About DesiMela
DesiMela is the directory we wished existed when we first moved here.
What we do
We help South Asians in America find the people and places that make a city feel like home — the temple that does Diwali properly, the grocery store that stocks the right brand of dal, the dosa place that doesn't cut corners. Across 18 markets and growing.
Why we built this
Google Maps shows you a hundred Indian restaurants but won't tell you which ones the community actually eats at. Yelp doesn't know what biryani is supposed to taste like. Facebook groups have the answers but they're buried under three months of birthday announcements.
We're building the directory the community would build for itself — sourced by the community, owned by the community, useful on day one for someone who just moved to a new city.
What's here today
- Restaurants, grocery stores, temples, services across 18 US markets
- Community events, classifieds, job postings
- Bollywood + South Indian + regional movie listings
- Festival landing pages for Diwali, Navratri, Eid, Holi, and more
- Free for users, free for businesses to claim and update
What's next
Newcomer guides for every market. Verified business reviews from real community members. Eventually: a way for businesses to message customers directly, deals from claimed businesses, and partnerships with the community organizations that already do the work of connecting people.
Get involved
- Suggest a business we should add
- If you own a Desi business, claim your listing — it's free
- Contact us with feedback, ideas, or partnership inquiries
Who's behind this
DesiMela is a small team of South Asian engineers and community members who built this for ourselves. We're committed to keeping it independent, ad-supported only minimally, and focused on the community first.
— The DesiMela team