Where to eat this June...in Pune, Kolkata, Jaipur and more

Who says every new outpost has to be a Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V of the original? This month, some of our restaurants, cafes, and bars are expanding to other places but changing along the way.

Let’s talk about Pune first. A beloved Goan cafe makes its way here, but only after taking that time to figure out how to also be deeply Puneri. A beloved cocktail bar’s new drinks list is a love letter to the people who make us feel loved. And a sports bar is making sure players stick around for dinner, even after they set their racquets down. Meanwhile, a specialty coffee brand leaves the capital’s chaos behind, adopting the slow, misty mornings of its second home in McLeodganj. And an increasingly exciting Kolkata is getting attention from a Mumbai-based celeb-owned brand.

Elsewhere, chefs are getting nostalgic. Kerala’s coastal magic is hitching a ride from Kochi to Chennai for a short visit. Madurai is throwing a month-long party for south India’s regional cuisines. A brasserie’s new menu is on a road trip along India’s coastline.

And it’s true: ube, or purple yam, has officially jumped from Instagram to our cafe tables. Blame social media for your next violet-hued latte.

OPENINGS

Café Lento, Pune

Many cafes, when they branch out, just hit copy-paste on their original feel. Not Café Lento. After winning appetites in Goa, this all-day spot has found a new home in Koregaon Park with a menu and mood that’s pure Pune.

The city’s love affair with veggies translates to a profusion of plant-powered plates here. The Bunnywich is a star with roasted carrots, creamy stracciatella, and basil pesto, all stacked up. Fun-gai is a fungi party with mushrooms and chipotle aioli. There are pita pockets stuffed with eggplant and bell peppers, butterbean falafel, cornlettes (imagine an omelette but made from sweet corn and zero eggs), and jackfruit rice bowls.

Some Goa favourites have hitched a ride to Pune, like the McPav and Hangover Dumplings. Breakfast gets priority: Turkish eggs, eggs Benedict, sourdough bagels, French toast, flaky pastries, shiopan, and morning bakes that insist on another coffee. Chef Jyoti Singh’s brilliant new bread programme has travelled well. There’s also space for nostalgia. “One dish we have been thinking about is a late-night Maggi inspired by those long college days when dinner often became whatever comfort you could put together from a packet of noodles, some bread, or leftover cheese in the fridge. Simple meals that somehow become memorable,” says Singh.

When they step inside Pune’s Lento, guests will spot nods to Koregaon Park’s old-school verandahs and its charming, slightly crumbling stone houses. Like Goa, the vibe here is relaxed and lived-in rather than precious or picture-perfect. The coffee continues to be the star of the show, with beans coming from Karnataka’s Salawara Estate. There is something that Lento Pune has but Lento Goa doesn’t: a cocktail menu, with tipples like raw mango wine and a Lento espresso martini. As the day slips into evening, Lento After Dark takes over, with small plates, longer meals, and a menu built for sharing. All in all, this feels less like a chain rolling out another branch and more like a cafe that’s growing up but still knows how to have fun.

Pour Over Coffee Roasters, McLeodganj

Pour Over Coffee Roasters, based in Delhi, has adopted a different kind of expansion strategy by establishing a specialty cafe in the hills of McLeodganj instead of on a busy street or in a mall. This cafe is situated within walking distance of the Dharamshala-McLeodganj Skyway and the Dalai Lama temple. The tranquil cafe’s location features community tables, secluded seating areas, and a mezzanine offering panoramic mountain views that extend to Pong Lake on clear days. Coffee remains central, with a menu that includes classic espresso beverages, hand-brewed coffee, cold brews, matcha, and options such as the orange americano and orange PO tonic. In the evenings, the cafe also offers a selection of beers and wines. The food menu is extensive for a specialty cafe, featuring Turkish eggs, shakshouka, croissant sandwiches, artisanal pizzas, burgers, rice bowls, and pastas. Dessert options include cheesecake, tiramisu, and chocolate mousse.

Aufside Sports Bar, Pune

Sports bars often focus mostly on games, treating the food as a bench player. Aufside, the new spot at Millennium Club in Wakad, wants to change that. The place has lots of screens, a large beer garden, and plenty of sports features to keep fans busy between matches, but the food and drinks are just as important. The cocktail menu is designed specifically for a sports bar, with easy-to-drink options and some unusual choices. Signature drinks include the Crimson Kick, Puneri Aamchur Sour, Striker’s Mash, and Teagroni. The food menu is wide-ranging, with both bar snacks and full meals. Highlights include Guntur chicken, lotus stem chips with guacamole, souvlaki chicken, mutton and mushroom paloutis, Koliwada prawns, tandoori favourites, and a variety of handmade pizzas. Aufside has plans to be a place where people come for the game and stay for dinner.

Neuma, Kolkata

Mumbai’s Neuma has opened its second location on the 24th floor of the JW Marriott in Tangra, Kolkata. The restaurant brings a mix of global cuisine and cocktails to Kolkata. The menu offers a diverse selection of international dishes, small plates, cocktails, and shareable dishes, including horensou gomadare, spicy shiitake truffle yuzu mayo sushi, three mushroom gyoza, and lasagna dim sum. The interiors feature warm wood elements and textured stone, with panoramic city views beyond its windows.

Arirasa, Jaipur

Vegetarian fine-dining spot Arira opened in May at Lal Kothi and aims to celebrate Jaipur’s cultural heritage in a restrained way in a space designed to be modern yet rooted in the surrounding region. The dining room features strong Art Deco touches, with red lakha stone, kota stone, stained glass, brass details, and a central fountain. The menu takes a similarly thoughtful, modern-local approach. Arirasa focuses on vegetarian north Indian food but also tries new ways of presenting dishes. Therefore, expect dishes like chhole-bhatura tacos, edamame seekh kebabs, Assamese black rice rasam, Jodhpuri mirch paneer, and kair korma. The bread options include khamiri roti and khapli aata roti. The name is built from two Sanskrit-derived ideas: ‘ari’ means ‘wheel’, ‘rasa’ means ‘essence’, ‘flavour’ or ‘the essence of life’, so Arirasa is built around the idea that good things return.

Ryu Oka, Leh

Ryu Oka opened this summer at The Grand Dragon Ladakh. Its name comes from the Japanese words for ‘Dragon Hill’ and reflects the ancient trade routes that once connected Ladakh with the rest of Asia. The menu offers a wide range of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and south-east Asian dishes, each keeping its own unique flavours. Some highlights are spicy garlic lamb gyoza, hot salmon Alaska rolls, miso shoyu ramen, mapo tofu, and Singapore black pepper prawns. Many dishes use local Ladakhi ingredients, such as apricots, sea buckthorn, and roasted barley. One standout is the Mongol wrapped tofu, which uses local collard greens as the dumpling wrapper. The restaurant sits at 11,562 feet above sea level and is designed with Japanese wabi-sabi ideas and Ladakhi craftsmanship. The dining room features reclaimed wood, monastic-inspired elements, rock textures to echo the landscape, and artwork by the well-known Ladakhi artist Ghulam Mustafa.

NEW MENUS

Belong: a new cocktail menu at Cobbler & Crew, Pune

Cobbler & Crew brought back memories with its nostalgic ‘Life of the 90s’ menu. Now, the Pune cocktail bar is taking a different direction. Their cocktail latest menu, Belong, leaves childhood themes behind and instead celebrates people who make others feel welcome. The idea behind the menu is that a bar’s mood comes as much from its people as from its drinks. The menu is split into chapters by emotion, and it pays tribute to friends, strangers, hosts, and regulars who make social moments better with kindness. And so, its cocktails are named after special things people do for each other that build connection, like Saved You A Seat, The Hugger, Stayed for the Playlist, No Filter, and You Can Sit With Us. The technique-heavy menu is made by a bar team that uses clarification, fat-washing, sous vide infusions, lacto-fermentation, and in-house syrups and aromatics for its 15 signature cocktails. Another 15, favourites from past menus, will stay on.

Coastal Kissa at Bombay Brasserie, multiple cities

India’s coastline runs for over 7,500 kilometres, and Bombay Brasserie’s new seasonal menu aims to showcase some of that variety. Coastal Kissa, available in Mumbai, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Guwahati until the end of June, highlights flavours from seven coastal regions, reimagined in the restaurant’s signature style instead of sticking to strict authenticity. Some of the most interesting dishes come from surprising combinations. Thoran gnocchi combines Kerala’s coconut-flavoured vegetable stir-fry with Italian dumplings, and crab kothu Benedict pairs spiced crab kothu with a poached egg on a roti base. There’s also recheado Goan prawn toast, which turns a classic Goan masala into a bar snack, and mango medley chaat, which highlights the Konkan coast’s favourite fruit in several ways. The menu goes further with dishes like som tam jhalmuri, jackfruit dabeli stick, kokum chicken char, pepper lamb with kizhi rice, and charred coastal fish served with special butters. The desserts and drinks keep the theme going, with options like mango mishti mille-feuille, kokum batanga, aam pora picante, and nannari sherbet standing out

Cassava, Kochi x The Reef, Chenna

For a few days this June, diners in Chennai can take a culinary detour to Kerala without leaving the city. Until June 21, Cassava, Kochi Marriott’s much-loved restaurant, will take over The Reef, the beachfront restaurant at Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa, bringing with it a menu that explores the many strands of Kerala’s food culture, from Malabar kitchens to Syrian Christian family recipes and backwater seafood traditions. The seafood offerings are the strongest draw. Expect dishes like meen mango tawa, where fish is paired with the tartness of raw mango, crab rasam, and koonthal porichathu, Kerala’s addictive version of squid fry. There are also fresh seafood grills to let the quality of the catch speak for itself. Kerala’s famous biryanis get space too. Both fragrant Malabar chicken biryani and richer, slow-cooked Malappuram mutton biryani are available from Kochi, offering diners a chance to compare two of the state’s beloved rice dishes.

Zyqa’s new menu, Kolkata

The new menu at Zyqa, situated within the Aauris Hotel near Park Street, presents classic north Indian flavours with contemporary spins. The new menu introduces dishes such as Zyqa phuchka, which takes the city’s popular street snack and adds avocado, molecular dahi, orange caviar, and tamarind. Additional dishes include roomali papad, naan tacos, charcoal edamame tikki, and malai broccoli. Among the heartier dishes are desi ghee tandoori murgh, Mumtaz tangdi, and the raan-e-Zyqa, showcasing the kitchen’s tandoor skills. Main courses, like gosht boti masala, tawa fish, and jhinga biryani, bring richer traditional flavours. Regulars, like the signature zyqa dal bukhara, are still on the menu. Desserts finish the meal with a local touch, like nolen gur ice cream. Cocktails such as the imli jeera mojito and Zyqa Paan-tini put a spin on classics as well.

The Southern Treasures at Madurai Kitchen, Madurai

Even with all the new openings across the country, we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of south India’s culinary diversity. Madurai Kitchen at Courtyard by Marriott Madurai wants to add to our interest with its Southern Treasures festival through June. Four chefs, each bringing the food traditions of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, will be featured during special weekend meals. Each state gets one weekend, giving guests a chance to try regional specialities, local ingredients, and traditional cooking methods in more detail than the typical hotel buffet. Diners can try Andhra’s spicy curries from chef Naidu, Karnataka’s coconut-based dishes from chef Prasad, Kerala’s seafood from chef Pillai, and classic Tamil Nadu recipes from chef Raghavan. Available every weekend in June, with dinners on Fridays, lunches and dinners on Saturdays, and a big Sunday brunch.

Coffee Island’s ube range, multiple cities

Purple drinks have been popping up on social media everywhere, and now they’ve made their way to India. Cafe chain Coffee Island has introduced an ube menu at its cafes, featuring the Filipino purple yam that’s become a worldwide favourite. There are four drinks in the new range, each highlighting ube’s bright colour and mild sweetness. The iced ube latte mixes espresso, milk, and ube for coffee lovers. Folks who prefer matcha get the iced ube matcha, blending matcha with creamy purple yam. For folks craving something richer, they have the ube smoothie. The Bobastic coconut ube combines coconut water and ube with coffee-filled bobas. Available at Coffee Island locations in Pune, Delhi, Gurugram, and Mumbai.