Where to eat… this December

There’s always a brand-new bar, a hot new chef, a splashy new dining spot, a pop-up to reserve, a sauce to taste, or, even at your usual place, an exciting new menu to try. Check Please, our monthly rundown of food news, is just the kind of edit for those who may not eat out every night but love to be in the know.

2025 was nonstop. We could barely breathlessly keep up with restaurant and bar openings across the country. Mumbai was definitely Maximum City; some weeks it felt like there was a new opening every day. Delhi, Bengaluru, and Goa haven’t exactly been lagging either. But what made things truly exciting for us here, going through dozens of emails every day to see which dozen would make the cut for Check Please, were the openings across the country. In the last eight months, we’ve been to Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Pune, Indore, Jaipur, and even Rishikesh. And so, it’s no surprise that December has been similarly ambitious.

This month, from Bandra to Bengaluru to Hyderabad to Gurugram, there are vinyl-driven breweries and fine regional repasts, magic-themed bars, and a whole lotta third spaces. It’s a good time of year to go exploring. And for those who prefer to cook at home, a new chicken curry cookbook lands just as 3 am house parties get properly ravenous.

New openings and launches

Mumbai

Delhi

Hyderabad

Bengaluru

Goa

New openings and launches

Houdini, Mumbai

Red columns, floating lamps, classical artworks mischievously reimagined, a ‘red corner’ and magician’s handcuffs—we suppose it was time for Mumbai to get a bar inspired by…Harry Houdini. First-time restaurateur Sasha Tasgaonkar took a year and a half to find the right location where she could make “the everyday disappear”. Houdini has been designed by Minnie Bhatt (Ishaara, Opa Kipos)  and she’s brought illusory lighting, a bar that has a stage, and exploding vases as lamps. Chef Krishna Khetle (Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Playboy India) has a menu that’s pretty agnostic and still novel. There are thecha-spiked Maharashtrian mezze, an éclair-shaped samosa with black chana broth, a blue-rice crab futomaki, a prawn pesto pizza, and a ‘flying’ khow suey. Desserts go from a sea salt no-bake chocolate tart to an 11:11 make-a-wish cake. Shatbhi Basu’s drinks are full on, all the way from a jaggery-brûléed Old Fashioned and blueberry-and-cheese vodka cocktail, to a passion fruit and curry leaf whisky sour with mango paprika foam, and a dark soy and ginger-infused Locked & Loaded. 

The Deli, Mumbai 

Alibaug’s The Deli has replaced Bandra’s long-standing beloved hangout, The Bagel Shop. The cafe-and-pantry that weekend-ing ’Baug-ers count on brings to its Mumbai outpost coastal wood tones, muted blues, denim upholstery, and a skylight to its Bandra-cottage vibe. For breakfast there is burrata shakshuka, choris Benedict, Dutch baby pancakes, and tofu akuri. Can Bandra have too many sandwiches? Through the day, the roster runs from lox and schmear to hoisin-glazed Duckwich, Cubano to mushroom melt. More hearty plates feature Moroccan lamb, pork belly with pineapple barbecue, Peruvian grilled chicken, and lasagne verde. There is plenty of caffeine, and some of it leans dessert: cold brews with vanilla sea salt or berry foam, Vietnamese iced coffee and a tiramisu frappuccino. Dipinder ‘Biloo’ Sandhu and chef Nitin Mongia—one a long-time documenter of Mumbai culture, the other known for Kiki’s—see The Deli as a neighbourhood hang. On the calendar are acoustic weekends and chef’s specials. Of course, it’s pet-friendly. 

The Penang Table, Mumbai

The Penang Table, Kishore DF’s latest, replaces his previous short-lived Miss Margot, and it could not be more different. Gone is the lounge, and in its place is a restaurant that serves the kind of flavours that DF started his career with, at the wildly successful Lemongrass. On the menu is Malaysian food in all its diversity and complexity, with its Malay, Chinese, Indian, and various regional and colonial influences. Chef Mitesh Rangras’s menu starts with soups and salads that underline this blend. There is a lemongrass-and-kaffir-lime vegetable soup sayur campur finished with warm soy milk, a nattu kozhi rasam that has country chicken rasam served with pulled chicken, and a tamarind-forward asam laksa built on a deep dashi. Jicama is served with tamarind-chilli dressing, tender coconut with avocado, and a prawn and pomelo mix is sweet and spicy. Street plates and staples make the core of the menu: nasi lemak, char kway teow, mee goreng mamak, roti canai, and roti john, a Malaysian-style savoury French toast. Pranav Modi’s drinks programme carries the theme with ingredients such as pandan, kaffir lime, and lemongrass. A 34,000 sq ft dining room has hand-painted tiles, bamboo blinds, planters, and daytime sunlight. Towards dusk, it’s all warm yellows and deep reds, with murals referencing Malaysian forests sitting alongside Indian motifs. Everyone’s been saying good things. 

Nanna House, Mumbai  

Yep, Bandra has another new modern south Indian breakfast spot. This one is not Udupi or Tamil but Andhra, so expect the usual staples of dosa and idli but with sharper, greener flavours… Think ginger, moong dal, and podis with bite. Mir Aga Syed (Aegyo Café, Dirty Martini) brings Nanna House, which means ‘father’s house’, and its origin story lies in Syed’s daughter missing the taste of home. Specifically, homestyle, AM-friendly plates like pesarattu with ginger chutney, poori saagu, a modern-ish millet cone idli, and a 70 mm dosa that’s a nod to old theatre screens. There are staples too, such as ghee plain dosa, masala dosa, butter idli, podi idli, button idlis, and medu vada. Spoon-soft babai idli comes with ghee. It’s quick counter service, no tables, fuelled by filter coffee in steel tumblers (including iced versions and oat milk variants) and Hyderabadi chai. 

Dough & Joe, Mumbai

Dough & Joe’s identity lies in its name. This new 2,400 sq ft hybrid cafe focuses on slow-fermented pizza dough matched with a coffee programme, two things that Mumbai has a seemingly endless capacity for. The inspiration for it is founders Priyanka and Khushal Kotak’s two-year-old son, Vansh, “the CEO of cravings”. An old Sony television marks the entrance of a room dressed in primary reds and blues, textured walls and pools of light. D&J’s open kitchen keeps wood-fired pizza-making in full view; the terrace has a parked Vespa; and coffee comes in oversized mugs. Beyond the classics, pizzas include a thecha prawns version and a Bombay kheema variant. Ghee roast ravioli makes an interesting crossover: Mangalorean flavour as pasta filling. Dosa batter coats onion rings, and Naples folded pizza sandwiches get seven iterations here, including a dessert version. For the Joe part, beyond the standard Aeropress and pourover are bevs like Joe’s Special Vietnamese, Nutella iced latte, and Butterfly Lychee Matcha, described as ‘pastel perfection in a cup’. 

The Nook, Mumbai

The Nook, Bandra Reclamation’s latest ‘third space’, has three zones: a front section with small cafe tables, a central bar with high seating, and a deeper lounge area with lower chairs intended for longer stays. Rashi Morbia, The Nook’s founder, has a background in film and design, so this translates to careful attention to lighting, sound, and design. There are mid-century modern sensibilities, raw textures, earthy tones, and cinematic lighting, and the soundscape moves from soulful R&B to curated DJ sets, without making talking tough. The daytime drinks menu is built around coffee. There are classic brews and playful ones like croissant latte (espresso poured over croissant-infused milk) and cafe bombón (espresso with condensed milk). As the sun goes down, the cocktails come out and run the gamut from Smoke & Soil (mezcal, pandan, turmeric kombucha) to The Grind (rum, black sesame, coffee). Shareable plates include cashew essence with wasabi pea mousse and sake gel; fig crostini with goat cheese and habanero-ginger honey. There is breakfast in the AM, like ricotta pancakes with ruby chocolate and egg loaf. Salads and cold bites follow (peanut canape and coconut ceviche). Little plates include artichoke doughnuts and a wasabi mung bean guacamole, both of which we’re immensely curious about. 

Cantina, Mumbai

Cantina in BKC 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. Chef Anthony Burd, known for his Italian eatery in Bangkok (Tony’s in Sukhumvit), has designed a menu that features everything from parmigiano, carpaccio and arancini to pizzas with dough that is fermented for 48 hours. Read The Nod’s full preview here.

Idoru, Mumbai

Idoru is an intimate, stylish, grownup, and instantly fanciable bar from Nooresha and Anil Kably, Neale Murray, and Owen Roncon, the folks behind Izumi. This bar in Bandra is tucked away out of sight, up a flight of stairs, behind an unassuming door. Its sign downstairs could not be subtler. It’s a tiny space with 28 seats (plus standing room for four). And yes, four musicophiles and audiophiles have pooled their vinyl collections to play them on the two PLX1000 turntables and custom-built speakers. To add to this record stock, about 200 LPs have been bought specifically for this bar. But just don’t call it a listening room. Or a vinyl bar. Or a speakeasy. Or (gasp!) an izakaya. Check out The Nod’s full preview here.

Silq, Delhi

Malcha Marg in Chanakyapuri, the capital’s diplomatic enclave lined with embassies and cafes that serve their traffic, has a new fine-dining spot that (if its name didn’t already give it away) finds its muse in the Silk Route and borrows from Persian, Mughal, Levantine, and broader Mediterranean meal traditions. Every guest at Silq gets to experience six ceremonies, or samskaras. There is a curated thaal with an oud-scented welcome, music, candlelight, a palate cleanser, and a farewell scroll and mukhwas. From the kitchen come dishes that draw from rich history and regional ingredients: a saffron-rich Silq nihari, tandoori Bharwa gucchi, jhinga kunafé (no, no chocolate), a kataifi-wrapped prawn dish with date chutney, biryani from a sealed-handi, shahi tukda with gold leaf, and baklawa with Persian pecan gelato. There is a rasmalai too, except it’s a vodka-based cocktail, and Sunaar Ras involves supari and rose water. All this is surrounded by Silk Route with copper, wood, saffron and rose tones. Indeed, diplomacy was often the primary purpose of traders on the Silk Road. 

Novy, Gurugram

Novy, the latest project from chefs Ashay Dhopatkar and Neha Lakhani, is about “deliberate experimentation”. So, edamame momos show up in Kolhapuri pandhra rassa with crisp leeks. There are haleem croquettes “à la Kiev” with a korma-emulsion, a paella socarrat is served with nimbu mutton, and ros omelette has scallops and truffled egg in it.  The playbook for the beverage programme is similar: classics meeting mixology meeting local produce. The 70-seater with pendant lamps, textured white walls, plenty of art and sculpture, and a semi-open kitchen allows for open layout dining as well as more intimate tables. Novy is the newest in a whole bunch of new F&B projects at Gurugram’s new HQ27 hub, so you’ll be hearing a lot about Novy’s neighbours from us in the coming months. 

Theta Theta Telugu, Hyderabad

Hyderabad’s Theta Theta Telugu, or T3 is the latest Telugu restaurant in a city that’s increasingly, and rightfully, taking greater pride in its ingredients and micro cuisines. T3, which sits above Coffee Sangam in Jubilee Hills, is a joint project between Sampath Tummala (of the city’s much adored staple spot Spicy Venue) and young chef Vignesh Ramachandran (Indian Accent, Once Upon A Time and Green Park Hotels, ranked 46 among India’s Top 50 Chefs by Culinary Culture). Tummala brings legacy and traditional wisdom, and Ramachandran brings his more modern, ingredient-led approach. Sourcing is paramount and celebrates the local: Teja chilli from Guntur, Potla sheep from Telangana, prawns from the Godavari, Pennada brinjal from Bhimavaram, murrel from the Krishna backwaters. These ingredients are reinterpreted, made into forward-thinking dishes such as mudapappu hummus, which takes good old dal-pickle and changes its format. Ghee upma gets grilled like polenta. Iguru, the thick semi-dry curry from the area, is rethought as a salad with carrot and coconut, and a rava dosa tuile. Southern Andhra and northern Tamil Nadu meet in Potla sheep chops and seena roast. In seafood, there is a Telugu-style seafood boil. If Spanish gambas al ajillo were made with ghee, tamarind, and curry leaf, they would be chintapandu ghee prawns. 

Bigger plates include mutton and ragi sangati, munnakaya mamsam, naatukodi koora, and tawa kheema rice done with T3 restraint and style. Drinks are zero-proof but full-flavoured: in-house Sugandha soda, masala chai iced tea, filter coffee with condensed milk, curry leaf and ginger soda. Around the dining room, laterite walls, Cuddapah floors, temple accents, and a hand-painted pillar by the cotton-steel stairwell that links T3 to Coffee Sangam plant the restaurant firmly in its context.

33&Brew, Bengaluru

The old and older meet in Bengaluru with 33&Brew, India’s first vinyl microbrewery in India’s first pub city. Essentially, the space is built to brew small-batch IPAs and to play records, both to best effect. Built by the team behind Record Room, 33&Brew in Brookefield has vinyl records and steel brewing tanks as part of the decor, cool cocktails that include one with tequila, whisky, and lager topped with hops honey and red chillies, and hearty, fun food like Malaysian mamak chicken kebab, Hokkaido bun keema, truffled gucchi yakhni rolls and harissa cauliflower steak on the menu. Read The Nod’s full preview here. 

Moody Mary, Goa

Imagined as a space for “local and settlers”, this bar space with a garden is not the first to call itself a neighbourhood bar. But this Anjuna house that spills into a fairy-lit garden is attracting its share of the target audience with its ’80s vinyl collection, prices that take you back to pre-pandemic Goa, and a menu full of puns that dads will enjoy. Must order? Hummus with Benefits, Roll Play and Enthu Cutlet, and Prawnstar Martini. And we are not even joking.

The Wineyard, Goa

With a gorgeous setting, an easy-drinking wine list, and a very experimental service model, Arijit Bose’s latest venture fits more naturally into Goa’s halcyon past than its increasingly hectic present. The focal point of the experience here isn’t the bar itself but a very large yard overlooking fluorescent-green paddy fields. You enter through a 100-year-old Indo-Portuguese mansion and instantly feel at home. It may have something to do with their service model, which comes with a grab-your-own-bottle-from-the-fridge or pick-up-your-own-drinks/cutlery/ice buckets-from-the-bar approach. For The Nod’s full preview, click here.

New food books

No Worries, Just Chicken Curries by Suki Pantal

India loves chicken, and here’s an easy, approachable, clever book that celebrates it in all its forms. No Worries, Just Chicken Curries by Suki Pantal has 70 no-fuss, no-fusion, homestyle, traditional recipes around this bird. There are street-side classics, family dishes, festive foods, and weekday staples. Here’s a quick skim: Lucknow’s chapli kebabs; Mangalore’s ghee roast; Chennai’s Chicken 65; Delhi’s butter chicken, and dozens of lesser-known local gems. To round off and balance all the chicken are 25 additional recipes for classic sauce bases and 13 vegetable sides, making this book useful for even a complete meal. Pantal comes from a chicken-loving Punjabi-Sikh army family and that has informed her love for not just her favourite fowl but also the diverse regional ways it’s prepared in the country.