This Raleigh restaurant was shouted out as a best new spot in the South
A Raleigh restaurant has once again been hailed as the next place you need to try.
The groovy Raleigh spot Ajja has been named one of the South’s best new restaurants by Garden & Gun.
Ajja, from James Beard nominee Cheetie Kumar and Paul Siler, is more newish than new, coming up on its second anniversary at 209 Bickett Blvd in Raleigh. But its reknown is already massive.
Previously Ajja was named one of Esquire Magazine’s best new restaurants in the country and was a semifinalist for the Best New Restaurant James Beard award, a national honor.
Ajja was mentioned alongside 29 other restaurants throughout the South by Garden & Gun, as spots serving the most enticing meals, drinks and desserts right now. Other North Carolina mentions include Ashleigh Shanti’s Good Hot Fish and the bar Potential New Boyfriend, both in Asheville and Charlotte’s Albertine restaurant.
Garland restaurant
Kumar and Siler first jumped into the national dining spotlight with their beloved downtown Raleigh restaurant Garland, which closed in the pandemic.
In Ajja, the pair built Raleigh’s liveliest backyard dinner party, with views of the downtown skyline. The menu focuses on Mediterranean flavors and dishes, with diners composing their meals through a variety of plates. Garden & Gun praised Ajja’s command of seasonality and subtlety, while packing a punch.
“Harmony is prized, whether among strangers at the upbeat bar or between squash syrup and absinthe in a glass,” the piece reads, noting Kumar and Siler’s background as touring rockers. “Yet few chefs are more exacting than Kumar, who pauses to consider how the textures of roasted sweet potatoes and cornbread croutons chime together in shrimp stew, and how the colors of Persian cucumbers and North Carolina roe counterbalance in a snack as vibrant as Ajja’s dining room.”
Next up for Kumar and Siler is a new high-profile restaurant collaboration with Angela Salamanca, Marshall Davis and Justin Pasfield of Locals Seafood in the former Brookside Bodega space at 1000 Brookside Drive. That project is still unnamed.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 1:13 PM with the headline "This Raleigh restaurant was shouted out as a best new spot in the South."
