THE STORY IN BRIEF
Foram and Anand came from law and finance. Their next chapter involved an Amsterdam restaurant, a crash course in hospitality, and eventually butter chicken with a poached egg. There was rather a lot to learn between the two.
Some life decisions begin with a spreadsheet. Foram’s, according to Miri Mary’s own origin story, began with a poster spotted while sitting tipsy on a toilet.
It read: “Fly away to follow your heart.”
At the time, she was a criminal lawyer in New Delhi, in a long-distance relationship with Anand. A month later, she was on a plane to Amsterdam. Inspirational bathroom décor rarely gets such a decisive response.
Anand worked in trading at Optiver. Together, they would enter a business neither knew professionally: hospitality. By 2022, they had a restaurant in De Pijp, and another major arrival to prepare for.
First, eat your way around India
Their idea was to give Amsterdam a broader taste of Indian cooking. For anyone who has explained that the food from their hometown is not interchangeable with every other dish labeled “Indian,” the impulse is familiar. Opening a restaurant is a fairly substantial escalation of that conversation.
The preparation was substantial, too. According to the restaurant’s account of its development, Foram spent two months traveling through India, visiting around 120 restaurants: established dining rooms, local favorites, and roadside stops.
That works out to roughly two restaurants a day. Most of us would call this an excellent holiday; she also had chefs to find and a restaurant concept to develop.
The point was to explore regional differences, rather than build another menu around a handful of internationally familiar dishes. De Pijp’s open, multicultural character appealed to the founders as a setting for the result. Their food would have Indian roots, but its everyday audience would be in Amsterdam.
A lawyer and a trader still need a chef
This was not simply a case of two enthusiastic diners buying some pans. The restaurant’s profile of chef Nirvaan says he came from Mumbai to help launch it, spending three months working with the kitchen team, introducing the menu, and training people to prepare it.
His own introduction to cooking was pleasingly less grand. As a child, unhappy with a household cook’s attempts at dosa, he sought his grandmother’s recipe and began experimenting. Getting breakfast right came before culinary school in New York.
There is something recognizable about that starting point: sometimes you learn to cook because you are curious, and sometimes because somebody is making your favorite thing incorrectly.
Today, Miri Mary describes Nirvaan as a culinary consultant who returns annually to refresh the menu. The founders supplied the idea; making it work on a plate required professional kitchen expertise.
Butter chicken has entered the brunch chat
The easiest way to understand the concept is to read the brunch menu. Butter Chicken Benny puts chicken tikka, pickled onions and a poached egg on toasted brioche, finished with makhani sauce. Saag Kulcha pairs smoked spinach and endive with burrata and paneer-stuffed naan. Mango lassi appears on pancakes.
You may already have an opinion about the burrata. That is part of the fun.
Alongside the combinations, there is idlis with sambar and coconut chutney, and a Bombay sandwich with spiced vegetables and green chutney. The menu moves between familiar dishes and experiments, rather than requiring every plate to perform the same trick.
When De Buik visited for brunch in October 2023, its writer praised the combination of sweet brioche, savoury egg and spiced sauce. The review also described coffee grown in southern India and roasted by a small roastery in Eindhoven. Even the coffee had made a migration of its own.
Not everything ran perfectly: the same review reported repeated attempts to get an egg cooked as requested, alongside helpful service. A useful reminder that a restaurant’s big idea eventually meets the very specific needs of the person at table six.
Then came the other new arrival
The founders’ origin story adds a complication: three months before opening, they discovered they were expecting a baby. Their account describes 2022 as the year they welcomed both Miri Mary and their daughter.
Starting a restaurant while preparing for parenthood is an ambitious interpretation of “a new chapter.” One would ideally come with a quiet night’s sleep. Neither is especially famous for providing it.
Anand also helped shape the restaurant’s aesthetics and select its art. His stated test for a dish or cocktail was that it had to be “EPIC”—a demanding brief for a kitchen already learning to work together.
An Amsterdam address, with room to experiment
By De Buik’s November 2024 visit, the writer described an almost-full dining room, shared dishes, and cocktails such as a coriander-and-chili margarita. Its account presents a place where the bar matters alongside the kitchen, and diners can settle in for another round.
That is the appealing part of this story for an Indian building a life here. Something from home can become part of an ordinary Amsterdam evening: brunch with friends, cocktails after work, a shared dinner. It can also change along the way. You can recognize the flavors and still debate what they have done to the saag.
Foram’s move began with an instruction to follow her heart. The restaurant that followed needed research, chefs, training, and a willingness to try unfamiliar combinations. The poster got her onto the plane. It could not poach the eggs.
Visit: Miri Mary, Van der Helstplein 15H, Amsterdam. Check the current menu and booking details before visiting.
Sources
- Miri Mary. The journey behind Miri Mary. Founder account of the restaurant’s beginnings.
- Miri Mary. Current menu. Checked 13 October 2026.
