MENUS ARE GRAPHIC AND CHATTY

Some seem like a resume – everything’s squeezed into two pages. Others go on for eight. In most cases, the artwork is light, fresh, illustrated. Though photos are not uncommon for specialty cuisines such as Asian and Mexican.

For new foods in a new city, art helps. The bubble-tea menu at Burma Burma, Bengaluru has colour-coded jar images to help tell berry matcha (purple, green) from Nutella (brown). Social Hauz Khas Delhi gives the eyes a break from the long list of dishes with a graphic pizza menu. Each slice bears the name of the dish. Mehico Kolkata has blurbs on how to pronounce antojitohs (ahn-toh-hee-tohs) and other tongue twisters, and explanation for Birria, Tlayuda, Pastor and Panela. There’s also a glossary at the end for Mexican ingredients and seasonings, spice levels and flavour profile of various chillies.

Everyone wants a word. Slow Tide in Goa opens with a quote about food and identity by Anthony Bourdain. Romaania, in Kolkata, has a full-page essay about Greek life and food. In Mumbai, O Pedro’s intro travels the world. AMPM Kolkata has a foreword about the timelessness of the city and a closing note about the founder. And almost every new menu comes with a This Is Us story, often bearing the chef’s name, sometimes their photograph and, in the case of Cavatina by Avinash Martins in Goa an anecdote about his time in Spain. Many menus try to blend prose with poetry. It doesn’t always work – what to make of “serendipitous flavours” and “white stardust”?

Icons are everywhere, but they’re confusing. Green dot for vegetarian, red for meat and fish, little chillies to indicate spice levels. So far so good. But restaurants are developing their own shorthand for Jain, gluten-free, vegan, seafood, chef’s special, poultry, red meat, sugar-free, eggs, common allergens such as nuts. Sukoon by Joshi House in Mumbai has a mandala symbol against some dishes, indicating they’re sattivk. On the Pepper Town Kolkata menu is an icon marking oven-baked offerings (and thus a longer preperation time). Sorano, also in Kolkata, features separate symbols for signature dishes and must-orders. Aren’t those the same?

We loved the menu design at Pandan Chennai, Klap Delhi, Khubani Delhi, Miss Ginko Kolkata. The most elegant, legible, navigable, fun and beautiful, by far: The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

TRENDY INGREDIENTS ARE A REAL MOUTHFUL

Waiter, there’s a lactobacillus in my chicken burger. For real. It’s on the menu at Qla, Delhi. What is it? The restaurant doesn’t say. But it comes with avocado, pickled red onion, pickled habanero, herb ranch aioli, baby romaine.

We guarantee you won’t know every one of these new entrants: Vaduvan honey, roselle, kaarage, furikake, teffal dust, hog plum, espuma, erissery, coffee stone, samuza, streusel, schug dust, mostarda (it’s not mustard), elote, queso fresco, gnudi, tiger’s milk.

Too easy? How about dakgangjeong, gougeres, kecap manis, candlenut, blue pea (not a pea), gomasio, barigoule, seabura, mayu (not mayo), shichimi dust, schiacciata, jakhiya seed, katafi, stifado, cultured butter (it can’t quote Rumi) and ume?

Even descriptions are next-level. On the winter menu of Noon, Mumbai, Hymn to Ladakh bears this description: Khurra, nolen gur garum tomatoes, goat butter, zavasachi chutney.

VEGETARIAN FOOD IS BRANCHING OUT

The selection is longer. Not much paneer. It’s all burrata. Almost 50% of the menus on our list have it. It’s on Italian menus, obviously, but has jumped into other cuisines too. Lupa Bengaluru’s burratina comes with pumpkin and chickpea miso puree and melon seed gremolata. Perch Delhi serves a truffle burrata. Sorano Kolkata has a separate burrata section with three kinds: Pesto, truffle gold and prosciutto.

Even fungi are specialised. Lupa in Bengaluru puts five kinds on a single pizza. Masque in Mumbai adds morels and shimeji, miso and mushroom trimmings to their Uttarakhandi bhutwa. Bhawan in Delhi serves portobello mushroom tikkas. In Bengaluru, Toast and Tonic has five kinds of mushroom with burrata on flatbread. Bandra Born in Mumbai serves a mushroom tart of “various mushrooms treated differently” and porcini chutney. In Kolkata, AMPM serves bao sliders with cremini, shiitake and black fungus. A soup served by Koko in Bengaluru contains porcini, snow fungus and truffle emulsion. Olive Bar & Kitchen Delhi serves mushrooms from Nagaland on sourdough pita along, with trumpet mushrooms and truffled labneh.

Avocado is on more than toast. Olive Bar & Kitchen Delhi has an avocado and seaweed salad in tahini-ginger dressing. In Bengaluru, Jugni puts it in a chat inside a mathri cone. Lupa, also in Bengaluru, tosses it in a barley salad. Delhi’s Bhawan puts it into sev puri. Most dishes are dressed up slices: Koko Bengaluru has avocado sashimi, the tartare at Kampai Aerocity in Delhi has chopped avocado with yuzu kosho and rice crackers.

New green entrants include sweet potato, lotus and banana stem and flower. Sky in Chennai stuffs lotus petals with pickled shiitake and lotus stem. Klap Delhi’s Shakarkandi Chaat roasts sweet potato and adds crispy kale, potato skins and red dragon fruit chutney. At Chennai’s vegetarian restaurant, Hamsa, are moringa leaf and lentil patties. Qla Delhi serves cassava chips with spicy tomato dust and chipotle mayo. The North loves halloumi. There’s lots of edamame and hummus too. Often the stars align, creating edamame hummus.

THE KITCHEN KEEPS PIVOTING

Seasonal, limited edition, hyperlocal foods are trending. In Goa, Edible Archives’ menu says they only serve indigenous rice varieties, sourced directly from farmers and farming collectives. So, what ends up being served may change from week to week. Among their top sellers are madi cutlets, made from a local tuber that is only available right after the monsoon. In Chennai, Koox advertises that their tiger prawns come from nearby Puducherry Bay. The cutlets at Cavatina in Goa are doubly local: Betul rock crabmeat in a Canacona chilli masala. Toast and Tonic Bengaluru marinates its beef filet in agave from Chittoor and sources soft-shell crab from Bhimavaram, both in Andhra Pradesh.

Learn how to pronounce degustation. Day-GOOS-Taas-Yawn. It’s French for tasting menu, which most upscale restaurants now offer. Check them out at Indian Accent and The Bombay Canteen Mumbai, Sarvaa and Cavatina in Goa, Burma Burma in Bengaluru.

IT’S THE YEAR OF THE PIG

Belgian pork dominates the bottom-of-menu prime slot, ousting old favourite Norwegian salmon. It shows up on Asian, European and regional menus. In Delhi, Kalp serves it Korean-style with spicy gochujang paste and also in a flatbread; Kampai puts it on the menu six times; Plats presents it sticky barbecue style, with veggies and crackling; Olive sends it out with gulkand rose jam. In Mumbai, get it at The Table as a glazed chop with pineapple roasted in brown butter; or at Mag St Kitchen as Tamarind Pork with Coconut Rice; or as a slow-cooked thukpa at The Bombay Canteen. Bengaluru’s Toast and Tonic has a Khasi pork burger. Chennai’s Sky serves it braised, as a main course. In Goa, Sarvaa has Injupuli ribs in a tamarind ginger sauce. Much of this is pork belly. Where’s the rest of the animal?

BUT A BIRD IS CATCHING UP

Duck has escaped the Asian kitchen. It’s in the spring rolls at IZA in Bengaluru, in phyllo sheets in Chennai’s Pan Sauce Poetry, as a roast in Klap Delhi. Kakapo, also in the capital, serves the bird in kibbeh, and has a Peking Duck option. Delhi’s Qla serves it aged, with beets. In Mumbai, Ekaa has a koji-cured version. Indian Accent Mumbai turns it into smoked shaami. Masque Mumbai has a duck pepper fry sausage with Malabar paratha. Bandra Born, also Mumbai, has duck chawal with onion and peas.

A BIT OF MILLET

It’s rare to have millets appear more than twice on the same menu. Toast and Tonic Bengaluru mixes bajra with ricotta to make gundi, a variation of Persian Jewish meatballs. Kakapo Delhi has a burrata with chickpea and sorghum chat. Sukoon in Mumbai uses kodo in khichdi. Their millet maggie has millet noodles with broccoli, green peas, capsicum and edamame.

YOU’RE NEVER FAR FROM DIM SUM

The Hong Kong-born dumplings have a section unto themselves at pan-Asian places, at restaurants that claim to serve authentic Japanese, on vegetarian-only menus, at multi-cuisine places. Five essentials: Har gow, sui mai, a bao, a puff, and some kind of pan-fried gyoza.

Edging closer are Korean flavours. Think of kim chi as the new spicer-upper for a burger, a soup, a noodle bowl or grilled meats. In Goa, The Second House serves kim chi cutlets with a tamarind-chilli dressing.

EVERYONE WANTS A PIECE OF MUMBAI

Dishes created in (or made famous in) Mumbai are on menus far away from Mumbai. In Chennai, it is possible to order an Anda Kejriwal at Sky, and a South-Mumbai style butter-garlic lobster (bread and all) at Kai. Burma Burma in Bengaluru has Pineapple Energee ice-cream, inspired by a Mumbai dairy. At the Hauz Khas Social in Delhi it’s a packed Mumbai Local: Bombay Bhelpuri Salad, Vada Pao Bao and Bombay Bachelors Sandwich. Even Goa can’t escape. Slow Tide serves Bandra Potato chops, Bhujing Chicken and Bombay Kheema Pao.

Of course, Mumbai loves Mumbai. Bandra Born’s menu riffs on local favourites and retro standards. Aamchee is devoted to Mumbai street foods. The Table has a SoBo Salad. What do uptown folks prefer? Hass avocado, grains & greens, chickpea.s, feta, pumpkin seeds, and mustard vinaigrette.

THERE’S PROFIT AT EVERY CORNER

The most expensive single dish on the menus we saw: Steamed chilli crab at Bomras Goa priced at ₹3.500.

With pricing, 5 is the new 9. Old-style charm pricing ( ₹299, ₹449) is subtler. It’s now ₹395, ₹765, ₹1345. At Kolkata’s Mehico, tacos cost ₹455, ₹395, ₹555, or ₹475. Even desserts range from ₹225 to ₹455. Everything on Goa Hosa’s menu ends with 5. It’s the same at Hamsa in Chennai: The starters are ₹325. The mains are ₹545, ₹525 and so on.

Small plates (sized somewhere between starters and mains) are big business. In Bengaluru, Lupa’s “Hot small plates” feature crispy lamb, hummus, stuffed chicken wings, and vegan patatas bravas. Chennai’s Koox includes mushroom pizza and Mala chicken. In Kolkata, Cobo’s small plates have mock meats, and little pizzas. There are 20 small plates at Goa’s Slow Tide including Moringa fritters and peanut butter roast chicken. In Mumbai, the tandoori octopus and Andhra bheja fry are affectionately clubbed under “Chhotas” at The Bombay Canteen. O Pedro’s section serves shrimp wafers and garlicky potato chips.

All good things come in threes. Fancy some hummus? Kakapo in Delhi has a set with edamame, black eye bean and chickpea-lentil. At Burma Burma in Bengaluru, the salad sampler is a trio: tea leaf, sunflower leaves, raw mango. Phurr in Bengaluru even sends chutneys out in threes.

Breads are rising. Sourdough holds up everything from a toast and sandwich to flatbread and pizza. Jugni in Bengaluru has hemp rotis. Perch in Delhi has sourdough sandwiches, sourdough pancakes. Bombay’s Aamchee serves sourdough pao.

THE GREAT INDIAN POTLUCK

Regional dishes are travelling farther than ever from their hometowns. More specialties from the south have headed north than vice versa. On The Bombay Canteen menu in Mumbai, a Khasi pork pao sits comfortably next a Kerala mutton masala roll. Kai in Chennai offers Kolkata kathi rolls alongside Goan mackerel recheado. At Klap Delhi, there’s both paniyaram and Kerala meen pollichathu. In Bengaluru, Jugni’s menu has both bhetki paturi parcels and Nagpur chicken tenders, peanut coating and all. To hit a trifecta, order a Manipuri black rice dosa at Bawri in Goa. Or head to Bhawan in Delhi for appam benedict and ask for pork chorizo sausage and crisp bacon bits as the add-on.

Lesser-known ingredients are holding their own. At Burma Burma Bengaluru, banana flower croquettes come with kokum creme. The bloom is also served at Sky in Chennai and Sarva in Goa. Toast And Tonic in Bengaluru serves smoked bandel cheese, Gobindbhog arancini, and nolen gur tres leches. In AMPM Kolkata, meanwhile, there’s Champaran meat pot pie.

EVERYTHING’S COMING UP JACKFRUIT

The fruit has had a savoury glow-up, and it’s left biryani behind. Mumbai’s O Pedro stuffs them in neureos with smoked eggplant ketchup and pickled pumpkin salsa. Edible Archives in Goa puts them into mini rolls. AMPM Kolkata fills them into tacos. They’re grilled for salad at Burma Burma Bengaluru and stewed in curry at Sky in Chennai. Kakapo in Delhi finds they’re in baos. Olive Delhi uses them on a mini pizza. At Indian Accent Mumbai, they co-star with sweet potato in podimas.

ONE WORD IS OFF-LIMITS

It showed up as bif, buff, B**F, tenderline, tenderlin and tenderloin. Never as beef.

AND NO MATTER THE CUISINE, DESSERT IS MOSTLY WESTERN

First the standards: A brownie, a cheesecake, a creme brulee and a rich chocolate dessert hold up most dessert menus. There’s usually one Instagram-friendly frill – a flambee, a pull-me-up mousse, a coffee-cream-vanilla concoction pretending to be tiramisu or tasting portions of them all.

And there’s always room in the freezer for home-made ice-cream. Vanilla, chocolate and one wild card flavour: anything from miso, gulkand, nolen gur to matcha, gajar ka halwa, even durian.

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