A mother-daughter duo running a small Bangladeshi restaurant in Jersey City is making waves in the local culinary scene.

Chef and owner Nur-E Gulshan Rahman decided to pursue her lifelong dream and start a restaurant business along with her daughter, Nur-E Farhana, despite having zero culinary experience.

Together, they opened Korai Kitchen in February 2018, making it Jersey City's first Bangladeshi restaurant.

Korai Kitchen became a local favorite, and Rahman was nominated in 2024 for the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic.

In October, their restaurant received a 3-star review from New York Times food critic Ligaya Mishan, who called their lau chingri one of the best dishes in the U.S. for 2025.

Lau chingri, or shrimp cooked with bottle gourd squash and a blend of spices, represents nostalgic, home-cooked Bangladeshi food.

"Our litmus test is — is this something that my mom has been making for over 50 years?" Farhana said. "If it's not something that she has been making for five decades, we don't serve it here."