Esquire India March Hotlist: New Restaurants And Bars Across India
Where to eat, drink, and name-drop this month
March belongs to no one season. The Delhi winter is finally loosening its grip, Mumbai is still golden, Bangalore is doing whatever Bangalore does. And somehow, this in-between month has produced some of the year's most interesting openings so far.
The best opening of the month is in Kailash Colony. The most fun one is in Bandra. The most beautiful one is in Lutyens' Delhi, behind a façade that looks nothing like a restaurant. And somewhere in Jaipur, a bar named after silk is quietly becoming the most considered place to drink in the country.
Meanwhile, Mumbai finally has a beach club that'll be booked out for months to come.
This is where we're eating in March.
MUMBAI
Pardon Our French
Pooja Dhingra introduced Mumbai to macarons. And now, she's building a kind of Parisian coffee shop you actually want to live inside. The 22-seater is all blush walls, marble tops, and florals. But the real argument, in my opinion, is on the plate. On the menu, there are silky chocolate mousses with olive and sea salt; strawberries and cream with basil oil; and pairings of chikoo and hazelnut. There’s also a savoury menu with Turkish eggs and French toast.
Steam Room
Yes, Bandra already has many Asian spots, but this one still manages to surprise you. Steam Room is kitschy and unserious in the best possible way: there are plastic red stools, repurposed Coca-Cola crates, the vibe of a hawker stall in somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. The menu is tight and bold: basil chicken xiao long bao, mala chilli wontons, Sichuan corn curd, kimchi ramen, slap noodles. You can end the meal with a vanilla soft serve draped in crispy honey noodles.
Sweeney
Malaika Arora's latest venture is under a 90-year-old mango tree in Khar that shades an outdoor courtyard. There are sage-toned interiors, high ceilings, and soft white draperies everywhere. The menu spans home-style Thai and European across 60-plus dishes, and pulls it off without feeling scattered. There is coconut-galangal soup, crispy lettuce cups with herbed chicken, salads with lotus root and pomelo. The bar programme, run by an all-women team, is worth ordering around: roasted pineapple whisky, tamarind spritz, Thai-tea Negroni, papaya-sage rum. I have a feeling this one's going to be booked out for months.
Bastian Beach Club, Juhu
Mumbai has beaches, yes. But have we ever had a beach club? That makes you feel like you’re sitting in Tulum? Never! Ranjit Bindra and Shilpa Shetty have taken over the Sun-n-Sand in Juhu and built the city's first real beach club — designed by Minal Chopra with Ibiza and Mykonos as a moodboard. There is a sprawling pool in the centre of the beach, with daybeds facing the Arabian sea. The culinary program pulls the best of Bastian: Hamachi ceviche with sweet potato and tiger milk, Rock Broccolini with curry leaf and chilli, Arabian Seabass Amazonico. The bar leans coastal and confident — Sakura Cloud Martini, Tigre Verde, a Shogun Mojito with shiso and sake. The city's been waiting for this, and now we don’t need to go to Goa anymore.
DELHI
Louve
Restaurateur Shikha Begwani (Ophelia, Cosy Box) chose a Lutyens' Bungalow Zone address for her new modern European restaurant — a white-façaded building you'd easily mistake for a diplomat's residence. Inside, 170 covers unfold across marble floors, Cubism-inspired art, a bespoke crystal chandelier over a glass-bowl fountain, and garden pavilions outside. Chef Selim — who's cooked in Michelin-starred kitchens in Istanbul and Dubai — keeps the food grounded: a chicken and leek soup, a burrata with roasted fennel and balsamic that improves on the tired tomato default. It’s the new Delhi go-to.
Together
Designer Manav Dangg built Together to feel like a secret — warm wood, cobbled walls, red-hued light in close corners, no neon sign at the door. Inside, the food is built for sharing and shaped around Japanese-Southeast Asian street food: chicken karaage, vegetable tempura, prawn tempura, edamame hummus, cornflake-crusted onion rings, gomae salad. The cocktails lean into wasabi-washed rum, grape brine, and clean classics. This is the Tokyo kissa bar Delhi didn't know it needed probably.
Iki & Gai
The split is simple and it works: Iki handles the food (asparagus salad, salmon tataki, Turkish eggs, katsu sandwiches), Gai handles the cocktails — a picante, a paloma, done with care. This is an all-day dining that actually holds up from morning coffee to a late-night pour.
Plus Nine One
Kailash Colony doesn't look like the address for one of Delhi's most interesting new restaurants, but Ishita Yashvi's Plus Nine One earns the trip. Three chefs — one trained in modern French and American, one with fine-dining Europe credentials, one rooted in Awadhi technique — share the kitchen, and the menu shows exactly that range. A Bird Seekh of quail, duck, and chicken with cranberry chutney. Beef carpaccio pickled and layered with gooseberry and sirke wala pyaaz. An ossobuco nihari. A coconut Alleppey fish curry that lands comfortably on a Delhi table. The masala chai crèmeux for dessert. No bar licence yet, but a clarified orange-and-tulsi drink that doesn't miss it. Come before this one gets discovered.
BANGALORE
Nila
Chef Rahul Sharma's solo venture doesn't just change the menu seasonally — it changes the entire conversation. Each quarter spotlights a specific region of India; the first draws from Nagaland. Black rice momo. A pickled persimmon kebab aged thirty days, paired with coconut malai and bamboo broth. Smoked Naga pork. Banana and toasted Sichuan pepper ice cream with chocolate cake.
The Hood
The Olive Group's new Bangalore opening plays with neighbourhoods — Fort Kochi, Kyoto's Gion, Florence's San Lorenzo, Beirut's Mar Mikhael — and somehow makes it feel okay. A book library, a piano, scattered records. Black lime hummus, squid plancha, burrata with mango mostarda, crunchy sushi rolls. Close out with Uji matcha namelaka and sake-soaked cherries.
Gnome
Fifteen thousand square feet of hidden garden at Embassy Tech Square — cocktail bar, culinary garden, and secret party all at once. Pankaj Balachandran of Countertop designed the bar programme, and the signatures — Italian Problem, Dirty Laundry, Technically Breakfast — are the right kind. The Booze & Juice concept (freshly pressed juice paired with classic global spirits) is quietly the best idea on the menu. Bar snacks pull their weight: rock corn tempura, polenta fries with cheese olive tapenade, cream cheese and zaatar cigar rolls.
Naked & Famous
India's first octagonal bar, divided into four stations — Built, Stirred, Shaken, Neat — organised by technique rather than spirit. Two seats between each station, placing you beside the bartender rather than across from them. Named after the modern classic built on equal measures, Naked & Famous has a clear position: drinks should be understood by how they're made.
JAIPUR
Dupion
Opens at 6:30 PM and closes at 12:30 AM. Named after Dupion silk — raw-textured, historically tied to Jaipur's trading past. The cocktail menu draws from the Silk Route: teas, spices, botanicals, dried fruits, ferments, florals. House infusions, clarifications, controlled dilution.
HYDERABAD
Kadamba
Vickas Passary's rooftop bar in Hitech City overlooks Durgam Cheruvu lake, and the room. Bar lead Sujan Shetty and Palash Kadam lean pan-Indian: aamchur meets tequila, custard apple softens white rum, a Bloody Mary nods to Hyderabadi slang. Chef Jyoti Singh's food is deep-fried, chatpata, and built for sharing — anchovy fry, podi-dusted edamame, Donne mutton pulao.