Tumbi restaurant

Tūmbi

• 115 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, 90401, United States
• 25 - 55 USD • Indian, Contemporary

• = Bib Gourmand: good quality, good value cooking

• T Air conditioning

• Credit card / Debit card accepted

• E Non-smoking restaurant

• r Outside dining available

• { Private dining room

• Take away

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When it comes to spending any amount of time on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, you generally know what to expect - crowded Anthropologies, invasive street performers, and unexplained dinosaur topiaries spitting water out of their mouths. Also, a bunch of restaurants you can find anywhere else in America. It’s a tourist trap, and for anyone who isn’t a tourist or with a tourist, finding a good reason to go there is harder than avoiding the guy who’s handing out “Free The Aliens” pamphlets.

Consider Tumbi a good reason. In an area where every clothing store, keychain shop, and smoothie bar is a place we all know about, this modern Indian restaurant feels entirely unexpected.

Tumbi is on one of those Santa Monica Blvd. blocks between The Promenade and Ocean Ave. where everybody’s just looking for public parking structures. And because of that, the area’s pretty quiet. This is not a bad thing. Tumbi is smack in the center of everything and yet, it feels like a locals’ spot on a sleepy side street. No one is here because their hotel concierge recommended it or because they just realized Buca Di Beppo is actually at The Grove now and gave up. People are here because the colorful space is easy to hang out in, and because the Indian food is really delicious.

Jakob Layman

Tumbi’s menu is full of Indian street food dishes you don’t see in a lot of other LA restaurants. Like the pani puri - traditional puff pastries that come on top of rosewater shots (you pour those into the pastries before eating them as quickly as possible). Their vada pav is basically a spicy potato slider, served with steamed rice fries that you’ll wish were bottomless. There are two masalas on the menu, and while the Goan prawn is good, the one we wish we were eating right now is the Patagonian toothfish in apricot curry with blistered sweet peppers. And make sure to save enough room for the end. Whether it’s the saffron panna cotta or pistachio-flavored kulfi ice cream served on a stick, the desserts are worth a trip here on their own.

Tumbi isn’t good to just have in your back pocket for when you’re stuck in Santa Monica and hungry. Tumbi is a place you should plan dates around, tell your friends to come meet you at, or drop-in when you simply want to eat great food at The Promenade and not be bothered in the process. Good luck to the alien emancipation guy though.

Jakob Layman

This big plate of thin, crispy bread and house-made chili garlic, basil, and sweet tamarind chutneys are what you need to order first.

Jakob Layman

Traditional puff pastries served on top of rosewater-filled shot glasses. You’ll never feel more responsible drinking something out of a shot glass in your life.

Jakob Layman

The bun seems like a bit of an afterthought, but the spiced potato patty on this slider and the side of steamed rice fries are both excellent.

Jakob Layman

Wok fried and coated in a yogurt/cumin/curry leaf marinade, this bowl of chicken is one of the best things on the menu and will have an incredibly short life on your table. Very shareable with a group.

Jakob Layman

All the dosas at Tumbi are excellent. But it’s hard to pass on the one that’s stuffed with paneer and spiced ricotta. Be sure to add the mango and ghost chili chutney on top for a little kick.

At $29, this is the most expensive dish here, but it’s also the best. Mixed with the apricot curry, the meaty fish is sweet and rich and barely requires chewing.

Jakob Layman

Saving room for dessert is a required action at Tumbi. If you have to choose one, choose the saffron panna cotta. Sweet and fragrant, this is everything you need after a spice-filled dinner.

No Reviews

$30 and under

Indian

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Not available on OpenTable

Unfortunately, this restaurant is not on the OpenTable reservation network.

If you like, we'll notify you by email if this restaurant joins.

• Dining style

  Casual Dining

• Dress code

  Business Casual

PRESS

The Infatuation

The LA HIT List: The Best New Restaurants in Los Angeles

Tumbi is a modern Indian restaurant right off the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. And despite being in an area of town not typically known for thrilling food options, it’s the most exciting new Indian restaurant to open in LA since Badmaash. The menu is fantastic and inventive, with everything from prawn masala to a pani puri that ends with you pouring tamarind-mint water into a chickpea-filled puff pastry. Get here now before everyone else does.

https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/best-new-los-angeles-restaurants-hit-list 

Food & Wine

Tūmbi Gives L.A. a New Version of Indian Street Food

Tūmbi, a modern Indian restaurant that recently opened near the beach in Santa Monica, is focused on serving street food from different regions of India, as well as the Indian subcontinent and cultures that influenced what Indians eat. Tūmbi serves southern Indian dosas, a Goan prawn masala, and northern Indian, Pakistani, and Afghani kebabs.And, of course, there’s pani puri, a popular snack you’ll find in many parts of the subcontinent, with recipes that can vary from area to area. 

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/tumbi-indian-street-food-los-angeles 

Los Angeles Times

Chef Imran Mookhi and restaurateur RJ Singh are on a mission to introduce a new kind of Indian food to Los Angeles. The two are behind the new Tumbi restaurant in Santa Monica, where Mookhi is making avocado bhel puri salad with citrus and puffed rice; pani puri puff pastry with chickpeas served in a shot glass and charbroiled paneer tikka with yogurt, curry and mint chutney. For lunch, Mookhi is filling stackable steel lunch boxes with lamb, prawns, vegetables, basmati rice, dal bhukara and house salad. Singh, who is co-owner of Tantra in Silver Lake and India's Oven, wanted to create a restaurant that combines influences from Rajasthan, New Delhi, Goa, C.hennai, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The restaurant, named for the musical instrument played at many Indian celebrations, was designed by architect Sat Garg.

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-fo-re-newsfeed-smores-20180522-story.html