SINCE 1995 · NAVIGLI, MILAN
From Punjab to the Navigli, since 1995
Shiva began in 1995 as a takeaway, steps from the Università Statale of Milan. It was Milan's first Indian takeaway, in a city where Indian cuisine was still almost nowhere to be found. Students discovered it at once, and word of mouth did the rest. A year later, encouraged by his own customers, Amrit opened the restaurant on the Navigli, at Viale Gian Galeazzo 7: the third Indian restaurant in all of Milan, today one of its historic addresses.
Over the years the kitchen grew without ever betraying itself: hospitality-trained staff arriving directly from India, the same tandoor as always, the dense and patient sauces that still come today from a kitchen built on skill and time. The walls filled with original hand-painted murals: scenes of Indian tradition, figures, vivid colours, a quotation from Gandhi watching over the room.
Over thirty years Shiva has become one of Milan's best-loved Indian restaurants. To step through its door is to change the air, in the most literal sense: the spices, the warm light, the images on the walls carry you elsewhere and make you feel at home.
Amrit Kumar was born in a rural village in Punjab, into a family that, once work was done, returned to care for their land. At twenty, he decided to embark on a European adventure. In his first years in Milan, he worked in the jewellery sector while getting to know the city, and noticed something was missing: Indian cuisine was still little known.
He therefore decided to share his own idea of India with Milan: its colours, flavours, and the kindness typical of his homeland. You will find him in the dining room every evening, welcoming guests, chatting and joking, remembering the faces of his beloved regulars, who return for the good food and that warm hospitality.
In the kitchen and dining room, a team follows his philosophy — the same as ever: kindness and sincerity always win.
Shiva's walls are painted by hand: scenes of Indian tradition, figures, architecture, vivid colours that the warm light of the lanterns shifts with the hour. A piece of authentic India in the heart of the Navigli — a place where you sit, look around, and feel elsewhere and at home at once.
With kindness and sincerity you always win: it is Amrit's philosophy, and it is what you breathe at Shiva every evening. In the kitchen, a team of hospitality-trained professionals who came directly from India — the authenticity of every dish passes through their hands.
la Repubblica
Milan edition
Corriere della Sera
national newspaper
La Prova del Cuoco
with Antonella Clerici
Hell's Kitchen Italia
with Carlo Cracco
Foodish, TV8
with Joe Bastianich
Shiva began in 1995, when Indian cuisine in Milan was almost nowhere to be found. Since then the neighbourhood has changed, the city has changed, but the restaurant has stayed. To sit at this table is to step into a story thirty years long that, every evening, continues.
No mediation, no compromise toward an imagined taste. The food you find at Shiva comes from the Punjab: fresh spices, sauces worked with time and technique, and a tandoor at the centre of everything. It has been this way for thirty years.
Indian cuisine is one of the richest vegetarian traditions in the world. At Shiva, that means a menu spanning pulses, fresh cheeses, tandoor vegetables and regional dishes, with the same depth and variety as the meat-based offering. Not an alternative: a choice.
The hand-painted walls, the warm light, the spices in the air. At Shiva the atmosphere is not decoration: it is part of the experience. A piece of authentic India in the heart of the Navigli, thirty years old and still welcoming.
Experience Shiva on the Navigli or take home the flavours we have shared since 1995.