By David Landis, The Gay Gourmet—
In the past few years, there has been an explosion of new and innovative Indian restaurants in San Francisco. To name a few, there’s Copra, the Pacific Heights buzzy eatery helmed by acclaimed chef Srijith Gopinathan (specializing in the cuisines of Kerala and Tamilnadu); Rooh, a contemporary Cal-Indian restaurant with inventive cocktails, sporting locations in SOMA, Palo Alto, and India; and Tiya, in the Marina, flaunting “farm-to-table” offerings in a contemporary setting with “New Indian” cuisine as its motto.
And then, there’s Besharam in Dogpatch. It’s been around since 2018, and is located in the Minnesota Street Project art gallery edifice. Chef Heena Patel launched the concept originally in partnership with restaurateur Daniel Patterson’s Alta Group. In 2019, Patel took full control of the restaurant. Besharam specializes in the cuisine from India’s Gujarat region on the country’s west coast, which was certainly a new culinary area unknown to me.
It took my good pal Nancy Toomey, who happens to own the celebrated Nancy Toomey Fine Art Gallery upstairs at Minnesota Street, to convince me to finally try Besharam. Boy, am I glad I did!
The restaurant is vegetarian, with flavors like nothing you’ve ever tasted. Patel’s creations defy description (but I’ll certainly try). The service is like a big hug from a favorite relative. A colorful mural by artist Maria Qamar dominates one wall with an open kitchen that allows diners to see the chef experience firsthand. The rest of the décor, while spartan, serves the purpose of helping keep the spotlight on the food that serves as the star of the show.
According to the restaurant, Besharam “is an insult, wielded in Gujarati culture to shame women into silence. (It means) shameless, vulgar, and immodest.” Explains Patel, “At Besharam, there is no other way to be but bold, vibrant, unapologetic, and hungry. We turn shame into flavor, survival into joy, and contradiction into a feast.”
Patel herself couldn’t be more welcoming. There’s no pretense with her, just a focus on creating food that delights the tastebuds. Her equally friendly husband, Paresh, is co-owner and general manager, as well as the talented beverage director.
You can do a tasting menu with wine pairings or choose à la carte at Besharam, but I often like to let the chef pick what’s best for us. So, that’s what we did.
We started our evening with cocktails (yes, there’s a full bar!). The cocktail menu features such appealing concoctions as the Mumtaz, a vivid pink cocktail featuring Bloom Jasmine Rose Gin, Tempus Fugit Crème de Violette, Select Aperitivo, and pistachio orgeat syrup. Another creation that caught my eye was the Right Above It, a boozy, Arnold Palmer-inspired cocktail mixed with black tea-infused gin. But I wanted to try a new (to me) gin called Greenall’s London Dry Gin. It offers a classic, smooth, and approachable flavor profile that harmonizes soft juniper with eight natural botanicals, bright citrus, and a delicate hint of spice. I’m going to be asking my two local liquor stores, Pacific Heights’ D&M Liquors, and Castro’s Full Proof Bottle Shop, to stock it for me!
For our evening, our party decided to share. That’s not my normal mode, but it’s a great way to experience this unique menu. Starting with appetizers, we sampled a tapioca fritter with blue cheese and avocado raita (yogurt). It was crispy, yet tender, and had elements of both creamy and tart in equal parts. Our next offering was khaman, a savory lentil bake. I liken it to cornbread, and it was served with tangy kumquats, no less!
Our first bigger course included a mango salad dressed with a light miso sesame vinaigrette. The mangoes were ripe, soft and tasty (instead of hard and inedible). I always appreciate a restaurant like this that knows how to pick its fruits and vegetables at the height of ripeness. Next, we enjoyed kulchas, a kind of India meets Mexico dish made with paneer cheese, asiago, aged cheddar, Oaxaca cheese, gouda cheese bread, and black bean mole. Who knew that fusion could be this delicious? Next, we savored kebabs with tofu and pounded chutney, which again was new to me. The tofu substitutes for paneer or minced meat, which is also common in Gujarat. The distinguishing feature is the use of a rustic, stone-pounded green chutney (typically Fudina chutney made of mint, coriander, and green chilies) that is either mixed directly into the kebab dough or stuffed inside before grilling. As for the sides, we loved the tandoori elote, another Indian-Mexican combination that fuses traditional Mexican street corn with Indian spices; sarson ka saag, a mustard spinach saak (leafy green vegetable) made with house made cheese; and the jeera rice, which is made with scented basmati rice and tempered with cumin, and is a delicate complement to the menu mainstays. The accompanying chutneys included nagi (a spicy condiment from Northeast India made with ghost peppers/Raja Mircha), candy Karelia (fresh wild raspberry with a vanilla note and salty licorice), mango, and cucumber ginger. All were tantalizing and yummy.
But wait—save room for dessert! Why? Because there’s nothing as mouthwatering as Patel’s saffron cheesecake. Growing up in a Jewish neighborhood, one would never entertain the idea of combining savory with cheesecake. But this is a winning combo. It’s dense, velvety, and oh-so-creamy, plus the saffron adds an earthy depth to keep it from being too sweet. It’s not to be missed.
Besharam wasn’t crowded when we arrived at 5:30 pm, but by 7 pm, it was packed. So, make sure to make reservations (on Resy).
In short, shameless can mean scrumptious. Those two words accurately describe Besharam.
Bits and Bites
Duangporn “Bo” Songvisava, the Michelin-starred chef and co-founder of Bangkok’s acclaimed Bo.lan, will be coming to the United States for the first time for a special two-night collaboration dinner with Payakk in Oakland on November 12 and 13. Known around the world for her commitment to authentic Thai cuisine, sustainability, food systems, and the philosophy that “our food should do no harm,” Chef Bo will bring her celebrated Longevity Thai Dinner to the Bay Area for a rare culinary experience. The dinner will explore the intersection of traditional Thai medicine, modern nutritional science, and Thailand’s rich culinary heritage, taking guests on a journey through nine flavors and four elements: earth, fire, water, and wind. The menu will highlight local, seasonal, whole-food ingredients and traditional Thai cooking techniques designed to preserve both flavor and nourishment.
Ukraïne (from Chronicle Books) is a visually stunning travelogue-style cookbook by Bay Area-based Ukraïnian chef Anna Voloshyna. The book documents the full breadth of Ukraïnian food culture, from bustling street markets in Kyiv to remote Carpathian villages to the front lines, where Anna cooked a regional feast for fifty soldiers. The treatise creates a portrait of a country whose food culture is as layered and alive as its landscape.
Starting October 30, Stretchy Pants Food Tours is launching a new limited edition Haunted Chinatown Cocktail Tour. The Spirits & Spirits tour will take guests through the dimly lit, haunting alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown, tracing the historic cocktail route from the city’s notorious Barbary Coast days. Ghostly tales and dark history will blend seamlessly with crafted spirits and cocktails along the way. Highlights will include iconic eerie locations like the Great Star Theater, where spectral figures and the Lady in White linger, alongside the tragic legends surrounding Ross Alley and St. Louis Alley. During the cocktail experience, guests will visit vibrant local lounges and hidden watering holes along the route to enjoy themed, craft drinks while guides recount bone-chilling tales of notorious gangster Little Pete, the Cameron House, and wandering souls.
Besharam: https://www.besharamrestaurant.com/
Payakk: https://www.payakk.com/
Ukraïne cookbook: https://tinyurl.com/bdehcdwy
Stretchy Pants Food Tours: https://tinyurl.com/4c57ahty
David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer, and a retired PR maven. You can email him at: davidlandissf@gmail.com Or visit him online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com
The Gay Gourmet
Published on October 8, 2026
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