The fare at Cantina feels straight out of ‘The Sopranos’

Mumbai boasts plenty of Italian spots, each fluent in its own version of authenticity. The nods to rustic Italy; the obscure olive oil and cheese choices; the belief that the quieter the plate, the truer it must be. It’s a script the city has learned well.

What it hasn’t really met, except a few fast-food caricatures, is the other branch of the family tree. The one that grew in American cities, where the old country shaped the instinct but the new world shaped the plate, and where the sauce learned to speak a little louder. That’s the lineage Cantina in BKC taps into. It embraces, unapologetically, the Italian-American tradition: that glorious, abundant, red-sauce canon born in the tenement kitchens of New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey.

This is the food of The Sopranos and Sunday gravy, of Goodfellas and red checkered tablecloths, of portions that spill over plate edges, and sauces that cling to pasta with unabashed richness. For Indian diners, these aren’t unfamiliar cues. We’ve been tutored in this visual and culinary language through decades of American television and film. What Cantina offers is the opportunity to step into that frame ourselves, to taste what we’ve been watching.

It’s the latest project by Shaurya Malwa and Yagyarth Meiwal, who were running Nho Saigon in this very space until recently. The switch to Italian-American came from something far more instinctive than a trend cycle. Malwa kept returning to the same place during his years in Bangkok, an Italian-American restaurant called Tony’s, and realised he loved it because it felt easy. No formality, no performance.

That ease is what he wanted to bring to Mumbai. “If you look at our menu, you won’t find anything super complicated,” he says. “We wanted to wow people with simplicity and how fresh and balanced everything is.”

To build that, he brought in Anthony Burd, the chef behind Tony’s in Sukhumvit. He’s cooked everywhere from Marea in New York to Borgo Pignano in Tuscany. Burd explains the menu here is a mix of what he grew up eating and what he’s understood about Mumbai. He’s leaned into more vegetarian and chicken-forward cooking here because it made sense for the diners. But the connection here is personal. “Growing up, it’s what my grandparents were cooking,” he shares. “On the weekends, baked ziti, baked pastas, chicken parmesan. Big dishes. One-pot meal type things.”

We began with the beetroot carpaccio: thin roasted beet slices in a deep burgundy pool with avocado, goat cheese, herbs, and a citrus dressing. Earthy, tangy, bright, creamy. It eats clean and light without feeling spare.

The salmon tartar toast leans in the opposite direction, generous to the point of excess. Toasted garlic bread piled high with salmon, garlic aioli, capers, chili. Buttery, rich and briny. Shamelessly sloppy.

Next up was the truffle arancini. Crisp outside, molten with truffle fontina inside, and finished with shaved truffle. They’re rich, but a hint of lemon keeps the whole thing lively.

As soon as the capricciosa pizza arrives, I know exactly where Cantina shines. All their pizzas start with a high-hydration dough that ferments for about 48 hours, and you can taste that depth right away. The leopard-spot crust tells you someone knows what they're doing. Dark blistered patches giving way to chewy, airy interior. San Marzano tomato, fiore di latte, ham, roasted mushroom, tender artichoke, and assertive olives. The balance is spot-on. This is New York pizza, and it’s excellent.

The sopressini in spicy vodka sauce is the other clear winner. The little twice-folded and pinched egg yolk pasta has a lovely bite without being aggressively al dente. Spicy vodka, tomato, Calabrian chilli clinging to every fold. Heat builds gradually. This is what Malwa meant about wowing with simplicity.

I had to try the eggplant parmigiano, mostly because it’s a fixture in any Italian-American repertoire. It’s rich, layered, and deeply savoury: romesco, toasted hazelnuts, basil pesto, and stracciatella on eggplant that’s tender but holds its shape. A proper main, not a vegetarian workaround.

To round things off with dessert, we tried the tiramisu - nonna’s recipe and the pistachio crème brûlée. The tiramisu arrives in a red moka pot with dry ice “steam”, playful and attention-grabbing. Though, I felt the mascarpone as well as the coffee and amaretto could come through more boldly. The crème brûlée is the stronger finale. Silky custard with biscotti, cherries, and orange confit, the fruit and mint leaves cutting through the richness. The caramelised top gives in shyly—less a dramatic crack than a soft break—but the flavours are indulgent and well-balanced.

Cantina’s cocktail programme is called ‘No Work Ethics’, and Malwa laughs when I ask about it. “Increasingly in India, most cocktail bars are trying to do a lot with their drinks. I saw this article last week—one cocktail had morel infusion over something else, then something else, then two spirits. It’s a whole paragraph. And I’m like, cocktails shouldn’t be that complex.”

His solution? One ingredient as hero. Maximum four components, including the spirit. Rose (whisky, rose, Aperol) arrives coral-pink in a glass teacup. Floral without becoming perfumy, thanks to the whisky’s warmth and Aperol’s bitter balance. Banana (rum, banana liquor, Aperol) feels celebratory and is one of the evening’s triumphs—sweet but the Aperol keeps it honest. Chocolate (vodka, white chocolate, yuzu) tips too far into dessert territory. And the Tomato (mezcal, tomato, lime, celery, wasabi) is ambitious—savoury, smoky—but could do with more body.

So, here’s the thing about Cantina: it carries its identity with ease, and that’s precisely its strength. In a city where Italian restaurants often compete on pedigree and provenance, Cantina offers something more free-spirited. Here, Italian-American cooking comes alive in full colour. The flavours are bold, the portions generous, and the tone of the kitchen is unmistakably joyful. It’s a place that knows how to have fun on a plate.

Meal for two: ₹3,000 with alcohol

Timings: 6:30 pm to 1 am, plus 12 pm to 4 pm from December 10, Tuesday to Sunday

Address: Cantina, B, Plot No C-68, Jet Airways, Godrej BKC, Unit 1, BKC, Mumbai

Reservations: +91 9987518301