September Hot List: New Restaurants and Bars Across India
Where to eat, drink, and casually name-drop this month
September is when the air gets restless.
Mumbai’s shaking off its last wet weeks, Delhi’s still hanging on to the heat, and Bangalore has hit that sweet spot between breezy evenings and too many beer festivals. Across India, the dining scene is leaning into the season—loud bars, intimate kitchens, chefs coming home, and brewers trying to own neighbourhoods.
Bandra’s crowded lanes just got noisier with a half-dozen new addresses, Hyderabad’s proving its cocktail game isn’t a side note anymore, and somewhere between nostalgia plates and experimental menus, the cities are asking: what does “new” really taste like?
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From cocktail dens built on 25 years of friendship, to rooftop fever dreams where seafood meets surrealist art, to fine-dining pendulums swinging between Mexico and India—the country’s new crop of restaurants and bars are loud, thoughtful, and ready to set the agenda for how you spend your nights out.
Here’s your cheat sheet to September.
MUMBAI
House of Paloma, Bandra
An art bar for the Instagram generation could have gone gimmicky; House of Paloma doesn’t. Conceived by the team behind Bangalore’s 1522 and The Reservoire, the 2,900-sq-ft space feels part gallery, part cocktail den. Siddharth Kerkar’s canvases line the walls, a rotating “Paloma Man” hangs mid-air, and the drinks lean south of the border: dill-laced tequila, rum with coconut jelly, or their namesake Paloma 1950. The kitchen, led by ex-Masque chef Pranay Shinde, pushes bar food into dinner territory—grilled chicken over kori rotti, truffled sweet potato bites, even a tandoori-smoked lobster risotto. It’s Bandra, but with sharper edges.
Common House, Bandra
Karjat’s first microbrewery has officially moved into the city, and Bandra finally gets to drink its small-batch lagers and wits without the weekend drive. The tap list rotates every fortnight, brewed back at Oleander Farms, and pairs easily with thin-crust pizzas, zaatar-spiced kebabs, and chilli cheese bread. The pitch is “more than a microbrewery”—expect karaoke, mahjong afternoons, and gigs—but really, it’s about putting Common House beers in front of a tougher, city-slick audience.
BANNG, Bandra
Garima Arora’s homecoming is loud, fragrant, and designed to grab attention. BANNG is Bangkok filtered through Bandra—two floors split between a high-energy dining room and a hawker-style bar below. The food carries Arora’s Bangkok fire: curry pastes flown in weekly, tom kha stuffed into pani puris, and a white curry laced with grilled tomatoes. Downstairs, cocktail veteran Attapon De-Silva (Asia’s 50 Best regular) builds drinks that are playful but serious: squid-vodka “sea in a glass,” a turmeric-spiked martini, a rum-curry number that shouldn’t work but does. It’s the kind of opening that sets the bar for how bold Mumbai dining wants to be.
Scarlett House, Juhu
From a Bandra bungalow to a glasshouse in Juhu, Scarlett House has scaled up without losing its brunch-friendly warmth. The new space sits inside a former film studio and leans into its cinematic bones with a sunny patio, vintage-inspired artwork, and an eight-seater cocktail bar. The menu keeps it approachable—miso fettuccine, Madras calamari, kunafa French toast—but with just enough flair to draw the Juhu crowd.
Uppu, Bandra
Southern comfort food, minus the clichés. Uppu, from the Saltt team, doesn’t chase trends—it offers tamarind rice, pineapple curry, and filter coffee in a space designed for slow meals. Think idlis, dosas, sambar with chutneys that actually matter, and Pallonji soda for nostalgia. It’s the kind of neighbourhood restaurant that works as breakfast spot, dinner table, or mid-day coffee break.
Oor, Fort
Chef Panchali Bhatia takes her mother’s recipes and places them in a Fort townhouse setting, making Oor feel like dining in someone’s home. The food sticks close to tradition—uttapams, idlis, rasam—but pulls in little surprises: walnut sheera, pineapple rasam, kottige. It’s not flashy, but it’s heartfelt, and isn’t that the whole point?
Robata Kuuraku, Phoenix Palladium
The Japanese group Kuuraku has doubled down on Mumbai with Robata—an ode to robatayaki grilling, done in front of you over lava stones. The counter seats are where the action is: skewered chicken tsukune, smoky seafood, vegetables kissed by fire. The big flex? Mumbai’s largest sake collection, with sommeliers on hand to explain the difference between crisp and umami-rich pours. It’s as close as the city has come to an authentic Japanese robata bar.
Café Calma, Marine Lines
Perched atop the Shalimar Hotel, Café Calma has returned after a refresh with the same ethos: ingredient-driven food that makes you feel better for eating it. The menu balances comfort with polish—miso-glazed mushrooms, bacon-stacked burgers, Mediterranean dips—and the cocktails are framed as a “global tasting tour.” It’s less about reinvention, more about refining what people already loved about the original.
HYDERABAD
LOQA, Jubilee Hills
Hyderabad has plenty of glitzy bars; LOQA wants to be a whole world. Built as an “experiential cocktail room,” the space folds mythology, satire, and pop culture into its drinks. The program is led by Avinash Kapoli and Krishna Kumar, who use clarified spirits, unexpected ingredients, and narrative menus to push cocktails into theatre. Food plays supporting role, but this is first and foremost about storytelling in a glass.
Oxymorons, Begumpet
Hidden inside the 130-year-old Country Club, Oxymorons flips from a small test kitchen by day to a moody, red-lit bar at night. The menu is short and deliberate: tequila with beetroot and miso, whisky with jackfruit and coconut, tequila spiked with Wai Wai masala. The food mirrors the playfulness—beetroot sundal, curry-podi fries, mushroom ceviche. It’s founder Rehan Guha’s most personal project, designed for clarity and surprise. Hyderabad’s cocktail scene now has real bite.
BENGALURU
Mirth, Indiranagar
Bangalore has never been short on bars, but Mirth is different—it’s less “see and be seen” and more “pull up a chair and stay awhile.” Four childhood friends built this 65-seater as an ode to the city’s old pub culture, then handed the cocktail reins to Dev Narveker and Omkaar Vidhyadhar Parab. Expect whisky with blue cheese, tequila spiked with jalapeño brine, and a highball cut with Gundu chilli. The food, from chef Baljeet Singh Mehra, is big on bold flavours: a Goan ros omelette reimagined with Asian chicken, chilli-oil spaghetti, pork with smoke and crunch. It’s a space where the founders still sit with a drink in hand—part neighbourhood haunt, part love letter to the Bangalore that made them.
The Jamming Goat, Marathahalli
At 6,500 sq. ft., with a surrealist octopus light installation dominating the rooftop, The Jamming Goat doesn’t do subtle. The newest project from Kompany Hospitality, it’s equal parts brew garden and theatrical playground. Seafood leads the menu—lobster with mustard mayo, stuffed bhangda fry, spicy octopus stir-fry—balanced by playful plates like cafreal arancini and broccoli poppers with avocado-wasabi mousse. It’s bold, brash, and built for nights that lean into excess.
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Royal China, Vittal Mallya Road
The Cantonese institution that’s fed Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Pune finally lands in Bangalore. Royal China is old-school fine dining with its classics – crisp aromatic duck with pancakes, prawn dumplings, sea bass with ginger and spring onion, and glossy black pepper lobster. What keeps it relevant two decades on is consistency—still run with the same precision Neville and Michelle Vazifdar brought from London in 2003, still serving the dishes that hooked Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor.
Mai Mai, Indiranagar
Mai Mai is a mood—warm lights, 30 seats, and East Asian food cooked with memory. It’s not chasing trends; it’s curating moments. Expect dumplings stuffed with sweet potato and pepper, aburi salmon rolls torched to order, bibimbap layered with house-made kimchi. Desserts like dark chocolate and mandarin cake end things on a high note. With its kombucha cocktails and ramen bowls, Mai Mai feels intimate, precise, and quietly confident.
Kokoro, Indiranagar
From the team behind Nasi and Mee comes Kokoro, a Japanese comfort spot that wants to make ramen less of a queue and more of a habit. Tonkotsu, spicy miso, and Korean-inspired broths anchor the menu, with donburi bowls and sushi rolls filling out the sides. No frills, no exclusivity, just everyday Japanese plates done right.
DELHI-NCR
Pendulo, Mehrauli
A 14-course conversation between India and Mexico, co-helmed by chefs Megha Kohli and Noah Louis Barnes. The menu swings between smoky, spicy, acidic, and fermented—tomato-shorba aguachile, lobster mojo de ajo, Tellicherry pepper birria tacos. Fay Baretto builds a cocktail list to match: mezcal with coffee and caramel, rasam turned into a highball. Pendulo doesn’t mimic; it finds rhythm between two cuisines and lets them dance.
Mi Piaci, Mehrauli
Run by an all-Italian team—chef Mattia, a pizza master, and Indian-born, Bologna-raised Harsh Rathore—Mi Piaci is as close as Delhi has come to a real trattoria. Fresh pasta every day, Parmigiano tossed at the table, tiramisu assembled before you with house-made ladyfingers. Ingredients are flown in, but the vibe is relaxed: rooftop spritzes, basil cocktails, and an Italian crew calling the shots.
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SH/FT, Gurugram
By day, it’s a coffee bar fuelled by Subko and serving burrata rigatoni; by night (soon), it’s a vinyl bar spinning jazz and disco. SH/FT is trying to slow Gurugram down with analogue rituals—listening to records, drinking carefully brewed coffee, eating unfussy bowls. Expect open mics, book clubs, and trivia nights.
Madam Chow, The Oberoi Gurgaon
Dim sum with truffle cream, wok-tossed eggplant, a theatrical pastry “bonfire” for the table—Madam Chow is an ode to Sichuan and Guangdong in a plush two-level space. The bar keeps it sharp with a mandarin-spiced old fashioned, and the menu balances punchy spice with subtle textures.
Fromage, New Delhi
Chef Gopika Agarwal’s Italian obsession has turned into Fromage—a trattoria obsessed with dough and cheese. Think pillowy gnocchi, vegan marinara pizza bold enough to skip cheese, Amalfi lemon tart that tastes like sunshine. It’s vibrant, modern, and unashamedly about joy.
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Refuge, GK2
Aditya Mohan’s Refuge is a two-level bar built around migration as theme and cocktails as narrative. The ground floor is coffee and calm; upstairs is anchored by a 42-foot bar, one of Delhi’s longest. Drinks like the 996 Gin Fizz and Olive Trail weave migration stories into flavours. Food is globally inspired, but the drinks do the heavy lifting.
Gordon Ramsay Street Burger, IGI Airport
Ramsay’s first India outpost isn’t a temple of fine dining—it’s burgers at Terminal 1. Paneer tandoori, butternut bhaji, his signature fried chicken burger, loaded fries, sticky toffee pudding. It’s fast, brash, and unmistakably Ramsay.
Nukkad Café & Bar, GK2
Retro gaming nostalgia reimagined as a bar. Snake-and-ladder staircases, Mario pixel art, cocktails that nod to the ‘90s. Food is childhood favourites remixed. It’s playful, but built to pull Delhi’s millennials back into their arcade days.
Oju, Gurgaon
From the house of Neuma (and backed by Karan Johar), Oju is a cocktail-first ode to umami. Details are still under wraps, but expect it to blur cinema, theatre, and drinks into one of Gurgaon’s more talked-about openings.
PUNE
Kynd Cafe & Bar, The Mills
Plant-based dining meets nightlife. Kynd is built on sustainability—reclaimed wood, eco-friendly finishes, greenery everywhere—but doubles as an all-day café and bar. Food is vegetarian, drinks are mindful, but the energy is warm and modern. By day, it’s coffee and calm; by night, cocktails and music. Pune’s first real attempt at “mindful indulgence” without sacrificing vibe.