Where to eat… this September

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.

No one should miss an Onasadya this weekend; there are so many across the country. To make it even easier, several restaurants are offering takeaways and delivery options. Also, many Onam celebrations this year are going wide, featuring non-vegetarian dishes in the tradition of northern Kerala and the Malabar regions. We’re also loving how restaurants are having fun on social media around their banana-leaf feasts, so we’ve included links to their Instagram posts and reels in our descriptions. Make sure you click through. Sometimes just the soundtrack alone is worth it.

In other news, Delhi has a new cocktail journey inspired by great human migrations, and Ahmedabad makes the most of its dry state with a bar for the sober curious (just don’t call it a juice rave). In Mumbai, a scoop of dessert can now mean cheesecake. Delhiites, if you want to sample desi street food and homestyle meals the way chef Ritu Dalmia serves them in Milan, now is a good time to book the Cittamani pop-up. As Mumbai skies clear, buckets of seafood are being poured on tables. And next week, we’ll be here with a whole new bunch of specials, pop-ups, and new menus.

LAUNCHES AND OPENINGS

Refuge, Delhi

From 1 pm to 1 am, in Delhi’s M-Block Market in GK2, Refuge takes tipplers on a 12-cocktail journey through six of humanity’s most defining migrations. While we’re still waiting for that story to unfold, we’re intrigued by Refuge’s 42-feet-long bar, drinks like Olive Trail with olive-oil-washed scotch, fig, and brined house soda, and Homestead with bourbon, corn soda, BBQ honey, and Tabasco vinegar. Leaning more into caffeine and conversation? Refuge has a coffee bar and kitchen downstairs, with cheekily named dishes like Seriously Screwed Satay, and a splattered plate inspired by Jackson Pollock called The Only Pasta—because it really is the only pasta dish on Refuge’s menu.

Drift, Ahmedabad

Drift is being reimagined as “a space that finally gives Ahmedabad’s after-dark scene something more than chai, thalis, and 10 pm curfews”. If you were expecting a speakeasy with head-spinning martinis, expect again. Situated at Le Meridien in Gujarat’s most populous city, Drift – The Poolside Diner is meant to be ‘The Dry State’s Wettest New Spot’. Ignore the damp puns; here’s a place that’s making the most of the state’s laws by setting up a bar for the sober curious. Drift’s beverage programme brings complexity and touches of flourish to zero-proof libations such as Clementine Hour (passionfruit, citrus, tea, ginger ale), Popcorn Spritzer (popcorn, apple, carbonated water), Alarm to the Senses (cucumber, basil, mint, sweet and sour), and Herbaceous (lavender, blue tea, berry extract, juniper). To nosh on, there’s avocado and fig tartare, lamb spiced filo bun, smoked chicken curry, asparagus and zucchini moilee, and more.

Scoops, Mumbai

It’s a sundae made with scoops of not ice cream but…cheesecake. Poetry by Love & Cheesecake has spun out a new sub-brand located in Eros Building (which is seeing a lot of activity lately with the opening of Wagamama and retail space Swadesh). At Scoops, customers can choose from eight scoopable vats of cheesecake in flavours like avocado, matcha, Lotus Biscoff, classic New York, and chocolate brownie, and then load them up with all manner of customised toppings. The first three are free.

ONAM SPECIALS

Hosa, Goa

Chef Harish Rao has, as he is wont to, taken traditional dishes from across Kerala and put his modern, contemporary spin on them to create a sadya that goes beyond the usual offerings. There is ulli theeyal, koothu curry, puli inji, and olan avial on the vegetarian meal, and mutton ularthiyathu, Kerala egg roast, Alleppey prawn curry, and meen moilee for the meatier one. Everyone gets to have a deeply traditional pal ada pradhaman. Thirivonam celebrations here will also be interactive. Guests get fragrant greetings with rose water (pa-neer). They get invited to add to an evolving pookolam. Suspended mango leaves (as oracles) will be handed over to them in fortune-cookie-style scrolls after the meal, and they will be asked to contribute a few lines to a memory wall at the venue.

Kari Apla, Mumbai

Kari Apla’s Onam meal, a 22-dish banana leaf sadya, is back in its second edition this year, running from September 5 to 7 with four seatings per day, starting at 11:30 am. While the meal has all of the traditional vegetarian sadya items, it also includes meat and seafood for those so inclined, following the traditions of northern Kerala. Chefs Ebaani Tewari and Mathew Varghese have composed a menu that features Suriani squid roast, mutton cutlet, and chicken pepper roast, alongside the quintessential kappa-meen curry. Everyone ends on a nostalgic note with banana fritters.

Tijouri, Bengaluru

Chef Merrin brings a Malabar-style sadya to Tijouri, the pop-up concept at Radisson Blu Atria, through this weekend. In keeping with Tijouri’s celebration of India’s micro-cuisines, this annual banquet to mark the homecoming of King Mahabali will showcase veg and non-veg regional and seasonal dishes from across the state. It begins with uppu and pazham, followed by crisp, tangy, and savoury accompaniments like nendrakai nuruku and sharkara varatty. In pickles, there is manga achar, naranga achar, and inji puli. Lighter, cooler fare comes through dishes such as beetroot kichadi and pineapple pachadi. Hearty vegetarian favourites include olan, cabbage thoran, and avial. The meal’s non-vegetarian fare has chicken ullathu, prawn roast, chicken varutharacha curry, and meen pollichathu. There’s more in mains: parippu with red rice, Kerala sambar, kalan, sambaram, pappadam, and rasam. And three festive payasams—chakka pradhaman, semiya payasam, and parippu payasam—make sure you roll out belly first.

White Box, Bengaluru

The Onam Vibhavam at Hyatt Centric MG Road’s restaurant includes not just a grand traditional banquet (veg ₹1,099, non-veg ₹1,799) but also two takeaway options. White Box’s sadya takeaway hamper is at ₹1,799 plus taxes, and a dessert-only Pradhaman Treasures hamper includes three types of pradhaman at ₹850 plus taxes.

Kalpaney, Bengaluru

The month-old vegetarian instant-favourite spot by the folks behind Soka will bring a spread of classic Onasadya preparations such as avial, olan, kaalan, erisseri, pachadi, sambar, parippu curry, rasam, Kerala matta rice, and more. Desserts include palada payasam and parippu pradhaman. For a chuckle, it’s all been blessed by Brinjal Baba.

Tanjore Tiffin Room, across Mumbai

Kishore DF’s celebration of homestyle Deccan food is offering a 22-item sadya all weekend. There is matta rice (choru) ringed with parippu, sambar, puliserry, rasam, kichadi (tomato/ vendakai/pavakkai), beetroot pachadi, pineapple pachadi, erisseri, olan, koothu curry, merikkaperuttu, thoran, banana chips, jaggery chips, papadam, pickles like vadugupuli and puli inji, sweets like pal payasam and ada pradhaman, and ettapazham norukku (ripe banana roast) with curd or buttermilk for balance. Whew.

Hylo, Mumbai

Hylo’s grand vegetarian sadya is for one day only, on September 5, but fret not; it goes on for five hours. The feast begins with red rice paired with comforting parippu topped with ghee and rasam. There is sambaram to cool off, a refreshing yoghurt-based buttermilk with ginger, green chilli, and lemon leaf. Alongside, there’s inji puli, beetroot pachadi, cucumber pachadi, and okra pachadi, followed by heartier dishes like olan, theeyal, pumpkin erisseri, koothu curry, and beans thoran. For contrast, ada pradhaman, pal payasam, papad and banana. Prefer a sadya house party, or eating at home near your couch? Takeaway and pre-orders are available as well.

Tuya, Hyderabad

Chef Suresh DC’s month-old Jubilee Hills spot offering modern South Indian plates has a clean, light, textural homestyle sadya on offer with sambaram, uppu, inji puli, pachadi, erisseri, olan, avial, and the staple parippu with nei and sambar. The meal wraps up with ada pradhaman and semiya payasam.

Chef Sandeep Sreedharan at Eve, Mumbai

Chef Sandeep Sreedharan (also known as @escabrahma) is from Mahé on Kerala’s northern coast, and for a long spell he ran a very popular and lovely restaurant in Goa named after his hometown. This Onam he’s cheffing up a sadya at Eve in Santacruz, serving 25 dishes that include less ubiquitous but still tradition-led preparations like grilled tender coconut with tempered yogurt, kizhi biryani steamed in banana leaf, mushroom dumplings in coconut stew, white asparagus olan, and pazham pori with varutharacha chakka, or crisp banana fritters paired with a jackfruit-coconut masala.

POP-UPS, LIMITED MENUS, and EVENTS

Chef Ritu Dalmia brings Milan’s Cittamani to Delhi

From September 18 to 21, chef Ritu Dalmia’s Cittamani, which celebrates Indian street food and homestyle cooking in Milan, will pop up in Delhi as part of Diva’s silver jubilee celebrations. Cittamani’s meal in the capital will be presented as a thali. Expect club kachori, burrata with tomato and kairi launji, and basera me sayala—a Sindhi-style fish preparation. There are also Cittamani’s all-time favourite lamb chops served with adraki gravy, Shyam Savera featuring torai and apricot koftas with lehsuni palak and tamatar kaju, and Kayasth-style chicken pasande in a rich badami sauce. The meal wraps up with baked boondi with rabdi and bhapa doi paired with berries.

Kona Kona’s seafood boil, Mumbai

On September 7, diners at Kona Kona, Mumbai, will have buckets of cooked seafood poured directly on their tables, to be eaten by hand, community-style. This one-day seafood boil pop-up by Kona Kona’s Mona Singh and Soul Food’s Aashish Seth features five flavour profiles in sauces. There is a Thai herbed sauce specially made for this day, alongside signatures like Singapore pepper and Sichuan, OG Old Bay seasoning, and classic lemon garlic butter chilli. Seafood buckets are designed for groups of two (for ₹9,999), three, or four, and contain an assemblage of fresh mud crabs, black tiger prawns, jumbo prawns, calamari, mussels, corn on the cob, and sweet potatoes. Accompanying these are spicy buttered rice and Kona Kona’s special bread, paired with a choice of sauce. Each bucket includes unlimited craft beers from Igloo and wines from Grover’s Art. Also available are Don Julio offers, including cocktails and bottles at special rates. Then there is The Emperor’s Table (₹39,999 for six to eight guests) with XL or XXL crabs, jumbo or red tiger prawns, lobsters, calamari, mussels, and all the trimmings, paired with free-flowing beer, wine, cocktails, and mocktails.

Prix fixe monsoon menus at Taj & Vivanta, across Bengaluru

If you’ve been curious about a restaurant at Taj or Vivanta in Bengaluru but didn’t want to commit, here’s a deal that makes some of them a bit more accessible. Until September 7, six restaurants across Bengaluru’s IHCL properties are offering prix fixe monsoon menus at ₹1,599 for three courses, and ₹1,999 for four courses, inclusive of taxes. Diners can get Indian set meals at Paranda and Terracotta, Asian specialities at Blue Ginger and Soi & Sake, and modern eclectic fare at The Trinity Square and Wink.