Holy smokes, Mumbai’s got a new Indian BBQ and grills place

If you haven’t already heard what all that noise is about, the best seats at a restaurant today are the jangly chef-counters where you can watch the inner workings of what exactly goes on your plate. It defines the experience at the 12 coveted seats at Mumbai’s Papa’s. At omakase-style dinners, diners get a peek into the kitchen, and chefs get to display that showmanship that only kitchen insiders are otherwise privy to. Chef Saurabh Udinia and Pratik Gaba’s HŌM takes on this culinary artform and extends it to Indian grills.

Located bang opposite Banng, on the corner of the 15th Khar Road, is the 42-seater HŌM. The place gets its name from the Sanskrit word homa, which means havan, and goes beyond its religious connotations to play with flame. Fire-forward cooking is central to their concept. In fact, 90 percent of the menu is built around everyday ingredients, cooked over a tandoor or a custom-built wood-fired grill, served with on gorgeous custom-made crockery made by artisans in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh and Kotputli, Rajasthan that you can see being prepped if you’re one of the seven patrons seated at HOM Theatre.

Designed by Studio 6158’s Parzan Daruwalla and Natasha Chawla, HŌM looks like a well put together living room, done up with warm terracotta-coloured walls and red burgundy tiles. With the bar on the right, and the best seats in the house on your left, the high table is where most of the action happens. The prized HŌM Theatre seats are few, and need prior booking (at ₹4,750 and ₹3,750 for non veg or veg options), so you can get front-row access to the show that Chef Saurabh [of Revolver in Singapore, Indian Accent, Farzi Café and Masala Library fame] and his eager team put forth. “Everything happens here. You will find chaos, commotion, laughter, heat, and embers flying here and there. These guys are performers, and you are sitting at the theatre watching them,” says the chef of the rhythmic chaos of a live kitchen, where feeding fires, charbroiling, tandoor-ing, plating and assembly are just part of the experience.

That is not to say you cannot settle down for a quiet meal. Spread across 2,200 sqft, HŌM also boasts two outdoor sections and one indoor dining space. On both the à la carte and Theatre menu, Indian ingredients are not really reimagined, but cooked using fire techniques that chef Udinia saw on a pan India culinary trip covering Uttarakhand, Assam, Manipur, Kerala and Goa.

In anticipation, I take a seat at the Theatre and wait for the culinary curtain to roll. Chef Udinia takes his place behind the counter with razor-sharp focus. The cinders crackle, aromas fill the space, and then arrives the lightest chaat in the world—with aerated bhalla that are baked without any fat. The yoghurt is aerated too. And the chutneys? The crisps, mint and chilli dust, which come together to melt in your mouth. Then we try Punugulu, a popular Andhra snack made with fermented rice and urad dal, only here it is stuffed with prawns Recheado, making it taste like the love child of a medu vada and Goan recheado. Right before serving, the kitchen hands inject it with balsamic vinegar to make it fresher.

Chef Udinia, who has trained under chef Manish Mehrotra (of Indian Accent fame), learnt early on in his career that culinary art is not simply cooking, putting things in a bowl, and serving. It is acing the art of presentation, but also making sure you make a dish memorable without distorting its taste. And, that’s truly the impression the dishes at HŌM give off.

You see it first in the Pork Tartine—served on a toasted and buttered brioche with a slaw made of purple cabbage and Yuzu aioli, topped with charred pulled pork made in MoSaMa sauce (Moilee, Saunth Chutney and Makhni gravy). It’s a toast you’re likely to devour in seconds.

When the Kashmir Morel arrives, we can’t resist taking photos. Made using Kashmiri Gucchi, it is stuffed with morels and button mushrooms resting charmingly over a base of nihari that is also made using mushrooms—these ones cooked in spices for three to four hours in true nihari style.

The Red Snapper (that the chef calls Chutney Snapper) comes covered in coriander-lemongrass-coconut chutney inside a banana leaf—first steamed, then charred on the grill. A generous squeeze of charred lime finishes the dish. The Malai Broccoli balances the nuttiness that comes from a cashew-almond-walnut crumble and the hotness from chilli oil sprinkled on top, making it clear that vegetarian dishes here aren’t an afterthought.

Every dish has one thing in common: it ties in comfort with familiar flavours. Whether it is the Chicken Kebab with laal pyaaz (onion salad) and burani raita dip; grilled Tiger Prawns with garlic-pepper-butter, gunpowder and curry leaves or the Kerala Mud Crab with coconut served with Parmesan-stuffed kulcha. But the most comforting order of the day is their Laal Maas Khichdi. Featuring no-dal and no Indian rice, this one is cooked with arborio rice, goat stock, and laal maas spices, topped with chunks of mutton and dollops of ghee and mint leaves.

Grills make for the best bar snack, and around this menu, mixologist Pankaj Balachandran of Countertop India, has designed an entire cocktail programme. Just like the ingredients shine across the food menu, the drinks too spotlight amaranth, mango, coriander, coconut, Hojicha, sesame, yoghurt in a glass. The Red Shrub Club, a take on a gin sour comes with pickled amaranth in it. The Mango Bell, a high-ball style drink, combines mangoes and bell peppers. At HŌM, beverage manager Ashish Tamta will also direct you to Not A Picante and other zero-alcohol cocktails, if you wish.

Owner Pratik Gaba’s extensive experience in the nightlife and events space takes care of the music here, which switches from electro jazz to afrobeats, and even retro throwback songs just like the different stages of a good house party. Gaba, who has diplomas from Le Cordon Bleu and London Bar School, has been in the hospitality space for years with many restaurants under the Massive Restaurants banner. At HŌM, he’s ensured there is attention to every space he has designed: the outdoors is perfect for brunches and conversations, while the Theatre is where you’ll find patrons vie for reservations. “The whole restaurant revolves around the flame. So the vibe, the center stage, the theatre, the chefs around the fire, everything is coal and fire.”

Address: HOM, shop no 1, Zindagi chsl, Pali Road, 15th Road, Mumbai 400052

Meal for two: ₹4,000 (including alcohol)

Timings: Tuesday to Sunday: 7 pm to 1 am; Lunch service to start soon

Reservations: +91 9892776672