Mumbai’s fine dining scene just got hotter with Papa's, a new 12-seater chef’s counter

In the upscale Bandra West neighbourhood, a building’s colourful mural gave a hint of the joie de vivre inside. I walked through a buzzy sandwich shop called Veronica’s, trying not to be distracted by the aromas of grilled cheese and fried chicken as I traipsed up a narrow wooden staircase to the loft.

If you can imagine yourself in a high-octane chef friend’s home, sitting by the kitchen counter, chatting as he whips up tasty dishes, serves his favourite drinks, and does a card trick or two, then you’ll have an idea of what Papa’s, tucked under rafters, is like.

The 12-seat counter diner is the latest concept by chef Hussain Shahzad. The executive chef of the Mumbai-based Hunger Inc Group also oversees the group’s Goan-Portuguese restaurant O Pedro; Veronica’s, which I had just walked through; and popular restaurant-bar The Bombay Canteen, which is ranked No. 59 and No.70 respectively on the 2024 Asia’s 50 Best Bars and Restaurants lists.

The former storeroom has been transformed into an ‘80s Bandra home with Wes Anderson vibes. The random knick knacks, artisanal lamps, geometric tiles and chintz wallpaper were charming, the cheeky cocktails even more so. Ever had the crazy idea to drink a pizza? Head bartender Harish Subramanian had the same and then some. The Papa’s Hut cocktail steeps vodka in clarified marinara sauce while the Sea Biscuit is a concoction of clam-infused gin, basil and fennel.  Butter-washed rum and popcorn liqueur also made for a smooth Old Fashioned that got washed down a tad too easily.

The other party for the night arrived — we were sharing the dinner counter with a local family of nine celebrating a birthday.  No death stares that three journalists were crashing their gig, only warm hellos and waves all round.

We finally took our places at the dinner counter and the surprise carpet never stopped rolling throughout the 12-course meal. Hussain called Papa’s “a concept whose time has come” as Mumbai’s diners became more discerning, especially the affluent jetsetters. He is clearly all revved up for it: The food spans northern and southern Indian specificities, with a bold, inventive take that is far from contrived.

The opening snacks nodded to the Bohri thaal tradition where meals began with something sweet before segueing into the savouries. The bebinca was a cookie layered with sherry dates, celeriac and black truffle while the chhena poda took the form of a nutty, malty canele kissed with brown butter and beer, and topped with Comte cheese custard and Oscietra caviar. 

A cute ahi tuna samosa reminded us of the spicy ones we had picked off at the Lalbaug Spice Market that morning. Instead of a pastry shell, Hussain’s take on the evening ritual of having samosa and tea is that of tuna wrapper with a filling of chamomile tea jelly, horseradish and kaffir lime.

On his offbeat approach, Hussain shared: “With Papa’s we cook without rules because Indian cuisine is so steeped in the idea of history, authenticity and traditions. But the innovation of today can be the authenticity of tomorrow.”

The Chennai-born chef’s resume includes a stint at New York’s Eleven Madison Park and being tennis star Roger Federer’s personal chef before he returned to Mumbai to join Hunger Inc in 2015. He was mentored by the late Indian-American chef Floyd Cardoz, who was widely respected for pioneering Indian fine dining in New York with restaurants like Tabla and Paowalla. He was also a business partner and father figure to Hunger Inc founders Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage. When Cardoz died from COVID-19 in 2019, the trio were determined to continue his legacy of showcasing Indian flavours in a contemporary yet personal way.

Today, Papa’s is a tribute to the man who had poured his life into three young lads, seeing potential in them when they didn’t believe in themselves.

Hussain shared: “For the longest time, we Indian cooks didn’t see glamour in our own cuisine. We were trying to ape everything from the west; what we did from the ‘70s to the ‘90s was to ‘Frenchify’ Indian food as that was the epitome of gastronomy at that point.

“I used to tell Floyd that I don’t know anything about Indian food much less how to cook it. But he said that the point was not about the recipe but the flavour profiling of a region. That allowed me to question more aggressively what the cuisine was about instead of being stuck with recipes.”

So shiso tempura, beetroot tartar and a garlic emulsion were added to a simple South Indian thayir sadam (curd rice made with yoghurt, spices and curry leaves) for complexity. A minestrone-like soup of radish leaf pesto, drumstick seeds and orecchiette pasta brings the classic French onion soup to mind; except that this was made of chhurpi (yak’s milk cheese from Ladakh) and had none of the beefy unctuousness. We slurped it up in a heartbeat.

Bugs Bunny then hopped out as a shawarma of grilled dry aged rabbit marinated with a red ant glaze reminiscent of the Odisha state’s famous GI (geographical indication)-tagged kai chutney that uses the same insect.

At this point, the palate needed a break, and a refurbished ice gola machine was rolled out to oohs and ahhs. A block of strawberry ice was shaved into a refreshing “Caprese salad” of granita, stracciatella cheese and macerated strawberries and we were ready to tackle the hearty mains.

Hussain took the idea of a classic British wellington, and in one puff pastry, merged pulled lamb, chicken and morel mushroom mousseline, to highlight key elements in Kashmir cuisine: their bread baking tradition, the wazwan (multi-course meal) and haak saag (dish of leaf greens).

We had a laugh with the cheekily named What The Duck, a biryani-paella hybrid with roast duck that Hussain refers to as the “PTSD dish”. As a child, he had loved the crispy rice bits at the bottom of the pot, but always had to leave them for his younger brother. The solution probably came decades too late for Hussain, but it was our gain as we dug into the moist rice and crispy socarrat with smoked eggplant raita and a salad of pickled cucumber and beetroot.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. We got a blue cheese ice cream sandwich, whose funkiness was tempered by brown sugar toast, a jam of balsamic-stewed figs and a smashing pairing of Muscat from Vallonne Vineyards, a boutique winery in the north-western city of Nashik. The last dessert, which was Hussain’s creative North Star for the whole menu, was a zhushed up version of daarsan, a honey noodles dessert often served in India’s Chinese restaurants. The truffle honey butter-drenched potato chips in a bowl of champagne custard, lemon sorbet and Parmigiano-Reggiano also reflected Shahzad’s love for eating French fries with vanilla soft serve at McDonald’s.

Then there’re the little touches that one doesn’t usually notice but adds to a restaurant’s cosy ambience. Nostalgic noughties hits in the background, notebooks of jokes and colouring pictures to while the time between courses, and round spinning coasters built into the counter for the fidgety.

Hussain said: “There’s a Hindi phrase ‘mazza aya’, which means ‘I really had fun’. I don’t want people to leave Papa’s feeling educated, I want you to feel you had gracious hospitality and delicious food.” Cardoz would have been proud of his proteges — I ate well, laughed hard and was loathe to leave. Mazza aya indeed.