About Shukette

A Market Brought to Life

Both Shuka and Shukette take their names from shuk — the Hebrew word for an open-air marketplace. The name isn't just a nod to culture; it's a promise. Walk into Shukette and you feel it immediately: the energy, the aromas, the communal table set for strangers who quickly become friends.

Shukette opened in July 2021 at 230 9th Avenue in Chelsea, Manhattan — the mischievous, louder little sister to Shuka in SoHo. Where Shuka offers a refined dining experience, Shukette strips it back to the essentials: great fire, great bread, and food meant to be shared.

The restaurant is part of The Bowery Group, the acclaimed hospitality company behind Cookshop, Rosie's, and Vic's. But Shukette is unmistakably Ayesha's. Her Italian-Indonesian heritage, her Brooklyn roots, and her decade-long love affair with Levantine ingredients all converge on this menu.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Ayesha Nurdjaja grew up surrounded by the flavors of two distinct culinary cultures — Italian on one side, Indonesian on the other. Neither defined her; together they gave her a palate that was always searching for something deeper, more complex, and more honest.

After graduating from culinary school, Ayesha worked her way through some of New York's most respected kitchens. She spent time at Picholine (a two Michelin-starred institution in the Upper West Side), and later at A Voce Columbus, one of the city's most refined Italian restaurants. These experiences shaped her technical precision — but her heart always pulled toward the Middle East.

When she joined The Bowery Group and became Executive Chef of Shuka in SoHo, she found her voice. Shuka earned wide critical acclaim and introduced New York to her interpretation of Levantine cooking. But she wasn't finished.

In 2021, she opened Shukette — her most personal project. Louder, faster, more casual, and even more focused on the primal joy of cooking over fire. The response was immediate: packed every night, reservations that vanish in seconds, and eventually a spot on the New York Times Top 100 Restaurants list — not once, but twice, in 2023 and 2024.

Today Ayesha is also a regular fixture on Food Network as one of the "Titans" on Bobby's Triple Threat, and has appeared on Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, The Kitchen, the Today Show, and Vice Munchies. In 2022, she was a finalist for the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: New York State.

For Ayesha, cooking is never about showing off technique — it's about feeding people, making them happy, and creating the conditions for a great meal. At Shukette, that's exactly what happens, every single night.