At Adelina, Michelangelo is on the ceiling and croissant in your cocktail

In less than six months, six new Italian restaurants have opened in Mumbai. Bandra alone has three. There’s Olive Group’s Call Me Sofia, which brings aperitivo culture to the suburbs. Not too far away, in Ranwar Village, Positano is serving a limited menu in a cosy space, while Dough & Joe, which stays open till 4 am, is the spot for those post-midnight cravings. And we aren’t evening talking about Pomodoro, where the queues haven’t reduced even after a year of opening. Clearly, Bandra and beyond, the message clear: We are loving la cucina Italiana.

The latest in line is Adelina, the newest opening in the Mansionz One building on Bandra’s Linking Road, which is already home to eateries like Thai Naam and the recently opened Gong. Walk in, look up, and you are most likely to do a double take. You can’t help it. On the ceiling is a mural that plays off Michelangelo’s ‘The Creation of Adam’ from the Sistine Chapel—God reaching to man, the famous outstretched fingers, except someone has worked a wine glass into the composition. You cannot help but chortle when you first encounter Vermeer’s elegant ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, but here she is biting into a pizza slice. The interiors are bold and whimsical with reimagined classic European references finding a place on art hanging from the walls, on furniture upholstery, and even the cushion covers.

It’s got a character. Quite literally. Sisters Ankita and Harshita Bhatia, both in their early thirties, say they imagined Adelina as a young Italian woman—warm, well-travelled, grounded in family traditions. She is both the host and the storyteller. Conceptualised by Tejal Mathur Designs, the restaurant is designed to feel like you are stepping into her family villa. The paintings were Ankita’s idea, the food on the table, was in her sister’s purview. 

The 120-cover space moves naturally between a main dining room, intimate booth seating, a lounge, and a private dining room away from the main floor. The space, Ankita says, feels “rooted in the old yet expressed in a modern way”, and credits her father’s art collection as her design inspiration. You can feel this impulse in the room: in the arched ceilings and amber light, in the portraits, and in the wood-fired oven that anchors the room. 

Though getting it to feel that way took time. Six years, to be precise. “We were waiting for the right space,” says her chef sister Harshita Bhatia, who trained at the Culinary Arts Academy in Switzerland and the Culinary Institute of America. The six years were spent refining a food philosophy, finding the right collaborators, and making sure that when the space finally opened, every element fit perfectly.

The sisters, who grew up in a joint family that entertained often. came to this naturally. Harshita learned to cook from their mother and, with her training in the culinary arts, took on the role of the chef. Ankita learned to host in a home always full of people. And she brings that expertise to the table, where it all comes together.

The pasta programme at Adelina sits at the heart of the kitchen, the doughs made with 00 flour and durum semolina, rested and rolled to order. The sauces range from a slow-cooked arrabbiata with some wood-fired depth, to a duck ragù that’s been braised into something rich and serious. As Harshita puts is, it is cooking built on the belief that technique should serve flavour and not overshadow it. The goal, she says, is simpler than it sounds: to elevate traditional Italian food without losing what makes it feel like home.

Tasting notes

Harshita picks the gnocchi aglio e olio as her favourite. “I make it the way I like it,” she adds. The tonnarelli cacio e pepe has a sharp pecorino and cracked pepper flavour, while the gnocchi al ragù d’anatra is a slow-braised duck. The basil-forward, fresh pappardelle nel verde is recommended if you want to cut through the richness of everything that came before it.

Start with the capesante con crema di mais (seared scallop with corn purée and chilli jam), a standout dish where the chilli jam does just enough without taking over. The barbabietola e formaggio di capra (roasted beetroot and goat cheese with orange and pistachio gremolata) sounds like something you’ve eaten a hundred times before, until you realise you haven’t, not quite like this.

I personally loved the gamberi alla griglia—charred prawns, spiced tomatoes, and capers. The prawns carry just enough smokiness from the grill, while the capers do the work of cutting through. Whatever you do, don’t skip the pizzas. The wood-fired Neapolitan has properly blistered edges and dough with actual backbone. Order one anyway, even if you think you’re too deep into the pasta to manage it.

And as no Italian meal ends without the tiramisu, Adelina has a version, too—made with house-baked savoiardi, served family-style, and brought to the table by Harshita herself in a portion that is, frankly, the right size. You’ll finish it. Everyone always does.

It’s always aperitivo hour

The bar managed by Tanmay Vedpathak (earlier with Otra as well as Cirqa in Mumbai) takes its cues from Italian aperitivo culture—the idea that a drink should ease you into an evening rather than dominate it. The house limoncello spritzer uses a limoncello made in-house; it’s lighter than the bottled version you bring home from duty free. The Frozen Martini, made with gin, fino sherry, and bianco vermouth, is dry, savoury, and slightly strange, in the way the best martinis tend to be. The Raspberry Croissant—tequila and mezcal with raspberry and yes, an actual croissant on the rim—sounds like it was engineered for Instagram and turns out to be genuinely good.

Don’t overlook the zero-proof options either. Adelina is one of the few places that’s got these right. I particularly loved the Zing Zest, a blend of mango, ginger, lemongrass, orange, and kaffir lime—deeply aromatic and the best argument for not drinking that I’ve come across in a while. The Raspberry Collins (raspberry, lavender, citrus, and sparkling seltzer) is crisp and clean and definitely worth a try as well. Wine, at any self-respecting Italian restaurant, is never an afterthought, and the list here, covering Italian and international regions, with a strong by-the-glass selection and a Coravin section, makes sure the better bottles are within reach without the full commitment.

At some point during the evening—it might be the pasta, it might be the tiramisu arriving with Harshita, it might just be the second glass of wine under that busy ceiling—you forget that Adelina is a new restaurant. It feels like the home of a well-to-do friend. Which is the whole point.

Address: 9th floor, Mansionz One Building, Linking Road, Bandra West, Mumbai - 400050

Timings: 12 pm to 4 pm; 7 pm – 1:30 am

Reservations: +91 99200 50333

Price for two: ₹3,000 (approx) plus taxes