New trend: Homes turning into part-time restaurants

When planning a dinner date, you are likely to either reserve a table at a fancy restaurant or hit up your favourite eatery. But would you be interested in a fine-dining experience at an apartment?

In Bengaluru, interest is growing in intimate home-restaurant dining experiences.

Má Là Kitchen, a Sichuan supper club, is one such experience. Run by Aditya Ramakrishnan from his house in central Bengaluru, it was launched in November 2022. The idea emerged when Ramakrishnan and his wife Dongli Zhang started experimenting with Sichuan cuisine. Dongli is a native of Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan Province in China.

“Because of the Covid-19 lockdowns, my wife wasn’t able to go back to her hometown for about three-and-a-half years. She started craving food from back home and started to prepare her favourite Sichuan dishes. I joined her in the kitchen, and cooking became a stressbuster for me. As we began gaining confidence in our skills, we began inviting friends, family, and prominent city chefs over to taste the food,” says Ramakrishnan.

The couple opened their doors to the public in February 2023, soon after which they moved into a two-storey house.

“We chose this house because it was spacious enough to accommodate a small gathering. For the supper club, we use the ground floor, and the living quarters are upstairs. This helps in drawing a clear boundary,” says the 30-year-old.

Má Là Kitchen has hosted over 2,000 people so far. Ramakrishnan hosts three dining sessions every weekend, with 14 people attending each session. The seven-course meal costs Rs 4,200 per person. Some of the dishes on the menu include wood ear mushroom salad, mung bean jelly noodles, chinese steamed eggs, sweet and sour spare ribs, and dan dan noodles. In addition to the food, Ramakrishnan also shares interesting stories about food and culture with the guests.

Social circle

For Chaitra Sagar, who runs The Best Exotic Supper Club with her husband Kunal Anand, it is all about community. “While food does play a central role, we wanted the supper club to revolve around socialising. And we chose our home as the setting as we wanted our guests to be as comfortable as possible,” she tells Metrolife.

Located in HSR Layout, the couple hosts one or two dinner meets a month. Some of the cuisines they have explored so far are Goan, Spanish, and Italian. A meal here costs Rs 1,500.

“Since starting in 2022, we have had memorable conversations. We often talk about civic engagement, and how to make Bengaluru better — beyond the whining about the endless traffic. Some people also come in the hope of finding love,” explains the 32-year-old. While people of all age groups attend the supper club, a majority are millennials.

All about the food

Full-time product designer and part-time chef Anurag Arora curated the first food pop-up at his house in May 2019. After that, he went on to study at the Le Cordon Bleu London, and also interned at a dozen restaurants, in an attempt to gather the experience of working at a professional kitchen.

Since returning to Bengaluru in 2020, Arora has hosted pop-ups at his house in Indiranagar. He follows three formats. In Fried Chicken and Flowers, he serves fried chicken sandwiches while his girlfriend runs a florist shop. In Brunch Club, he offers an elevated brunch menu that looks beyond eggs. Apartment is the third and latest edition to the pop-up series, launched in December 2023. “This is a fine-dining experience. The menu is contemporary and not restricted by any cuisine," says the 33-year old. He organises the pop-ups with the help of his friends.

With Arora, the focus is always on food. “For me, the pop-ups are not about bringing people together. My focus is on the craft, and the guests understand and appreciate this. There have been instances when people were so engrossed in the food that the room fell completely silent,” he says. A meal at these pop ups costs between Rs 900 and Rs 2,750.

A dose of sugar

Sakare in OMBR Layout offers a five-course dessert menu. The experience is the brainchild of Jenny Clinta, a pastry chef hailing from Andaman and Nicobar who studied patisserie in France. It opened its doors in July 2024, and works from Jenny’s apartment. She hosts the pop-up every Saturday and Sunday around 4 pm. It costs Rs 2,500 per person.

“All the desserts are inspired by my journey. You see glimpses of French patisserie and cooking techniques, ingredients and flavours inspired by my childhood,” says the 28-year-old. One dish is the coconut flower sorbet which features sprouted coconut. “The sprouted coconut is something my dad would get us on Sundays as ‘island breakfast’. I was so surprised to find it here in Bengaluru on instant delivery services,” she says.

The menu at Sakare changes every month, and features seasonal ingredients. For this weekend, Jenny has curated a special menu for Valentine’s Day.  Some of the items on the menu include ‘The Burnt Desire’, a burnt basque cheesecake with strawberry confit and black sesame, and ‘La Vie en Rose’, a Rooh Afza infused rose apple. 

While Jenny is contemplating moving into a professional kitchen, her guests prefer the intimate setting of the house, with the eight-seater dinner table. “It is all very cosy,” she says.