Where to eat… this November 

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.

It’s hungry season. We just got done with our annual festive binge, and we’re getting right into sweater weather and year-end debauchery. Everyone wants to make plans, we’re all feeling terribly social, and there is a house party to attend every day of the week. It’s also full season for bars and restaurants, and plenty of properties have timed new menus for these peak months. This November, we’re seeing some real free-swinging ideas in smaller cities, in hotels, as well as in hotels in smaller cities. Sohna in Haryana revives chimney soup and fried ice cream; Jaipur’s 1932 Trevi has keema ravioli and rasamali parfait; in a couple of weeks we’ll tell you about an Indore spot serving housemade liqueurs in flavours like shahi jeera, and dhaniya and agave.

The big cities are busier than ever. We were at Farmlore for Halloween, and there’s something magical about walking through a farm in the winter to come upon a glowing glass-walled dining room. If you’re around, Chef Manuel Olveira’s four-hands with chef Johnson Ebenezer is this weekend. Unfailingly delicious Kari Apla in Mumbai’s Bandra has a menu of brand new dishes and some OG faves. Only in Gurugram: a new hotel bar with tandoori chicken potstickers. Alibaug has a new boardwalk bar that has board games on Sundays for the whole fam, and in Arpora, a staring contest with a monitor lizard helps an award-winning brewmaster name his new craft brewpub.   

OPENINGS

Delhi
Goa
Mumbai

EVENTS, POP-UPS & NEW MENUS

Goa
Bengaluru
Jaipur
Mumbai

OPENINGS

Lord Vesper at The Oberoi, Gurugram

A mysterious passageway leads to a circular vestibule before opening into a bar which has a semi-covered terrace with waterfront views. Across three layers, it’s all dark marble, teak, brass and glass, and named for an enigmatic, fictitious fellow. Here, guests can have drinks with names like the Vespertini, Lady Yuzu, The Fallen Banana, and Mr. Fennel & Mrs. Dill, and dishes like black truffles and parmesan fonduta Berliner with wild mushroom dust, Kerala coin paratha tacos with jackfruit roast and curry leaf cream, and tandoori chicken pot stickers with tomato fenugreek sauce. Indeed, it has to be in Gurugram. 

Riches’, New Delhi

Old-school hospitality through a modern European lens is what drives Riches’, Delhi’s new eatery. This is achieved through elegant, comforting dishes like tomato and truffle tartare, brie pie with hot honey, chive butter lobster roll, cracked Tellicherry pepper prawns, slow-cooked chicken pot pie, and wood-fired pizzas, many of which get a touch of smoke through Riches’ Josper grill. Drinks come in three approaches: neo-classics with a twist and experimental tipples via a section called The Ingredient Studio, and light aperitifs. 

Even old-school hospitality can come with a side of old-money humour. Cocktails here have names like Bounced Cheque (tequila, hazelnut, olive brine), Trust Fund Baby (limoncello, Lillet, prosecco, elderflower), and Leverage (maple-washed rum, banana water, vermouth).

Dumbo Deli, New Delhi

The duo behind Cafe Dali, Ristorante by Dali, Vinci and Trattoria Hugo, bring their latest idea to Lodhi Colony’s Meherchand Market. Prateek Gupta and Priyamvada’s Dumbo Deli is a deli by day that segues into a dive bar by night. Before sunset, Priyamvada is the ‘matcha curator’ and at cocktail hour, Prateek gets behind the bar. The food sounds both comforting and curious, with riffs on Florentine sandwiches; crispy chicken with molten cheese; prosciutto with not just melon, but also stracciatella, lemon zest with balsamic drizzle. Big plans are afoot too: Dumbo is designed as a space where all manner of communities gather—runners, padel enthusiasts, post-match party-ers—in several cities across India.

Tangra: Tales of Chinatown, Sohna

Haryana gets a Hakka spot with Tangra, named for Calcutta’s OG Chinatown. And so at The Westin Sohna Resort & Spa, 40-minutes by road from Gurgaon, we see dishes that take us back to the Chinese restaurants of the 80s—chimney soup, prawn golden coins, Buddha’s Delight, yam mien noodles, and desserts like darsaan and fried ice cream. Several ingredients have been sourced from family shops in Kolkata’s Tangra. The decor eschews typical desi Chinese tropes, and instead has dining tables with mahjong tile inlays, a koi pond, and granite guardian lions.

Lizard King Brewing Co, Goa

Beer, music, and rebellion… Goa’s latest craft brewery gets its name not from a Jim Morrison song but an eye-to-eye encounter that George Jacob, frontman and brewmaster, had with a monitor lizard at the very spot where Lizard King stands today. On tap is a tart saison; a dry oaked apple cider; a juicy, medium-bodied mango cider; a smooth, roasty Irish stout; a biscuity, citrusy pale ale; and a pilsner, a bitter and a wit. Jacob, who is Brewlab UK–certified, and called ‘royally tanked’ among friends, has been brewing around the world for a decade. His menu is pub food designed for long drinking sessions: steak and onion pie, chicken and mushroom pie, cottage cheese and pea pie, fish and chips, and chicken fried steak. Cocktails include an espresso martini and a cider spritz. Brewing equipment is a focal point of the decor, and vintage rock posters—from the Lizard King’s The Doors to Nirvana and The Stones—make it feel like an artist’s rehearsal room. LKBC wants to welcome everyone from riders passing by Arpora, but also music-lovers looking for a spot where you can catch a gig and a pint.

Drift Bar at The Westin, Goa

An all-women crew of bartenders, chefs, and service professionals leads the relaunch of this sweeping bar at the Westin in Goa’s Anjuna. They bring flavours like panch phoran makhana, chingri pauruti (a Bengali version of sesame prawn toast), fiery thecha prawns, chicken cafreal skewers, pork vindaloo gyoza, mushroom cafreal pide, and The Westin sushi sandwich. To accompany these, are 18 variants of local Goan gin and a robust collection of Goan feni with spice infusions, alongside cocktails like the Palolem Paloma, and the Morjim Mule, and the Keri Beach Sour. 

Soulinaire, Alibaug

Just in time for sailing season, Alibaug’s boardwalk has a new 200-seater, two-storey al fresco restaurant with a breezy downstairs terrace alongside a glass-walled restaurant with an indoor pool. Upstairs is bamboo, jute and brick—a little tiki, a little coastal—with a live kitchen and a wraparound balcony. 

Soulinaire in Alibaug is the first physical, permanent home of Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) bespoke catering brand. IHCL is the holding company of the Taj, Claridges, Vivanta brands with over 560 hotels, so diners can expect some solid F&B. Here riffs on classics like Alibaug Sling, Cherry Blossom Highball, and Sunset Negroni pour alongside favourites like old Limoncello Spritz, and Espresso Martini. Breakfast starts with coastal hits like thalipeeth, poha, and akuri. Lunch has masala croissant bhaji, tandoori pomfret, bombil fry, missal pao, gaoran kombdi rassa, and mutton cha kalvan. And because not everyone wants coastal food all day, there is also a menu of popular Asian plates like honey chilli potatoes and Sichuan chicken, as well as a European one with tartines and pasta. Does anyone do basic dessert anymore? Just look at their Caramel Lotus Cloud, which has vanilla popcorn, lotus biscoff, and caramel sauce in a sundae, and ice cream in sitaphal yuzu. 

EVENTS, POP UPS & NEW MENUS

The Feast in the Fields, Goa

On Sunday November 23, a band of 100 brunchers will traipse into the paddy fields of Cansaulim in South Goa for a vast spread of food and drink by chef Ralph Prazeres of Praça Prazeres and Hansel Vaz, proprietor and ‘Renaissance Man’ of Cazulo Feni. The Feast In the Fields, put together by Urbanaut and Fazenda Cazulo, will have Vaz talking about Goan feni, food, and agriculture, while a harvest carries on around the guests. Included with the community-style multi-course harvest feast, are feni cocktails, tastings of Fazenda’s new limited-edition flavoured fenis, and live music to add to the lively but laidback vibe. Tickets can be booked via Urbanaut.

Four hands at Farmlore, Bengaluru

On this Sunday (November 9) thanks to Culinary Culture, chef Johson Ebenezer of Farmlore and chef Manel Olveira of La Loca Maria and La Panthera get together at Bengaluru’s best-known farm for a single day of four-hands cooking. Olviera brings his Spanish flair to the table, while Ebenezer brings his reverence for seasonality and soil through dishes that balance tradition and modernity. With Bengaluru’s best weather kicking in, this one will be special, and worth the trip. 

Memory Dining at Street Storyss, Bengaluru

Chef Tarun Sibal brings a menu that’s driven by taste memory to this vegetarian restaurant. Each dish in his new menu for Street Storyss is designed to evoke a flavour imprint, starting with the chaat, a fruit and nut granola bhel, and Kurkure okra chaat. One small plate irreverently matches Mumbai street with Sunday brunch via paneer cheese ghotala on an English muffin with veg hollandaise. Heartier mains include rajma risotto khichdi, and K-pop fried rice with crisp garlic and instant kimchi. 

New menu at 1932 Trevi, Jaipur

What happens when Indian spices meet Italian technique? You get dishes like lamb shorba with keema ravioli, charcoal arancini made with carnaroli rice and squash, but smoked and crisped and served with marinara, as well as a rasmalai parfait. Most curious. 

New menu at Kari Apla, Mumbai

We love chef Ebaani Tewari and chef Mathew Varghese’s fun modern spins on coastal cuisine, so when they wrote to us about a new menu at Kari Apla, we started making plans with friends to go try. New at the pass are dishes like gunpowder pidi, aai’s kaala mutton and podi squid. Some old favourites are back too: kadala curry hummus, Goan ros omelette, and Suriani prawn roast. And for dessert, flourless chocolate cake with peanut caramel. This meal needs a group plan. 

Pedro’s Pals at O Pedro, Mumbai 

O Pedro celebrates its eighth birthday this coming weekend with a special edition of Pedro Pals. Chef Ralph Prazeres of Goa’s Praça Prazeres brings his no-fuss European dishes, inspired by his travels through UK, Portugal, Spain, and Denmark. There is baked cauliflower pastel with truffle parsley gremolata, roasted whole crab in chorus XO, sea perch ceviche with pickled beetroot, jalapeno, and dill oil, okra fritti with recheado, and chef Ralph’s famed madeleines topped with Kaviari oscietra caviar and meyer lemon cream. There are specially crafted cocktails to match the menu, like the Fontainhas Paloma, in which cashew feni is stirred with bird’s eye honey syrup, lime, and a splash of grapefruit soda. There is deep-fried apple pie with crème Anglaise dusted with  raspberry powder, and serradura, of course.