Midnight Temple earns its spot at No. 10 on the 2024 Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 New Restaurants & Dining Experiences list for graciously sharing traditional Indian family recipes out of a colorful Eastern Market hideaway.

 

Behind the graffitied door of a nondescript Eastern Market warehouse, just steps away from the city’s longest standing meat markets, is Midnight Temple, a trove of Indian traditions, both culinary and otherwise.

 

At the top of a steep staircase lined with vibrant saris the colors of gemstones, shades of rubies and sapphires, emeralds and amethysts, is a majestic dining room filled with Indian iconography and Hindu relics, ornate lanterns and comforting street food like crispy palak chaat cloaked in cool yogurt and sweet tamarind sauce so tasty you’ll devour the entire bowl. The deep-fried spinach leaves flecked with tears of fresh cilantro are as delicious as they are beautiful. An aroma of masala is suspended in the air.

 

“When you step into Midnight Temple, I want it to be an experience like you’re not in Detroit anymore, you really are in India,” said owner Akash Sudhakara, detailing each element of the space culled from his South Asian homeland: The saris and other fabrics are borrowed from the arsenal of his interior designer mother, who was once sought after for elaborate Indian weddings; the two provocative Ravi Varma paintings of a nearly nude Indian princess recovered from a shuttered temple in Bangalore, India.

 

“I could have sold both of those paintings and opened the restaurant without any debt,” Sudhakara said.

 

Sudhakara has opened a restaurant that embodies his experience as an Indian American. A metro Detroit native, Sudhakara was raised Downriver, but visited his parents’ coffee farm in Chikkamagaluru, India bi-annually. He remembers nights in the rainforest when he’d have to head indoors while the elephants and tigers roamed freely, and chaotic days in Bangalore, just three hours east, where the smell of foods from street vendors filled the air.

 

“I wanted to bring the full experience of that back here,” he said, acknowledging a lack of representation for Indian cuisine within city limits.

 

 

Robust, chicory coffee sourced from his parents’ farm is served at Midnight Temple, and a green wall crawling with faux greenery is dedicated to the husband-and-wife duo and their rainforest upbringing. Tropical flavors, like blood orange and pineapple show up behind the bar to represent the region, too, some cocktails adorned with flower petals or pops of dried chili powder; and creamy mango lassis helps to cool your palate between bites of pav bhaji, a spicy vegetable medley.

 

Midnight Temple has been one of the city’s most anticipated restaurants. Nearly three years leading up to the grand opening last May, Sudhakara utilized the outdoor space to serve dense samosas, dosas and chewy chicken tikka roll-ups.

 

 

“I immediately got a food trailer and started doing simple Indian street food that you would see on the streets of India,” he said, noting a collaboration with neighbors Eastern Market Brewing Co. and Detroit City Distillery, which served beverages outside. “My intention was to make the same food you would have there, cooked in the same way.”

 

While the team put the finishing touches on the indoor dining space, the Eastern Market side street became a late-night hotspot where diners could watch skewers of chicken cook over a grill and hear the sizzle of roasting peppers.

 

 

While Midnight Temple honors Sudhakara’s Indian heritage, the place embraces the city that surrounds it, too. More than half of the décor in the space was sourced from estate sales and chance encounters. Persian and Moroccan rugs were once residents of Indian Village homes, pews were recovered from closed churches and a hanging planter was found and salvaged — a dog cage left on the side of Joy Road, painted gold and made anew.

 

A lounge-y environment filled with games, a large-screen TV, live DJs who often spin Desi hip-hop and the option of cocktails, street food or filling entrees make Midnight Temple a gastropub that forges intercultural connections. It’s a place where international students from India can watch their first Lions game, or where American diners can learn the game of Carrom, an Indian table game similar to pool.

 

“There’s a mix of communities coming in, which is awesome to see,” Sudhakara said.

Communities who can learn from each other, and ultimately, break bread together.