Mumbai to Hold Second Annual Restaurant Week

6th Feb 2011

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In the last few years, Mumbai has witnessed something of a culinary explosion. In 2010, two internationally acclaimed chefs — Ian Kittichai, who is Thai, and Vineet Bhatia, an Indian — brought their considerable talents to the city. This year, two prominent global restaurant brands, Megu and Hakkasan, will open outposts here. But most of the city’s gourmands will tell you that fine dining options in Mumbai are still woefully inadequate. Mumbai’s population hovers somewhere around 14 million, but there are perhaps no more than 40 high-end restaurants in the city.

In order to celebrate this still fledgling fine-dining scene, Mumbai will host its second-ever restaurant week this month. Scheduled for Feb. 7 to 13, Restaurant Week Mumbai, or RWM, will give diners the opportunity to sample prix-fixe menus at seven of the city’s most venerated restaurants for 1,000 rupees (about $20) per person.

Conceptualized by a quartet of food-industry professionals, the inaugural restaurant week took place in September last year. “In Mumbai, people are still very conscious of what they’re paying for a meal. It’s difficult to start a high-end restaurant,” said Mangal Dalal, a 28-year-old food writer who is one of RWM’s founders, “which is why we wanted to promote the experience of fine dining and help restaurants attract a more diverse clientele.”

Last year, despite the short time span and low advertising budget, RWM managed to attract about 1,200 diners. This year, emboldened by that modest success, the organizers have decided to take the event to New Delhi as well.

Compared with last year’s version, the roster this year draws a fuller culinary arc by including restaurants like Azok, where the food is inventive modern Indian, and The Table, a newly opened California-style eatery that focuses on locally sourced ingredients. The wide diversity of cuisines means that diners can try everything from traditional tandoori kebabs to seared tenderloin to spicy dan dan noodles.