LORE

The story

LORE Restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn – Contemporary South East Asian Cuisine | Michelin Bib Gourmand

LORE

At the corner of a residential building on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, LORE brings together the stories of intersecting cultures through food. Chef and Owner Jay Kumar, born in Mangalore, India, developed his passion for cooking early on. After building a strong reputation over twenty years running restaurants in Switzerland, he followed his heart to Brooklyn and opened LORE in the neighborhood he now calls home.

The menu is rooted in local seasonality and diversity, and the cooking draws on global flavors with a particular emphasis on South East Asian influences. The Michelin Guide awarded LORE a Bib Gourmand in 2025, praising Chef Kumar’s “creative, highly enjoyable Indian-infused and American fare” and noting that the poetic cocktail list is worth more than a glance. Eater NY singled out the restaurant’s masala dosa as perhaps the best in the city.

The dinner menu changes with the seasons but might include a Fermented Dosa with masala potato and coconut chutney, Butterless Butter Chicken with cashew crème and pulao rice, or Bafat Prawns with coconut basmati rice and daikon slaw. The brunch menu features dishes like Kimchi Uttapam, a LORE Burger with homemade masala aioli, and The Full Story 2.0, a steamed dosa pancake with eggs and coconut chutney. Cocktails are named after poets and artists—Hafiz, Kahlo, Rumi, Bashō—and the non-alcoholic options are equally thoughtful.

LORE is open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday, and for brunch on weekends. The space itself is a straightforward corner storefront, warm and unpretentious, where the focus stays on the plate and the company at your table.