Try Mumbai’s newest restaurant—Ekaa

A meal at Ekaa is like a thriller—you never know what to expect on your plate until you actually go through the whole experience. Chicken parfait comes concealed deep beneath a layer of emerald beads that resemble caviar, but are actually made of soy and cilantro. A bite into a chicken and pork sausage unravels Asian flavours of kaffir lime and Thai coriander. A dish named ‘Succulent’ on the tasting menu has nothing to do with meat but is actually ice cream beautifully crafted from avocados in the shape of the plant.

The directors of this sensory show are chef Niyati Rao and restaurateur Sagar Neve. Before starting Ekaa, Rao had completed a short stint at noma in Copenhagen. It’s hard not to find inspiration at the World’s Best Restaurant. “At noma, the chefs create magic from the humblest of ingredients. And it wasn’t ingredients that were sourced from places far away. It was what’s available in our backyards.”

Forced to return to India during the lockdown, Rao met her old-time friend Neve and got cracking on the concept for her first restaurant. After over a year and a half of researching ingredients for their dishes and scouting for the right space, Ekaa is now open in Mumbai’s Fort area.

The menu is cuisine-agnostic, and one ingredient is the hero of the dish. Hence, the name Ekaa, which means “the one” or “unique”. “We wanted to explore ingredients that have never been explored before, and we wanted to do it by sourcing them locally,” says Neve, who has been in the restaurant business for nearly 10 years now.

Meal for two with alcohol: Rs1,800; The 10-course tasting menu starts from Rs3,750. Kitab Mahal, 1st Floor, D Sukhadwala Rd, Azad Maidan, Fort. Contact: 99876 57989