It’s 40 degrees. Thank god, the summer menu is here

Blame it on El Niño, but the current situation is changing restaurant menus across the country. A nationwide heatwave is putting chilled salads, cold starters, lighter mains, and very, very fresh drinks on our tables. Citrus is everywhere right now, as are fresh herbs and fizzier drinks. Fruits are showing up in cocktails and desserts and even sneaking into savoury dishes (watermelon chicken curry, anyone?). Noodle bars are offering spicy dishes with cold noodles and chilli-infused soft serve. Ice cream shops are having fun with familiar flavours, adding a bit of local chilli or crunch to cold coffee. One popular dim sum spot is serving a menu that’s nearly all white. Coffee shops are jumping in too, serving fruity, matcha, and coconut drinks, so we can stay caffeinated and hydrated. Below, our favourite summer menus worth a day out in the sun.

NMACC Arts Cafe, Mumbai

The refreshed menu at Arts Cafe emphasises seasonal offerings such as burrata salad, green olive pesto cottage cheese, and recheado prawns. The selection transitions to classic pastas and risottos, like aglio e olio and a gondhoraj lemon and leek risotto. Main courses offer variety: an Indian vegetarian sampler, almond-crusted sea bass, and chicken parmigiana. Drinks follow the season, too. Read: citrus-forward coffees and easy cocktails, like the Paloma 2.0 and a yuzu basil smash. Available all through the summer.

Bang Bang! Noodle, Mumbai

Bang Bang! Noodle, known for Sichuan flavours and mala spice, starts its summer menu with smashed cucumber in chilli oil and black vinegar, XO mushrooms, and crunchy corn and water chestnuts in yu xiang sauce. Mala, the spicy Sichuan seasoning, is everywhere—on classic chilli oil noodles with numbing heat and a cold, creamy soft serve topped with the same chilli oil. There are liangpi cold noodles and thick, bold Pixian chilli noodles. Other styles include chilli oil, jhol, butter garlic, and clear broth. Xinjiang lamb combines sweet and spicy flavours. Char kway teow carries the smokiness of the wok. There is even a smoked chilli lemonade.

Yauatcha, Mumbai

Yauatcha’s ‘Feast of Senses’ summer menu focuses on lighter, nearly all-white dishes till the end of May. The meal starts with classic dim sums, like vegetable and meat char siu buns, har gau, seabass dumplings, and truffle mushroom dim sums. Cheung fun comes in both crisp and steamed styles. For the main course: lotus root stir-fry, asparagus with water chestnut, spicy prawn curry, and steamed seabass in black bean sauce. The carb course can be jasmine rice or egg white fried rice. Desserts continue the theme with coconut macarons and a red fruit fromage that is more fresh than rich. The cocktails are also kept light, featuring lychee and soft floral notes.

Soraia, Mumbai

At Soraia, summer means flowers overhead and butter chicken wrapped in a crêpe. The Mahalakshmi restaurant refreshed its glasshouse with new floral decorations, aiming for a calm, cool, sunny space full of blooms. At 37 degrees Celsius and 60 per cent humidity, that sounds like it will do. The menu features Indian comfort food and European-style dishes, alternating techniques and ingredients. Examples: Butter Chicken Neapolitana, truffle chicken tikka, and lamb rack with Shiraz sauce, mutton sukka tacos, chicken tikka masala crepes, and paneer khurchan kulcha tacos. Small plates include crispy thhecha potatoes, kokum prawns, and corn riblets. Main dishes range from prawn balchao linguine to lobster rolls with togarashi mayo. Desserts are juxtaposed similarly with options like rasmalai tres leches, kulfi baked Alaska, and skillet crack pie. On until the end of the month.

The Second House, Goa

The best thing on the menu at The Second House, from the day it opened in 2023, has been PT& G, short for Peanut, Tomato and Granola. It’s an absurd-sounding dish, but you know from the first bite that it is an absolute banger. So, when Jyoti Singh, the outstanding chef behind the restaurant, was planning his new summer menu (expect a new monsoon edition in the months to follow), he knew some dishes would remain as is. New on his menu is a parade of strikingly composed sharing plates, of which the oysters will definitely land up on your IG feed. The dish comes on a plate of crushed ice, with the freshest oysters served with some lime and a pinch of kokum that goes a long way. Other nods to Goa include Coco Feni, a clarified feni cocktail that even finicky tipplers will find hard to resist, and Welcome Home, a tequila cocktail with a kokum-tinged foam that you will want to sip all night. There’s plenty more: butter-fried mussels that you can polish off with the chef’s signature laffa bread, a butternut squash dish served in the gourd’s casing, and a delicious full chonak that you’d find hard to share.—Megha Mahindru

Hosa, Goa

At Hosa in Goa, the summer menu highlights curd, melon, grapes, and palm fruit, all chosen for their freshness in the heat. Chef Harish Rao’s menu is inspired by traditional south Indian summer dishes, focusing on cooling, lightly spiced recipes with a modern touch. The meal starts with Puducherry-style thairu vada—soft lentil vadas in chilled curd served with ginger chutney and spiced boondi. Another dish has green grapes with drakshi gojju and creamy sago yoghurt. A watermelon chicken curry blends the red fruit’s sweetness with mint and a mild chilli spice. Ice apple prawn curry, served with delicate idiyappam, bears a clear Goan influence.

Maverick & Farmer, Goa and Bengaluru

Maverick & Farmer’s new summer beverage menu features plenty of cold brew, with lighter fruit-based and matcha-infused refreshers. The Cloudburst has cold brew with orange zest and ginger foam; The Kalimotxo offers a darker, fruit-forward profile; and The Zero features espresso and almond without added sugar. The Matcha Aam Panna returns and brings with it a Matcha Malai with tender coconut flavours. A Maverick & Farmer favourite, the tender coconut cold brew, persists. Available until early June.

China Club, Gurugram

China Club has been serving Sichuan dishes in the NCR for more than 20 years. This summer, the restaurant is refreshing its menu. Chengdu flavours remain at the heart of the offerings, but the dishes are now lighter and more varied. For instance, you can try crunchy eggplant with a cucumber and black fungus salad. Mango chilli prawns are brightened with mala spices. Poached fish comes with greens and mint for a fresher touch. The cocktails also fit the new menu. The Green Dragon is herbaceous, while Firecracker blends watermelon and Sichuan pepper for a juicy kick. Available until July.

Kaméi, New Delhi

Kaméi’s summer menu focuses on cold dishes, tangy fruits, chilled broths, and bright acidity to match Delhi’s scorching days. The restaurant’s modern Asian-style food gets a seasonal touch with dishes like melon-cured sashimi, lychee ceviche, and raw mango. Shoyu watermelon sashimi kicks things off with savoury watermelon, jalapeño granita, betel leaf, and togarashi oil. Salmon and prawn ceviche comes in a chilled lychee broth. Sambal chicken tacos bring a bold street-food taste. One light and crunchy dim sum has asparagus, brown butter, and water chestnut. Desserts go tropical. There is black sticky rice, mango, and coconut-jaggery gelato. The cocktail menu highlights summer fruits such as melon, mango, yuzu, and green apple, paired with herbs and citrus.

Manam Chocolate, Delhi and Hyderabad

Manam Chocolate’s new seasonal menu, ‘A Summer Somewhere’, aims to bring to life a special, unforgettable summer feeling. It is marked by fruit, cold desserts, refreshing drinks, and relaxed afternoons. The menu includes ice cream sandwiches, soft-serve ice cream, plated desserts, iced drinks, and savoury cafe dishes, all tied together by seasonal ingredients and creative twists on familiar flavours. Anticipate guava-chilli soft serve that recalls street-style guava with masala, and ice-cream sandwiches combining mango gelato with orange-poppyseed cookies, or tart cherry compote with dark chocolate ice cream and mascarpone. Desserts are designed to bring back memories of classic bakeries, with pineapple coconut lamingtons, mango custard tart, mango-saffron tres leches, and a tropical mousse cake with coconut and caramel. Drinks bring a touch of brightness with kokum iced chocolate, mango jasmine coolers, guava chilli chocolate, and aamras-style mango shakes. Savoury plates feature raw mango and papaya salad, prawn and mango salsa, and avocado toast with avakai chilli oil. It’s Manam, so it’s all rich, but clearly made for summer.

Hikki, Delhi

Shades of Summer by Hikki is a seasonal menu featuring tropical greens, fresh flavours, fruit, herbs, and gentle heat. To illustrate, watermelon tataki and prawn-mango salad carry fresh, bright flavours. Anticucho chicken yakitori and seabass in soy broth offer deeper, smokier notes. Mango and yuzu cheesecake provides a sharp, citrus finish for dessert. Cocktails like Solesta, Kabuki, and the Hikki Highball feature herbal, tropical, and citrus flavours.

Burma Burma, pan India

Burma Burma’s Thingyan menu for May marks the Burmese New Year with rice bowls for two, each layered with jasmine rice, curries, stir-fries, and chutneys, and paired with pickled vegetables and a peppery broth. You can choose from options like the lemongrass-filled Mohinga Bowl, the spicy Hawker’s Bowl tossed in chilli oil, a smoky Rustic Bowl, or a tangy Pickled Roselle Bowl. We absolutely loved their small plates, such as tofu parcels served on a tangy vegetable stew, adorable silky blanket dumplings in peanut stew, and a light citrus salad. Servers walk around the room with rolled-up fruit leathers in tamarind, pineapple, plum, and mango, along with little bowls of flavoured salt for dipping. For dessert, there’s banana mousse, mango-sesame cake, and paan jelly. Drinks like pandan tamarind fizz and hibiscus lemonade stay on theme.

Naturals Ice Cream x Bombay Sweet Shop, pan India

Naturals Ice Cream and Bombay Sweet Shop have teamed up this summer to put a fresh spin on two classic favourites. Naturals sticks to its well-loved fruit-and-cream base, while Bombay Sweet Shop brings a playful touch. The collaboration has produced two limited-edition flavours. Tender Coconut Naga Chilli starts smooth and creamy, then delivers a proper tingle that builds. Coffee Fudge Crunch has strong coffee, rich fudge, and a crunchy, brittle-like texture, striking a balance between nostalgia and novelty. You can find them at Naturals and Bombay Sweet Shop stores all summer or on major delivery platforms.