In his native India, Shashank Chatrapati grew up near a bakery. But his favorite treat sounds more like something out of his adopted home of Virginia: biscuits. “They were cooked in a wood oven,” Chatrapati recalls of the lightly sweet bread.
As a chef with 15 years of experience, he and co-founder Ankush Kumar opened Pink Saffron in Westpost at National Landing in November 2025. When they did, Chatrapati tried the biscuit recipe he remembered, complete with nutty filling, but baked it in the restaurant’s tandoor. The result is a heat-blistered, oily delight that’s a cousin to naan, but with a trademark twist.
The goal at Pink Saffron is to serve cuisine that would play well in India. Spice levels are slightly higher than most area Indian restaurants, and dishes are mostly of the variety that diners won’t find elsewhere in the United States.
Chatrapati mentions Bengali dab chingari — a helping of tiger prawns cooked inside a coconut — as a favorite. Inside the tandoor, the fresh young coconut combines with mustard paste, creating a seafood stew.
But even those who order familiar classics like butter chicken and biryani will be greeted with new flavors. “On our menu, it’s called romasco butter chicken because of the high-quality tomatoes,” explains Chatrapati. He adds high-grade cashews and blends them with the signature Pink Saffron mix of the eponymous stamen and rosewater.
“When you eat our butter chicken, it will give you this different taste from any other butter chicken you get anywhere else,” says Chatrapati.
Even the dessert menu includes several options diners won’t likely see without a trip to India. The double ka meetha is a delight for fans of bread pudding; it’s simultaneously comforting and novel. Descended from the royal cuisine of Indian Muslim rulers, the sweet features crispy ghee-fried bread in a floral condensed milk mixture called rabdi — which also serves as a base for black gulab jamun — in a startlingly pretty treat.
Whatever diners choose to order at the new restaurant, they can bet that saffron, rose, and freshly ground spices will make it taste like nothing else. Pink Saffron, 1201 S. Joyce St., Arlington
Feature image by Michael Butcher
This story originally ran in our March 2026 issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
