Where to eat... this October

There’s a lot to eat this month in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, of course, but also in Chandigarh, Goa, Pune, and beyond.

Let’s start where it’s always nonstop: in Mumbai. La Panthera has brought Spanish pintxos, 48-hour pizzas and late-night snacks to Churchgate; Masque turns 10 with a crave-worthy new menu and stunning new interiors. Sanji’s is turning childhood cravings into cookies, croissants, and scoop cakes, and Across celebrates Dashain with mutton-heavy Himalayan specials. Then there’s a Sunday breakfast, a cocktail omakase, a Thai regional tasting menu, and Oktoberfest to contend with, too.

Then, crossing state lines, we head to Bengaluru, where we get Ladakh at Nila, seven-country noodles at Shiro, and Bar Find at Circa 11. Pune gets a tour of Maharashtra, Jaipur gets Chor Bizarre, Chandigarh gets a pour-only cocktail bar and Goa, another late-night party spot. And because we’re clearly not eating enough, there’s Restaurant Week and its 100 participating restaurants. (No, that’s not an exaggeration.)

MUMBAI

OPENINGS

La Panthera, Churchgate

La Panthera’s second outpost is in the stunning and increasingly deliciously populated Eros building in Churchgate. And it’s less a replica of the BKC original than a south Mumbai remix. Chef Manuel Olveira’s menu follows his “comfort food, refined” philosophy. The 80-seater moves from Spanish pintxos and tapas to pizza, pasta, and larger plates, with the chef’s Spanish roots most evident in the bar-bite section. There’s a classic gilda with olive, piparra, gherkin, bell pepper and Manchego; a boquerón gilda with white anchovy; patatas bravas; brown cauliflower croquetas with Manchego and black truffle; gambas al ajillo and pan con tomate with Cantabrian anchovies or jamón Ibérico. The 48-hour fermented pizzas include burrata verde, scamorza rosso, tartufo, short rib picante and la Panthera with ’nduja and burrata. Pastas range from pici cacio e pepe to two-Sheet lasagna with caponata, béchamel, and Parmesan, while mains include whipped polenta, morels risotto, a triple-smashed smash burger, roast chicken, and baked sea bass. The bar starts at 5:30 pm with an aperitivo hour and Spanish bar bites, moving into dinner and late-night pizza and snacks. Cocktails include a cucumber martini, Sake-tini, Panthera negroni, cocoa Boulevardier and Tiramisu But Drunk. The room, by Gowri Adappa of Chennai-based A Design Co, is built to evoke a lived-in south Mumbai apartment, with curved forms, brass, timber, terrazzo, vintage lighting, a library lounge, an open kitchen, and a terrace overlooking Churchgate station.

Sanji’s, Bandra West

Sanji’s is the more playful alter ego of chef Sanjana Arora (of La Folie), built around the things she wants to eat for comfort: warm cookies, flaky croissants, fudgy chocolate cake, banana bread, and ice-cream sundaes. Her Bandra bake shop draws on her childhood memories, including the pressure-cooker cakes her grandmother made, her mother’s jam-and-cola cake, pineapple nougat cake from the Taj, Gaylords’ canteen bakes, and the ice-cream sundaes at Right Place. The nostalgia gets turned into things like the Jam Toastie Cookie, Mr. Pista with pistachio ganache, Baby Crème Brûlée Custard Cookie and Sobo Chic Choc, while the Scoop Cakes include Fruit Trifle, Sanji’s Tiramisu, Bandra Banoffee, and Papa’s Pineapple Nougat. There are also proper pastry-school bakes, including a salted butter croissant and a JB chutney croissant (inspired by the sandwich outside the eponymous school gate) that we just can’t get over. The point is everyday indulgence: a cookie, cake or sundae because it’s Wednesday

The Blondie House, Versova

Blondie and Janu have moved in together in Versova to make The Blondie House, with interiors that take cues from Japanese hospitality and Scandinavian design, featuring concrete, wood, marble, ceramics, and greenery. The multi-level space has an all-day cafe and bakery, a dedicated matcha omakase, a community table, a library, and spaces for readings, workshops, and tastings. The food moves between the two brands: Eggs Japo Style with miso butter, OG Blondie Avo Toast, pretzel with miso honey butter, and yaki udon sit alongside Janu’s Pani Puri, raj kachori, and truffle cheese dosa, made with benne dosa, three cheeses, and white truffle oil. The bakery turns out a pecan miso croissant crown, matcha strawberry tiffin, sesame tart, and pineapple and pandan religieuse.

Pastel × Nova, Bandra West

Pastel is tucked into a Portuguese bungalow in Chimbai Village, Bandra, and in keeping with its name, has a special corner for pastel de nata, the famous Portuguese egg custard tart pastry. Founded by twins Yash and Simran Advani alongside head chef Supriya Asgaokar, the bakery and all-day cafe features a bread bar, fresh pastries, coffee, and familiar formats that let the baking take the spotlight. There are chargrilled chicken and classic egg sandos, a loaded French toast, and a rotating selection of breads baked in-house. And Nova Gelato next door has a dedicated shop-in-shop with a flavour-driven affogato bar that pairs the warm bakery side of the operation with something bracing and bittersweet. The idea is: bread and coffee in the morning, sandwiches and all-day plates later, gelato anytime.

The Alter Ego, Bandra West

The Alter Ego in Bandra is technically one restaurant but with a split personality. Downstairs, Blanco is the easygoing all-day space, built around comfort and neighbourhood dining. Its menu takes familiar things and nudges them: truffle edamame upma, a crispy potato-waffle Borough Breakfast, Bombay Poach with confit garlic achar, and a grilled cheese with an Indo-Ethiopian spice blend. Upstairs, Noir gets more exploratory and eclectic in its range, with a central bar and dishes that run global techniques through an Indian filter. There’s sol kadhi ceviche, Tuk Tuk (which channels Sindhi kadhi through a French technique), and Bombay Wellington, where English pastry meets Bombay curry. If you book the 10-seat private room, Eclipse, you can order from both menus.

Vanilla Miel, Lower Parel

Vanilla Miel has opened its second cafe at the quite lovely plaza level of the brand-new Lodha Signet in Lower Parel. But it’s not a mere branch. The menu has been significantly expanded to make the dessert-and-chocolate brand a more complete all-day spot running from brunch to supper. VM’s sweets remain undeniably satisfying, like the Sienna, an almond tart with dark chocolate ganache, salted crunch, and chocolate mousse, and Pistachio, which pairs 55 per cent chocolate with pistachio praline. There are also Maxime Chocolate Capsules & Tabs, Praline Sprigs, and Chocolate Lines. The new cafe adds breakfast, savoury plates, speciality coffee, and matcha. Their prawn roll is among the best in the city, and savoury tarts with mushrooms or chicken and leek have a deep, shattering crust with parmesan. The room itself features warm, earthy tones, natural materials, greenery, and diffused light. A yellow ribbon runs through the space as its identifiable brand marker (and privacy screen), and an artwork by Ish Patil takes inspiration from vanilla and honey.

Bombay Island, Andheri

Bombay Island’s new Andheri cafe is the coffee roastery’s next step, with plenty to eat while you’re deep-diving into caffeine. The entirely vegetarian menu runs from breakfast through lunch and coffee breaks, with caprese burrata and Mediterranean sandwiches, hazelnut butter banana sourdough, beet hummus and feta toast, truffle mushroom tagliatelle, falafel bowls, and pomodoro spaghetti. The bakery adds croissants, cookies, and tea cakes. The Andheri space, called Island 2.0: Transformation, takes its design cue from coffee roasting, specifically how green beans are changed by heat, time, and technique. The brand began as a Malad roastery in 2018, so coffee remains at the centre even as the cafe operation grows.

Thought Coffee, Bandra West

Thought Coffee is chasing the five-minute coffee run, with its Bandra flagship offering single-origin coffee and quick service in a grab-and-go format. The coffee list goes beyond the usual espresso-based drinks, with rum-barrel-aged and wine-barrel-aged coffees, Colombian Castillo, matchas, and ube drinks. There’s also a compact food menu of croissants, croissant sandwiches, tea cakes, and other baked goods, plus smoothie bowls. The space is similarly unfussy, with glass walls, rattan pendants, and terrazzo floors. They want you to walk in, get good coffee, leave.

Silk Road Coffee Company, Versova

Silk Road Coffee Company is a 3,500 sq ft, two-level cafe in Versova with room for more than 150 people, an in-house roastery and bakehouse, and enough coffee equipment to satisfy most nerds. There’s an espresso bar, a manual brew bar, and a Slayer machine, alongside Vietnamese coffee, matcha, and coffee-based mocktails. The food is also pretty expansive: fungi tartufo stacks shiitake, portobello, and button mushrooms, avocado, feta, and truffle oil sit on sourdough; burrata shakshuka brings baked eggs, spicy pomodoro, and burrata; and the Crossberg puts jerk chicken in a croissant bun. The bakehouse turns out croissants, pain au chocolat, almond croissants, puffs, and sourdough. Drinks range from Vietberry and brown sugar cinnamon latte to tepache, coconut water espresso, and espresso tonic.

Fitour, Bandra West

In House of Akina’s almost-secret basement, Fitour is the new tasting-menu meal from chef Ashwin Singh, built around a theatrical chef-led format. The 14-seat dining room in Bandra is built around the chef’s own food memories. The name, which we heard he came up with at seven, means ‘intense passion’ in Hindi; the menu draws from his family kitchen in Meerut, his travels, kitchens he has worked in, and ingredients and flavours that have stayed with him. His career has included Taj, Marriott, JW Marriott Kolkata, Gaggan, and Masque. Cocktails and wines by Shrineet Sonsurkar and Pratik Bhargude are developed alongside the menu, with Indian flavours and ingredients carrying through the pairings.

The room adds to his story with handmade terracotta tiles, woven fibres, rippled glass, and a ‘Nostalgia Wall’ of photographs, handwritten recipes, and childhood memories. A display of pickles, ferments, and hand-blended spices sits at the centre. There are no external signs or walk-ins, and one seating per day.

Events and new and limited menus

Masque celebrates 10 with a new menu, Mahalaxmi

Masque turns 10 with The Second Act, a new tasting menu that cooks from memory, with India still at its heart. Chef Varun Totlani’s vegetarian menu includes sea buckthorn pani puri, bhutta miso chai with charred corn, pachi pulusu with red tamarind and kohlrabi, sweet potato papad with rassa and chewy celeriac, and khurchan kebab with lotus stem and star fruit. The non-vegetarian menu brings in squid, bombil papad with rassa and trout roe, khurchan kebab with rabbit, ladyfish with clam and pulissery, and BBQ pork with Goan choriz and pao. Both end with masale bhaat, achaar, and chutney, followed by desserts of yoghurt, citrus, jasmine, apple, basundi, and petit fours. Don’t ask us for favourites; we could go on and on.

Three months after it closed for refurbishments, the new absolutely stunning dining room is the kind that makes you want to soak it in and sink into it. Atelier Ashiesh Shah has redesigned Masque around a sequence of spaces, each with its own mood cocoon, with a full-height glass facade putting the kitchen at the centre of the dining room. The entrance leads first into a burl-veneer room before opening into linen walls, marble, deep green, burnt amber and rust. Rathin Barman’s sculpture remains, referencing Mumbai’s cotton mills, while paintings by Pandit Khairnar bring earth colours into the room. A staircase leads to a darker, more decadent space in black and French moiré, with an intimate bar for a final course or drink. The design language takes a distinctly Parisian turn, but know that everything is made in India.

Dashain at Across, Kalaghoda

Dashain (also called Bada Dashain or Vijaya Dashami) is the longest, most significant, and most auspicious festival in Nepal, lasting for 15 days in September or October according to the Hindu lunar calendar. Across is celebrating this time until October 21 with plates like sel roti with cucumber achar, dry anchovy butter, charred tomato and timur pickle; mutton momos with sesame chutney; chicken sekuwa sandeko; rustic duck choila; Himalayan mutton salad; mutton paya with kwati; traditional mutton pakku; country chicken curry; smashed potatoes with timur and seasonal Himalayan saag. There are fish and chicken dishes too, but mutton is the foundation of the specials. The whole point of the fest is abundance, of sharing a meal and the feeling of being well fed at someone’s home, and that’s exactly what the festive specials will be about.

A new menu at 8ish, Nariman Point

Chef Mohammed Touseef Shamsudeen’s new menu at 8ish is called Curious Comfort, which is a remarkably accurate description of what he’s got on the plate. His cooking plays with fermentation, preservation, curing, and pickling, turning familiar forms into stranger, more interesting ones. There’s an unstoppable liver pâté ghotala with smoked egg yolk jam and pav that we’re still dreaming of; cracked tapioca bravas with tomato chilli, smoked toum, and pickled peppers; and a guava miso and citrus salad we want to tip back. Other standouts include a sweet-savoury peanut custard and Sichuan mapo, as well as a prawn ceviche and hazelnut salsa. The Definitely Not Paella and the Chef’s Lunch Crab Fried Rice made us doggy-bag an extra portion. Just the dish names make you want to order one of everything.

The Big Fat Sunday Breakfast at The Nutcracker, Lower Parel

The Nutcracker is bringing back its long Sunday breakfast with The Big Fat Sunday Breakfast, a weekly lingering family-style spread at Palladium. There are large skillets of shakshouka and salli eggs, baskets of fresh bakes and spreads, trays of mezze, a live cookie station, a cereal trolley and a DIY bagel station with house-made dips. Crossword puzzles and light games are part of the morning too.

Every Sunday from 9 am to 11 am; ₹1,600++ per person

Cocktail omakase at The Hedonist at Fairmont, Andheri

The Fifth Chapter at Fairmont’s The Hedonist is a five-course cocktail omakase, with dishes designed to keep pace with the drinks. Rendezvous in the Rainforest takes a cue from the Amazon and comes with aloe vera ceviche, guava leche de tigre, and cacao-chilli crisps; Celebrar La Vida looks to Spain, paired with charred dates and smoked bamboo shoot; and Mood for Mariachi brings Mexico to the table with tacos dorados and pico de gallo. There’s also Pearls of Wisdom inspired by the Caspian Sea, with sour cream shards, candied citrus, and dill dust. Other cocktails include Kopi Cat, Confucius Says, “Tea”!, Chasing Aurora, Souks of Marrakech, Waking Up in Hokkaido, Truffle Hunter, Smoke & Mirrors, and Brighter Than Sunshine, with pairings ranging from sangria olives with rosemary brodo and a whipped jasmine tea cloud, to three-year-aged Parmesan with 12-year-aged balsamic, twice-fried plantains with chilli-pomegranate glaze and pastel de nata.

Fridays, 7:30 pm onwards; ₹4,999++ per person

Tóa 66 × Tourism Authority of Thailand, Churchgate

Tóa 66’s seventh chapter is a seven-course vegetarian tasting menu in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand that travels through different regions. The menu begins in northern Thailand with miang kham, then moves through central and northeastern flavours, featuring Thai-style tofu, nam jib jaew with grilled sticky rice and tofu, khao phod thod, green curry with bamboo shoots and coconut milk, and kway tiew tom yam boraan. Dessert is khanom tuay followed by chocolate chilli crisp. The drinks are inspired by night markets, island-hopping, Muay Thai, and festivals.

Until November; dinner Tuesday to Sunday; lunch Saturday and Sunday; ₹8,500++ per person

Set lunch at Fireback, Lower Parel

There is more to Fireback’s new weekday three-course Thai set lunch than the typical curries. The vegetarian menu starts with a pineapple salad with tamarind and peanuts, corn fritters, som tam or stir-fried king mushroom with chilli jam. Of course, everyone expects it to be followed by green curry, but this one has corn and heart of palm. Also on there: massaman pumpkin curry, tofu krapow or phad Thai. Non-vegetarians can choose three-flavour prawns, chicken gorlae, grilled chicken salad, massaman lamb or chicken krapow. Dessert is cashewnut pudding, water chestnut rubies or grilled banana with Thai crispy roti.

₹1,295++, only on weekdays

Sunday Unbrunch at Sorena, Bandra West

Sorena’s Sunday Unbrunch has a geographical sweep that could give you whiplash, but at least it is clear about its intentions: it offers five culinary zones in one afternoon. Move from Mumbai and its pani puri, pav bhaji, and raj kachori to Istanbul and its hummus, labneh, and souvlaki, then to Tokyo for ramen and gyoza, and over to New York for hot dogs and tacos, and finally to Sicily for Sicilian pizza with a live pasta station. Also included in this spin-the-globe spread: okonomiyaki, nachos, smash sliders, burrito bowls, biryani, risottos, and ravioli. On the no-visa-needed dessert table, the same five destinations are represented by tiramisu éclair, baklava baked cheesecake, hojicha pudding, and banoffee tart.

Sundays, noon to 5 pm, ₹2,750++ with non-alcoholic beverages, or ₹5,500++ with alcohol

DELHI

Openings

Nām: Modern Thai, Hauz Khas

Nām puts the kitchen on display with its 18-foot dining bar facing the open kitchen, with a full show of wok, fire, and steam as part of the visual and aural experience. Chef Pratinav Pratap Singh’s modern Thai menu sticks to the cuisine’s foundational blocks, such as kaffir lime, tamarind, chilli, coconut and galangal, but puts them through fire-led cooking and modern technique. The 50-cover Hauz Khas restaurant is warm rather than formal, with natural materials, a low ceiling, and an ’80s disco soundtrack.

The Dark Side, GK 2 

Delhi’s first underground restaurant is hidden below GK-2’s M-Block Market and it has built its entire character around the Seven Deadly Sins. Chef Aditya Mohan’s food is less fine-dining precision and more post-shift craving: Expect chef Adi’s tiramisu, BBQ chicken wings, mac and cheese with chorizo, the Anthony Bourdain Sandwich, and an unapologetic grilled cheese sandwich. The seven signature cocktails follow the same serial sins logic. Unlike its sister bar Refuge, where precision and spirit-forward technique are everything, The Dark Side is deliberately looser: indulgent food and easy-drinking cocktails designed to keep the night long.

BENGALURU

Ladakh comes to Nila, Halasuru

Nila’s menu has turned to its third “chapter”, traversing Ladakh and the high-altitude cold deserts of India, showcasing the region’s landscape in a 12-course tasting menu. The ingredients tell the story of the region’s altitude and its bounty: Raktse Karpo apricots from around 12,000 feet, Ladakhi turnips, Zanskar buckwheat, khambir bread, churpi, watermill-ground tsampa, black peas, and Ladakhi skyu. Preservation is central in the area, so apricots are dried, made into fruit leather, and pickled. Sham Valley apples, juniper, and walnuts carry the feast forward. The final course brings back apricot with walnuts and wild chamomile foraged at nearly 18,000 feet.

Bar Find × Circa 11, Indiranagar

India’s travelling bar is stopping in Bengaluru for three months, taking over Circa 11 from October 9 to January 10. Bar Find began as a hidden bar in a Victorian building in Kolkata and has since travelled to Mumbai. Its Bengaluru chapter brings a new cocktail menu by co-founder Matteo Ciarpaglini alongside some Mumbai favourites. The drinks include Spumante Marino with tomato water, marine cordial, olives, and clarified bergamot; Gilda Martini, inspired by the Spanish pintxo; and Ceviche Mary, with vodka, leche de tigre, and flower-and-corn cordial. Circa 11’s seasonal food menu runs alongside it, featuring grilled confit cabbage, lamb tostada, red snapper ceviche, biang biang noodles, and seafood orzo.

The Noodle Road at Shiro, UB City

Shiro UB City is taking diners on a journey through seven Asian countries with The Noodle Road, a month-long festival highlighting broth, wok, and sizzler preparations. There’s a lobster bisque noodle with fresh egg noodles, butter-poached lobster and roasted-shell bisque; char kway teow and dan dan noodles; sizzling kung pa siew prawn noodles served on a hot plate; wild mushroom and truffle shoyu ramen; and gochujang japchae. Tableside service is a big part of it all, from broths being poured to sizzlers being finished in front of diners, and there’s also a dining passport to collect stamps as you work your way through the seven-country route.

Goonj, Indiranagar

Goonj is an ‘Indian food house’ and cocktail destination on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar that’s driven by fond memories. The 75-seater’s cocktails are divided into Nostalgia and Colour, with drinks such as Nazaakat, Sawan, Alaap, Murki, Darbaar, Raaga, Jugalbandi, and Antara drawing on monsoons, royal courts, spice boxes, gardens, family kitchens, and old Indian melodies. The Colour section moves through Saffron, Gulal, Asmaan, Hariyali, Kohinoor, and Sooraj. Technique comes in strong, with clarification, distillation, infusion, carbonation, foams, and house-made cordials. Goonj’s India-modern interiors follow the same idea, taking familiar colours, textures, and motifs and turning them contemporary.

GOA

The Forresta Kinaro, Ashwem-Mandrem

The Forresta Kinaro is a 35,000 sq ft coastal behemoth on the Ashwem-Mandrem stretch, designed to take you from breakfast through lunch, sundowners, and late-night drinking without moving much. The menu follows a catchall “food without borders” brief, with kingfish ceviche, prawn tempura Koliwada, butter and chimichurri prawns with poi, crispy chilli chonak, and murgh nawabi tikka, alongside sushi, dumplings, grills, Indian dishes, pasta, and pizza. The cocktails have a Goa-ish philosophy, called The Plan Was Different, with names such as Detour and Last One. Goonj’s design moves from coastal-colonial arches and verandahs to sea-facing spaces and an open terrace.

Bloody Dangerous, Assagaon

Bloody Dangerous is the Goa bar made for existential dread. The entrance runs through a tunnel of nearly 2,000 lights before opening into Siddharth Kerkar’s world of pulsing hearts, flowers, bodies, and a deathbed buried in blooms. The cocktails, by Arnold Hou (Dali & Gala, Room One, Drop Dead Sexy), are complex constructions made easy to drink: Jigsaw combines tequila, mezcal, strawberry, and tomato; Dirty Dick is a Michelada rebuilt with house-made hop liquor, lacto hot sauce, and ‘nuclear’ tomato salt; Dangerous Disco puts gin in frozen melon, yuzu, and green tea. The American-Asian food (Priyanka Sardessai of Larder & Folk alongside chef Yong of Dali & Gala) is built for soaking it all up: Dirty Chips with smoked duck, tuna crudo with avocado crema and cherry aguachile, beef tartare with kimchi jam, and grilled chicken with mango hot sauce.

HYDERABAD

Crobuns at Du Jour, Jubilee Hills

Du Jour is a 15-seater Hyderabad bake space built around the crobun, a croissant-bun hybrid made with the delicious combination of slow fermentation, long resting, and 84 per cent French butter. The flavours range from signature chocolate, tiramisu, lemon drizzle, and chocolate and salted caramel to banana walnut and caramel, passion fruit crème brûlée, and pistachio and raspberry, with seasonal versions including mango caviar, chocolate and strawberry, and strawberry cheesecake. The savoury side has cheese and olive and sundried tomato quiche. Coffee and matcha get riffs like salted caramel latte, vanilla bean matcha, honey lemonade cold brew, coconut Vietnamese coffee, raspberry long black, and mango cold foam matcha.

The All American Diner, Hitec City

The All American Diner is back, and Hyderabad gets the first new outpost. The Delhi original opened in 2001 and closed in 2023; the new diner at The Loft, RMZ Nexity, revives its chrome-and-checkerboard, cherry-red-booth aesthetic, complete with a vintage Wurlitzer jukebox. The all-day menu runs its diner fantasy from pancakes, waffles and eggs Benedict to burgers, chicken and waffles, pizza, Old Bay garlic shrimp, Cajun-spiced salmon and barbecued baby back ribs. There’s proper diner dessert, too: pecan pie, New York cheesecake, and banana split, alongside full-fat shakes including banana split, cookies ’n’ cream, and Snickers. Cocktails include a creamsicle highball, a coffee-and-cola Old Fashioned, a popcorn Manhattan, and a mixed berry cheesecake martini. Last we heard, 40-plus people are lining up at 8:15 am.

JAIPUR

Chor Bizarre, Tonk Road

Chor Bizarre has opened in Jaipur at InterContinental Jaipur Tonk Road, bringing its famously eclectic interiors and regional Indian menu to a new city. Kashmiri food and Wazwan remain central to the restaurant’s identity, alongside a Jaipur-specific menu and cocktail programme. And so, there are tabak maaz, goshtaba, dum aloo, and haaq, alongside dishes from elsewhere in India: salli zardaloor murgi, junglee maas, jackfruit moilee, jhakiya aloo, Himachali lakhori khumb, slow-cooked martaban ke chhole, keema ghotala, and the restaurant’s famous sharabi kababi tikka masala. There are three biryanis, including Kolkata murgh, Hyderabadi gosht and subz dum, plus a long vegetarian menu and plenty of chaat. The bar raids the Indian pantry as well: Pink City Spritz with tequila, spiced rose, and hibiscus; mango margarita with aam, coriander, and chilli; khus and mango gimlet; tamarind martini; Kashmiri kahwa punch; saffron mule; walnut and coconut Old Fashioned; and a smoked hazelnut sour. Happy hours run 4 pm to 7 pm, with chholey bhature, kathi rolls, and pocket paranthas.

CHANDIGARH

The Back Room, Sector 34

Chandigarh now has India’s first pour-only cocktail bar, and The Back Room has taken the city’s renowned grid literally. Cocktails are ordered using three-digit codes based on spirit, method, and flavour profile, then batched, rested, sealed in large bottles, and poured at the table. There is no bar-top theatre, shaking, or stirring. The food’s been designed backwards from the drinks, with chef Megha Kohli and Noah Barnes building punchy, globally inflected tapas around the glass: pani puri is a Mexican agua chile, jhol momos that come with sambal or tom kha, chilli-coconut corn ribs, plancha prawns, and burrata with charred peppers. The room, by Jean-Louis Deniot, is retro-futurist, with a racetrack-shaped bar, dark stone, brass, and a mirror-black canopy.

PUNE

Mejwani Maharashtrachi at Novotel Pune, Nagar Road

Mejwani Maharashtrachi at Novotel Pune Nagar Road, on till October 12, moves from the Konkan and Malvani coast, with coconut, kokum, seafood and prawn preparations, to Kolhapur’s tambda and pandhra rassa with mutton, chicken, and bhakri. Vidarbha and Saoji’s roasted masalas and serious spice come in too, while Khandesh and Marathwada contribute bhakri, thecha, and regional dals. Pune and western Maharashtra get bharli vangi, thalipeeth, kothimbir vadi, alu vadi, and usal. Maharashtra’s varied street food gets a shoutout in dishes like misal pav and pav bhaji. The meal wraps with puran poli and ukadiche modak, with piyush, taak, panha, and sol kadhi on the side.

MULTIPLE CITIES

Woodside Inn Oktoberfest, Mumbai and Bengaluru

Woodside Inn is going all in on Oktoberfest this year, with its biggest celebration yet running across its three Mumbai outlets and Indiranagar in Bengaluru until October 25. The Bavarian-ish menu starts with cream and onion or Korean BBQ-spiced pretzel knots, followed by crusty potatoes with crispy onions and creamy obatzda, beer-battered gherkin fritters with honey mustard sour cream (which we now want permanently on the menu), and gochujang chicken schnitzel bites with dill remoulade and shaved Manchego. The larger plates get properly pubby: beer and cheese rigatoni with Helles lager-spiked mozzarella-cheddar cream and toasted pretzel crumb, and a Bavarian hot dog with apple-pickle slaw, mustard aioli, and currywurst ketchup.

The taps feature expressions of lager, a challenge that’s been well met. Mumbai gets Hell Meister, a Helles lager brewed in-house by Woodside Brews, along with a Kaiser Kölsch by 2 Down Beer Co, Doppelbock (a German Lager by Bira), Fest and Furious, which is Festbier by Bombay Duck Brewing, and finally Forward March-Zen, which is a Märzen by KA Brew House.

Bengaluru’s Indiranagar outlet pours Hell Meister by Geist, Kaiser Kölsch by Red Rhino, Dubbel Trouble, which is a Belgian Dubbel by Flying Fox, Forward March-Zen by Toit, and Golden Fox, a Hefeweizen by Flying Fox. Dessert is a Danube Wave tres leches cake in Mumbai, while Bengaluru gets a Black Forest tart. Food and beer run daily, noon to 1 am.

Restaurant Week India, pan-India

Restaurant Week India is back for its autumn edition, and this time it has gone properly national. The 17-day dining festival runs October 16 to November 1 across 10 cities, with more than 100 restaurants participating. There are three formats this time: prix-fixe menus, dessert pop-ups, and limited “One Service Only” drops. The first edition of the revived RWI, in April, ran across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Bengaluru; the autumn edition considerably widens the map. Mumbai’s line-up includes La Panthera, Ekaa, Hakkasan, O Pedro, Fireback, Tóa 66, and Yauatcha, alongside restaurants in Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Goa, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Chandigarh. The three-course prix-fixe menus start at ₹1,300 for lunch and ₹1,600 for dinner. Reservations open on the District app on October 10 for Kotak cardholders and October 12 for the rest.