Where to eat this November... in Mumbai

For everyone who has been asking us where to eat lately, Mumbai’s food scene has enough new spots to keep us stuffed all month. There’s Gujarati home cooking in Juhu, family recipes drawing on Lahore, the Afghan frontier and old Bombay in Bandra, and a dim sum favourite that steps into BKC with an izakaya twist. A cosy new Italian restaurant has tucked itself away on Carter Road, while Juhu now has a rooftop for sundowners, seafood paella, and cocktails. 

The city is also getting fully festive, so we’ve found three rather good alternatives to the usual mithai box: Turkish baklava and other treats that travel beautifully; Lucknow-inspired mithai biscuits from a luxury catering company; and a patisserie collection from a Cantonese classic giving mooncakes and macarons a Diwali spin.

From slow-cooked haleem to bajri pizza, there’s plenty to get through this season of overeating. Go on, share this list with all your friends.

New Openings

Makaan, Juhu

Karan Shah, of the Swati Snacks family, has teamed up with restaurateur Samyukta Nair for Makaan, a new vegetarian restaurant in Juhu devoted to Gujarati home cooking. The idea is to bring the generosity of a Gujarati household to the table, and the menu has fun with the familiar and the unexpected. There’s locho, the soft, steamed Surat speciality, served with butter, spices, sev, and onion, besides panki, pudla, dahi batata puri, and fada khichdi. Then there are community faves like bajri pizza, Gujju falafel, and shrikhand soft serve. Mains include satpadi roti with gatta shak and vatana muthiya with pudina roti. The menu will change with the seasons, bringing in ingredients such as ponk, kand, surti papdi, and green tuvar when available. The drinks are firmly in the home-style camp, with pudina chaas, limbu pani, sugarcane juice, and tender coconut with malai and sabja.

Pizzeria Americano, Kala Ghoda

The team behind Americano and Otra has entered the pizza scene in a big way. Chef Alex Sanchez and restaurateur Mallyeka Watsa have opened Pizzeria Americano in Kala Ghoda. The pizzas are about 12 inches, a bit bigger than the Neapolitan ones at Americano, and have their own style: crisp on the outside, airy and tender on the inside. Sanchez says he makes sure not to pile on too many toppings so the dough stands out.

Sanchez spent months refining this dough. It’s a five-day process: a poolish, or pre-ferment, is made the day before the dough itself, which then ferments for another four days. It isn’t sourdough but uses a little yeast. The aim is a crust that has a crisp, blistered exterior and a tender, airy centre without being either cracker-thin or pillowy Neapolitan. The menu features 15 pizzas with playful names and combinations, some inspired by comfort foods. The Cubano, for example, takes cues from the Miami sandwich, with roast pork, plantain, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, and yellow mustard. The Golden State is a simpler pie, with San Marzano tomato sauce, burrata, and basil. There’s more than just pizza: salads, cold plates, thrice-cooked fries, meatballs al forno, chicken parmigiana, and spinach-and-cheese ravioli.

Sanchez says the goal is to make familiar dishes really well, not reinvent them. PA is like a classic American pizza parlour menu but with an obsessed chef’s attention to detail. Even the Fior di Latte soft-serve sundaes use a house-made base. With an open kitchen and a long counter, diners can watch the pizzas being made up close. Upstairs is a more traditional dining room. There are cocktails, both classics and signatures, on hand, along with a lovely wine list. Reservations are already stacked for all of this month, we hear.

Bareekk, Marine Drive

After 55 years, Kebab Korner at the InterContinental Marine Drive has gotten a fresh look, a new menu, and a new name: The Bareekk Experience by KK. The goal: to keep the classic dishes that have brought people back for generations while giving the old favourites a modern update. At the helm of this transformation is Panchali Mahendra, CEO of Atelier House Hospitality, which also operates SoBo 20 at the hotel's lobby level. Her POA is to keep what diners love about KK and make everything around it finer. The 24-hour dal makhani and the mutton seekh kebab, both on the menu since the restaurant opened in 1971, remain unchanged. Head chef Mayank Kannauji, who has worked at Indian Accent in Delhi and Revolver in Singapore, is introducing new dishes such as a kickass cold shakarkandi chaat with miso saunth chutney, wood-fired paneer-e-khaas, saunfiya salmon tikka, a silky lamb shank nihari that pairs beautifully with khameeri roti, and lobster pepper masala. Desserts are also getting a makeover, with khasta rasmalai hidden under slightly salty flaky pastry, and a new take on motichoor laddoo. The bar now offers five Indian-inspired mules, including flavours like jamun and black salt, thandai, and guava with green chilli. The dining room has been redesigned, featuring an MF Husain painting and a lantern-lit terrace overlooking the Arabian Sea.

Late Checkout, Bandra West

After Lower Parel, Late Checkout has opened its second Mumbai location in the old Monkey Bar spot on Waterfield Road. The 6,000 sq ft space features a glasshouse that is designed for relaxed brunches, a large island bar, a private dining room, and a self-check-in counter where you can grab a mini cocktail and some popcorn while you wait for your table. The menu leans more toward bar food than the original central Mumbai spot, with lots of options: fries topped with all manner of things, from caviar and lobster to steak, 48-hour fermented sourdough pizzettes, truffle brie bao buns, char siu pork belly, black cod and lobster dumplings, and crispy soft-shell crab in house-made steamed buns. For bigger appetites, there’s French onion rigatoni, duck agnolotti, and miso-baked cod. The cocktails are inspired by nostalgia, with drinks like Gully Mango Picante and LC Mixedtape, which mixes spiced coffee liqueur with gondhoraj lime. Coffee lovers will find a serious coffee programme featuring beans from Karnataka’s coffee belt.

Madwater Brewery, Dadar

Mumbai has a new 10,000 sq ft not-quite-‘micro’ brewery and taproom at Ruby Tower, with an in-house brewhouse and a kitchen led by executive chef Gurudatt Sawant. The beer list spans about 15 brews, each with its own personality, from a 2.8% ABV low-cal beer to Cask No 9, a peated whisky ale. Look out for Dark Ritual, a cocoa-rich stout; No Nonsense Pils, made using traditional horizontal fermenters; and Smoke Break, brewed with beechwood-smoked malt for notes of bacon, barbecue, and campfire. The food menu is an equally eclectic affair. There’s properly crunchy beer-battered fish and chips, a buttermilk-fried chicken burger with duck sauce and gochujang mayo, Tokyo Tap yakitori, char siu-style pork belly, and New York-style pizzas made with 48-hour-hydrated dough. Then it gets even more wide-ranging, with nawabi galouti, rajma, mapo-style dishes, and an unmissable biryani. Chef Gurudatt calls his approach ‘Caviar to the Multitudes’: thoughtful cooking without fuss. The space has a beer hall and amphitheatre downstairs, with a more relaxed, light-filled room upstairs. The Busride Studio is responsible for its stunning, brutalist ode to Bombay. Check out our story here.

Nami, Bandra

Nami is a little different from the usual bar opening. Here, music takes centre stage. This 25-seater vinyl listening bar in Bandra encourages you to really listen, not just let the music fade into the background. The space features a cosy dance floor, a high-quality hi-fi setup with an Indonesian sound system, a rotary mixer from Berlin, and Technics turntables. The music ranges from jazz and soul to disco, trip-hop, house, and electronica. The cocktail menu, designed by Singapore’s Sago House, is organised by frequency. You’ll find drinks like Springleaf, a gin highball with shiso and curry leaf, and Hirajoshi, a savoury martini with kombu, sake, and house-made pickles. Chef Akanksha’s Itameshi menu blends Italian techniques with Japanese flavours. Dishes include pasta fritto with whipped ricotta, wasabi, and chilli honey; chashu crocchette with braised pork and burnt ginger; and chilli-spiked tofu mousse with rice crackers. Stop by for a drink and a snack, stay for the music. Read our full review here. 

Ben’s Cookies, Kala Ghoda

Ben’s chunky, gooey cookies now have a home in the city. Ben’s Cookies has opened its first south Mumbai store in Kala Ghoda. This Oxford-founded British brand, famous for its freshly baked cookies, offers all 13 flavours in its cosy space, including milk chocolate chunk, double chocolate chunk, white chocolate and macadamia, and dark chocolate and ginger. You can also enjoy coffee, ice cream, and soft serve if you like a treat with your cookies. The store seats 10 to 12 people, and you can order cookies, coffee, and gift tins on Swiggy and Zomato.

For its first Diwali in India, the brand has created a festive gifting collection with cookie tins and boxes that include three new flavours: cranberry and white chocolate, matcha and white chocolate, and eggless double chocolate. Companies ordering 100 boxes or more can add custom sleeves and gift tags. The collection is available in stores and through online enquiries, with delivery in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

Trufello, Bandra West

Behind the bustle of Carter Road, Truffello is a tiny Italian restaurant with room for just 15 to 20 diners, a slightly clandestine atmosphere, and a menu built around fresh pasta, pizza, and Italian comfort food. There are some interesting things coming out of the kitchen: rainbow ravioli filled with stracciatella (₹685), Truffello’s spaghetti, tossed in mushroom stock, butter, Parmesan emulsion, and truffle (₹750), and crab chilli tortellini (₹750). Pizzas include a black garlic seafood version with mixed seafood and a frutti di mare topping (₹750). End sweet with a tiramisu or an espresso martini (₹345).

Flyt at Hyatt Centric Juhu, Juhu

Juhu just got a new spot for sundowners. Flyt, at Hyatt Centric Juhu Mumbai, is a poolside lounge with a timber deck, cabanas, daybeds, and a circular bar. The vibe takes inspiration from the food and drink cultures of Spain and Latin America. The menu features everything from tapas and tacos to bigger plates, like three-cheese croquetas with jalapeño aioli, gambas al ajillo with baguette, Baja cod tacos, and lamb birria. You’ll also find a seafood paella packed with prawns, squid, mussels, scallops, and octopus, plus lamb chops with chimichurri and romesco. The bar serves up five signature cocktails, including L’ama on Flyt, a tequila drink with jalapeño brine, cucumber and lime, and Mariposa, which mixes tequila, grapefruit, and blue pea tea. For dessert, there’s a gelato cart and chocolate mousse.

Huzur, Bandra

Nihari, haleem, kadhai and pulao with whole rib are just some of the dishes at Huzur, a new 45-seater in Bandra that brings together the flavours of Lahore, the Afghan frontier, and old Bombay. The restaurant is by restaurateurs Zareen Baig and Atiq Kapadia, with Baig guiding the kitchen. Many of the recipes come from her family and from food memories she shares with her mother from Mumbai’s streets. Here, you’ll find slow-cooked, meat-focused dishes: the haleem, paya, and nihari are cooked overnight, and the haleem is finished the traditional way using a long wooden ghotni. The kadhai is both cooked and served in the same pot. The menu also features chooza tikka, Lahori nashta, and a unique kulfi soft serve. The 1,000 sq ft space feels cosy and welcoming, with an outdoor courtyard, a fountain, and Urdu phrases in the decor. There’s a tea counter and a takeaway window if you’re in a hurry. A meal for two costs about ₹2,000.

The Dimsum Room, BKC

The Dimsum Room, famous in Kala Ghoda for its handmade dim sum, has opened its first suburban branch at One BKC with a new Japanese izakaya-inspired look. While the Cantonese classics are still on the menu, you’ll now also find ramen, tempura, skewers, and small plates meant for sharing. Highlights include salmon tataki, chicken karaage, tebasaki chicken wings, prawn tempura, and pork shogayaki, along with vegetarian dishes like mushroom and corn korokke and tofu ponzu. You can also try Sichuan-style malatang, a spicy, numbing broth made with peppercorns and fermented chilli bean paste. The bar serves coffee, tea, and house-made sodas during the day, and offers Japanese whisky, sake, shochu, and cocktails in the evening. The TDR Highball, for instance, is made with Toki Japanese whisky, coffee, coconut, and soda. The open kitchen features stations for dim sum, noodles, wok dishes, and izakaya specialities. Meals for two start at ₹3,000 plus taxes.

New menus and specials

Tasting menu 7: Growing Up Indian at Ekaa, Fort

Chef Niyati Rao’s seventh tasting menu is full of delightful stories told with a sense of glee and even mischief. Growing Up Indian comes as a Balbharati schoolbook filled with colourful drawings of childhood moments: a family picnic, a Sunday Udupi meal, a child running out to buy dhaniya-pudina. Even the course names are a treat: Beta Beta!!!, Ice Cream or Peas?, Complan Kid or Horlicks Kid?, Danish Cookie or Sewing Kit? The book is such a fun, nostalgic detail that you’ll want to keep it as a collectible. The food is just as playful. Chai Bhajiya, with gram-flour mousse, bhajiya dust, kurdai crisp, and corn butter tea, is something I’d gladly eat three of on a rainy afternoon. Curd Rice From Many Summers Ago is a savoury ice cream with small balls of pucker-worthy unripe mango and cucumber. Sick Day Khichdi, with rabbit pickle and sesame curd, feels like khichdi that Lewis Carroll might imagine. We’ll stop with the spoilers here; go find out about the Complan vs Horlicks dish yourself.

One Night in Kowloon at Yauatcha, BKC

Step into 1960s Hong Kong with Yauatcha’s One Night in Kowloon. The always-packed BKC restaurant’s new limited menu is said to draw from the street-food traditions, lost recipes, and shared food culture of the old Kowloon Walled City. Yauatcha puts a modern Cantonese spin on classic neighbourhood dishes. Try the Typhoon Shelter prawns in spicy, crispy garlic, a nod to Hong Kong’s well-known garlic seafood, or the stuffed chicken wings with glutinous rice. There’s also sautéed chicken with shimeji mushrooms on a crisp rice crust. Here’s something unusual: pear with avocado fruit gao inspired by the fruit-shaped baos once found in Hong Kong teahouses, and the truffle seafood shui mai. End your meal with a creamy custard tart. The cocktail menu is also inspired by Kowloon at night, featuring drinks like The Neon Street, Dirty Chai, and Typhoon Highball. This menu is available until December 15.

Rajasthani festive menu, undhiyu, and ubadiyu at Varsoo, Chowpatty

Varsoo by Pinky Chandan Dixit is celebrating the festive season with a menu devoted to Rajasthani cooking, alongside two winter favourites that inspire road trips to farms in Gujarat: undhiyu and ubadiyu. The Rajasthani spread starts with kesar thandai and ‘icy-spicy chaas’, followed by lilva kachori and a kurkura karela salad. Mains include paneerwale gatte ki subzi with ajwain parathas, rasgolle ke kofte with pyaz ki rotis, and makhana aur mutter ki subzi with malai parathas. There’s also gatte ka pulao with kadhi, and saunfwale karare malpua to finish. The Surat-style undhiyu brings together winter vegetables, purple yam, methi muthia, raw bananas, coconut, coriander, and green garlic and is best eaten with puris. Ubadiyu, the smoky, spicy, vegetable-laden dish inspired by Gujarat’s farming traditions, combines seasonal vegetables, Surti papdi, herbs, and nettle leaves in a rustic preparation and is served as is and with chhaas. Both seasonal specials are available to eat in or order at home, so you can have an ubadiyu picnic without leaving city limits.

Bandra Born × Angry Toast, Bandra West

Gresham Fernandes (chef partner at Bandra Born) is taking over Angry Toast for a two-week collaboration this November. The little red-walled cafe on Waterfield Road is famous for its snackable wee toasts, and Fernandes is bringing his very own irreverent, Bandra-born cooking to the format. It’s a four-course menu with Indian flavours, cheese, smoke, and, as you’d expect from the pairing, a definite amount of attitude. There are two veg options: roasted red pumpkin and carrot with podi butter and feta, and sweet corn with fermented habanero and aged cheddar. The non-veg offering is Gresham’s mother’s curried chicken and pulled lamb with blackened coconut and kachumber. It’s a meeting of two very different Bandra businesses in a very Bandra way. Even Ziko, AT’s mascot, has apparently given the go-ahead. It’s from November 16 to December 1.

Lite tasting menu at Indian Accent, BKC

Fine dining within your calorie budget? Indian Accent now has a Lite tasting menu (930 kcal for vegetarians, 975 kcal for non-vegetarians). The menu is all baked and non-fried, with a variety of light dishes and options for those with specific dietary requirements (sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and keto). In BKC, the vegetarian menu starts with a moonglet with masala tofu and pea tendrils, followed by a paneer pinwheel with coriander pesto and baby cucumber achaar. For mains, you can choose between the masala wild mushrooms with water chestnut and paper roast dosai or the seasonal saag with baked paneer and sour onion. The non-veg menu has chicken khurchan with moonglet, black garlic salmon with sweetcorn bhel, and a choice of lamb shank with water spinach or braised prawns with ivy gourd poriyal. Both menus finish with a Haji Ali-inspired custard apple cream. As you can tell, it’s a much lighter way to enjoy Indian Accent without missing the tasting menu experience.

Islands of Bombay cocktail menu at Blah!, BKC and Santacruz

Blah! celebrates five years with Islands of Bombay, an eight-cocktail menu inspired by the islands, neighbourhoods, and stories that make up the city. There’s Colaba Trade Wind, with Hapusa gin, pomelo, and lemongrass vodka; Mazagaon Dockside, with aged rum, date, sesame orgeat, and pineapple; and Parel Mill Miso, a savoury, buttery combination of miso, brioche, and butter-washed bourbon. Mahim Coconut Grove brings together tender coconut, pear, and elderflower, while Worli Salt Tide takes a salt-kissed turn with sake, rum, and citrus. The cleverest bit is the menu itself: laser-cut into the shape of Bombay, in navy acrylic with gold lettering, each section maps a cocktail to the part of the city that inspired it, providing a little geography lesson with your drink. Available at the BKC and Santacruz outlets.

Sacchetti at Pomodoro, Bandra West

Pomodoro’s From Our Kitchen: Team Edition is back with its third instalment. Every month, one team member is allowed to go a little wild and create their dream pasta. This month the experimental dish is sacchetti, little pasta purses filled with sun-dried tomato pesto, served in a silky celery sauce with parsley and a gentle nuttiness. It’s a new pasta shape on the menu, and a neat way to put a member of the kitchen team in the spotlight. Available until November 15, for ₹700.

Lebanese food festival at The Bayview, Hotel Marine Plaza, Marine Drive

Chef Jameela Ghani brings more than 27 years of experience cooking Lebanese, Syrian, and Middle Eastern food to The Bayview, with a Lebanese food festival running until November 7. Born in Damascus to a Lebanese father and a Syrian mother, Ghani learned to cook from her chef-husband and has worked with hotel groups including Taj, Marriott, and The Orchid. The menu is a generous spread of mezze, grills, and Middle Eastern comfort food. Start with falafel, classic hummus, baba ganoush, and zucchini with tahini and fattoush, before moving on to shish tawook, mutton shish kebabs, and salona lahm, a mutton gravy. There’s also chicken mandi and kabsa dijaj, as well as vegetarian mains such as potato gravy, peas, and fava beans. Sweet tooth? Save room for kunafa, baklava, mahalabia, and um ali. Ghani and her husband were among the early champions of traditional baklava in India, introducing it here in the early 2000s. Until November 7, 7:30 pm to 11 pm; ₹2,800++.

Café Como XO’s Diwali postcard experience and Kulfi & Coffee, Kala Ghoda

Cafe Como XO is bringing back postcards for Diwali with Diwali ki Chitthi Aayi Hai. Write a note to someone you love while you’re at the cafe. They’ll post it for you in time for the festival. It’s a lovely idea, especially now when most of us have forgotten what it feels like to receive anything other than a bill in the post. There’s also a new Kulfi & Coffee pairing with three combinations that put an Indian spin on familiar cafe drinks. Malai kulfi espresso comes with espresso foam, rose petals, and coconut water. Shahi pistachio kulfi Americano pairs pista kulfi and pistachio flakes with an Americano and cold foam. Rose malai kulfi matcha brings together rose-coated malai kulfi, matcha foam, and coconut water.

Festive gifting

Sage & Saffron’s mithai biscuits, pan-India

Sage & Saffron’s Diwali collection brings together the charm of a mithai box and a biscuit tin. This Mumbai-based catering and fine-dining company has crafted a layered sweet inspired by Lucknow’s traditional craftsmanship and block-print designs. Each biscuit features layers of dry fruit lauj and natural fruit gel, placed between two delicate, buttery cookies with detailed artwork. This creative twist on the classic mithai box uses fruit gels to add color and a hint of tartness to the rich nuts and butter biscuits. The six eggless, vegetarian flavors are pistachio, raspberry, and rose; hazelnut, coffee, and orange; almond, apricot, and nutmeg; cashew and coconut; pecan, apple, and cinnamon; and walnut, fig, and date. Made with fruits, nuts, spices, and natural extracts, the collection uses only natural ingredients for colour. The biscuits come in boxes of 12 and are priced at ₹2,500 plus taxes. You can pre-order them through Sage & Saffron on +91 913 601 2030 and 022-4979 7432.

Hurrem’s Diwali gifting boxes, pan-India

If you want something different from the usual mithai box this Diwali, Hurrem’s has a range of festive hampers inspired by Levantine and Turkish sweets. There are 10 hampers in the Celebration Book 2026-27, split into three price ranges. The Indulgent Collection (₹2,500–₹4,750) offers smaller gifts such as snack and chocolate hampers, featuring chocolate baklava, biscotti, kurabiye, and Turkish coffee. The Celebration Collection (₹5,900–₹8,950) features favourites such as baklava, nut kedayif, lokum, fig cookies, and Turkish tea. The Luxury Collection (₹12,000–₹40,000) offers more elaborate options, such as the Krall Hamper, which includes Fistik baklava, stuffed dates, Turkish delight, date ezme, tea, and coffee. You can also create your own box with baklava, Turkish lokum, nut kedayif, biscotti, and sesame barks. For a personal touch, there are custom assortments, monogramming, and special packaging. Find these at Hurrem’s DN Road and Jio World Drive stores, or order online.

Yauatcha × Giggling Monkey Studio’s The Good Fortune Supermarket, pan-India

Yauatcha celebrates Diwali with House of Fortune, a festive patisserie collection developed in collaboration with illustrator Mehek Malhotra of Giggling Monkey Studio. Their gorgeous, whimsical packaging is inspired by a whimsical supermarket of treats; the collection features petits gâteaux, mooncakes, macarons, artisanal chocolates, and tea cakes. European patisserie techniques are paired with classic Indian flavours. Signature items include an eggless chocolate fudge cake with praline crunch, caramel, chocolate mousse, and ganache, served with coffee ice cream; milk chocolate pecan pie with chocolate ganache and pecan ice cream; and peach melba with orange joconde, mandarin jam, peach compote, and white chocolate mousse. The Mangosteen and Pink Dragon is a sugar-free option with dates and carrot sponge, cheesecake, dragon fruit, and mangosteen mousse. Mooncake varieties include coconut malai, carrot and mawa, and Moong Treasure, offering a festive twist on traditional sweets. Macaron flavours range from Kashmiri kahwa, Bounty coconut, lychee, and passion fruit to Earl Grey, jasmine, chamomile, and lemon rose. The collection is available for dine-in and retail at Yauatcha locations in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.