Chef Hemant Mathur — the first Indian chef in America to earn and retain a Michelin star, across both Devi (2007) and Tulsi (2012) — opened Veerays on East 45th Street in 2024 as NYC's first Indian-speakeasy hybrid, just east of Grand Central. The Paris-based OulipO studio designed the Art Deco room in brass, cognac leather, smoky glass, antique mirror, and theater-red velvet, with Maison Paul Bonnotte lighting; cocktails take Prohibition-era names (Al Capone, Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano) alongside the kitchen's modern Pan-Indian register (Don's Lamb Chops, Duck Vindaloo, Butter Chicken, Camel Seekh Kebab). The Michelin Guide added Veerays to its 2025 NY Selected listing. Mathur's stars belong to Devi and Tulsi — the credentials are his own, not transferred to Veerays — and the editorial substance here is the concept singularity: there is no other Indian-speakeasy at this register in NYC. For the chef's modern Pan-Indian fine-dining inside a Prohibition-era Art Deco room, with Michelin Selected recognition.