#blahvsfood goes to Ekaa, Mumbai the hottest new restaurant in India.

 

I had been hearing amazing things about Ekaa for the last few months so I decided to go to Mumbai specifically to eat at the restaurant and see what the hype was about. 

This was one of those rare occasions where the place lived up to its reputation. 

This is solid, ingredient focused food that is executed really well, coherent from idea to plate. 

Located in a stunning, loft-like space in an old building in Fort, it is impressive from the moment you walk in. A high-energy open kitchen greets you on the left while you walk into a large dining space and there is a more intimate smaller room to the right. High ceilings, modernist design… Ekaa wouldn’t be out of place in Copenhagen or Brooklyn.

While ingredient focused is a much abused term, chef Niyati walks the talk, using almost entirely local produce without being pretentious about it.. no long speeches or stuffy lectures about provenance or philosophy. Instead what struck me was the playfulness of the food, the idea being to recreate memories and inspiration in ways that are fun and creative, that bring a smile to your face while also maintaining a high standard in terms of actual quality. 

The restaurant has a wonderfully egalitarian vibe, with different kitchen staff coming out for the different courses and sharing their personal stories and ideas that inspired the course at your table. It creates a sense of collaboration and warmth, resonating with my value system and my belief in empowering people to grow and explore and discover their best selves. 

Everything about the restaurant is done with a confidence and self assurance that is remarkable. I am generally forgiving of ambitious new restaurants because from Indian Accent to Masque, I have seen restaurants take 6-12 months before they finally hit their stride. Having spent so much time eating across the world, I also don’t necessarily buy into media hype about a restaurant but can see what it has the potential to eventually become and tend to focus on that. 

In the case of Ekaa, however, there is no need for any caveats or qualifiers. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s India’s best restaurant. But it is easily the best, most fully conceived and fully formed new restaurant in India in a few years, one that hits every high note in the present rather than in anticipation of its future self. I would go far as to say that along with Masque, Americano and O Pedro, this is one of the four best restaurants in Mumbai today. 

If they are able to take this fabulous beginning and continue to evolve and grow, Ekaa’s potential is limitless and I urge Chef Niyati and her team to push themselves like Masque did, like Indian Accent did, and hold themselves to the very highest benchmarks, to build a reputation as one of the very best restaurants anywhere. It’s a long and hard journey, but this restaurant definitely has the potential to get there. 

We ate:

1st course:

Cheese toast :Sweet star cookie, smoked cream, spiced potato, secret spice mix

Duck prosciutto: Dry cured and aged Nashik duck, wrapped around methi parra, with Koji oil and sea salt

Corn dog : Deep fried chicken cardamom mini sausage with onion 

2nd course:

Stone crab, house made kimchi cucumber dressing, wheat flour noodles, strawberry caviar, nasturtium 

3rd course:

Tempura fried bombil, acid seaweed powder, curry matcha, spiced bisque 

4th course: An ode to the Rajdhani express tomato soup.Tomato monkey bread, onion seed tomato glaze, roasted tomato Tapanede, cyro filtered tomato chilli water. 

Rajdhani postcard with EKAA stamp.

5th course: Duck and popcorn 

Sous vide spiced duck, Chermoula soufflé, spring chicken mousse (inspired by the historical Parinde mein Parinda)

Popcorn shard.

6th course: An iceberg course inspired by the Northern Lights and the cola, in lieu of a sorbet course.

Three sprays to colour the iceberg: rose and roselle, kaffir lime, green apple.

Surprise underneath: Japanese pink peach pearl 

7th course:

14 day cured local pork belly, pea purée, pork bone broth, cow peas and pea shoots with hyper seasonal produce.

8th course: potatoes 

Fossilised potato: lacto fermented potatoes coated in edible clay. 

Pressed new potatoes with celery salt with yeast whey and tamarind chilli 

Sourdough dill cucumber salad 

9th course:

Local avocado ice cream, chocolate salt 

10th course: Fried milk

Reduced milk, citrazon salad, coriander and milk cress. 

Served with vanilla bean gelato and orange buburare/ rice crisps.

Petit fours:

Imli candy: Jet airways imli candy with edible wrapper 

Chai toast: Tea mousse on crisp, inspired by a chai “tapri”

Chocolate shard: Rice crispies, dark chocolate, Naga pepper oil, sea salt

Milo marshmallows roasted on a table fire

Kashmiri lavender pocky with purple foil.