cruise Ships for several years where he perfected his style of food art and presentation with unique knife skills and the use of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers.
When Vijay came to the United States, he was a member of the chef’s staff that opened the very popular Dosa on Fillmore. Dosa was one of the highest volume fine dining South Indian restaurants in Northern California and recognized as a Michelin Bib Gourmand Restaurant in San Francisco. After two of years working his way up, he was named the lead chef of Dosa on Fillmore kitchen until his departure in 2014 to join Rasa.
Vijay was hired to open Rasa in Burlingame as a Chef De Cuisine in 2014, where he led an award-winning staff of exemplary young chefs. With Vijay’s leadership and creativity, Rasa received many accolades and recognition, including a Michelin star for four consecutive years (2016- 2019.)
In 2021 Vijay packed up from San Francisco to travel cross country to New York City and work with restaurateurs Roni Mazumdar and Chef Chintan Pandya whose Unapologetic Foods group is known for presenting Indian food honestly and authentically. In October of that year the trio opened Semma, serving heritage Southern Indian cuisine inspired by Chef Vijay’s upbringing. To date Semma has received critical acclaim including being named a Top Ten New Restaurant of the Year by Bon Appetit, one of the Top 50 Restaurants of the Year by The New York Times, placed at #12 on The New York Times restaurant reviewer Pete Wells’ Top 100 Restaurants in New York list, one of the Best New Restaurants in American by Esquire and a Michelin star, making it the only Indian restaurant in the United States with this honor.
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