Hospitality group Hunger Inc. runs some of Mumbai’s best dining spots. David Ho checks out how they infuse ‘new age Indian hospitality’ in everything, from fine dining to sweet treats
What do Dua Lipa and Nas have in common besides being music superstars? Both happen to be foodies that were lucky enough to score seats at one of Mumbai’s top tables at Papa’s.
For a fine dining spot, Papa’s is in an unassuming location. It shares a building with Veronica’s, a hip sandwich shop that is also a Hunger Inc. creation. In the attic of a former bakery in the hip neighbourhood of Bandra, the counter restaurant seats an exclusive 12. It is now one of the most in demand dining spots with bookings made months ahead of time. The wait list is bound to grow even longer, especially since the accolades keep coming. The Best Chef Awards 2025 recently honoured Papa’s chef Hussain Shahzad with the ‘One Knife’ Award, which celebrates chefs with influence beyond their kitchens.
Our evening at Papa’s was an intimate affair, where we shared laughs and lots of amazing bites and drinks. The charismatic chef Shahzad and his team kept the dishes (15 courses) coming. Each with a story to boot, like how his childhood scramble to reach the caramelized rice of at the bottom of Bohri dishes inspired an Indrayani rice dish. Meanwhile, general manager Madhusudhan Kashyap’s drink pairings, diverse playlist, and magic tricks in between courses kept the vibes going.
No one has ever walked away from an Indian meal without enough to eat. So, one can expect to eat well always, even in a fine dining setting. “At Papa’s, our journey has always been about reimagining fine-dining and Indian flavours through a contemporary lens. Thus, making the experience approachable, fun, and personal,” says Shahzad.
Those needing a night cap need only take a few steps to a bar within Papa’s. It serves up creative cocktails, with the chef concocted Papa’s Hut (a play on Pizza Hut) being a standout. With its name derived from its tomato-based flavours, the cocktail was a savoury mix of marinara and Ketel One vodka. It came with a tiny pizza in a mini box to complete the fantasy.
Besides serving up inspired dishes, Papa’s itself has an inspired name. It serves as a tribute to the late chef Floyd Cardoz, a father figure to many in Hunger Inc. For those not in the know, Cardoz was the Indian American chef behind acclaimed New York restaurants Paowalla and Tabla. People hailed him as the ‘godfather of modern Indian cuisine’ for the many breakthroughs he achieved in his lifetime. Housing Papa’s above Veronica’s was a tribute to his love for bread and fine dining. It’s clear his influence remains deeply imprinted in the DNA of everything that Hunger Inc. does.
The story of Hunger Inc. so far
Besides Papa’s, we came to get a taste of both Mumbai’s dining scene and what Hunger Inc. is doing there. The hospitality group runs five of the city’s hottest F&B game changers. The co-founders of the group, Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage, both come with experience from abroad. They decided to bring that back to India with their own brand of ‘new age Indian hospitality’.
The duo met as fellow students at Cornell’s hospitality school. They picked Mumbai, the financial capital of India, as their base for Hunger Inc. for a reason. “Mumbai is a sandbox for experimentation compared to other cities. Its sophisticated and well-travelled demographic makes it more open to dining concepts. Not just the family style meals common in other Indian cities,” says Yash Bhanage, Hunger Inc.’s chief operating officer.
The Bombay Canteen, Hunger Inc.’s first baby, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The restaurant-bar has become the go-to for Mumbai’s cool crowd, with offerings that capture the diversity of India’s flavours. On our trip, we made multiple visits to the institution and found it bustling each time. It’s a far cry from the quiet compound it set itself up in 2015.
For The Bombay Canteen’s decennial anniversary, Hunger Inc. produced a book. It served as both a menu and a disarmingly honest reflection of a decade. It covers how they came up with some of their hits and some experimental concepts that didn’t take off. It’s all part of the charm of Hunger Inc., who are open, unpretentious, and even humourous about their journey.
Spurred by the success of The Bombay Canteen, the Hunger Inc. team pressed on to open O Pedro in 2017. Set in Bombay’s financial district, the restaurant serves as a breezy oasis for harried finance bros with its Goan cuisine. So, one can expect a plethora of creamy curries and other Portuguese-influenced dishes. It has become another stalwart of Mumbai’s dining scene.
When the COVID pandemic hit, Hunger Inc. had to switch gears. Since ordering takeout was big at the time, they needed to create food that travelled well for deliveries. Hence, Veronica’s the sandwich shop was born. Even post-pandemic, it remains in demand as a dining spot with the vibes of a cool neighbourhood bar.
During our time in India, the Hunger Inc. team showed just how top-notch Indian hospitality is. From meals in their homes and even to other restaurants, we had a good taste of Mumbai’s impressive culinary scene. It hit home that Hunger Inc. had to be doing something special to stand out here. After all, it is a city that is already packed with established favourites and award-winning contemporary restaurants.
Another takeaway for us is that the players of the city’s F&B scene are incredibly tightknit and collaborative. Hunger Inc. does their bit by running a free monthly talk for those in the hospitality community. These cover a range of relevant topics, be it the intricacies of making kombucha or the female experience in hospitality. It’s also where Hunger Inc. found some of the young talents they are developing.
Sweet success
Another triumph and novel concept from Hunger Inc. is Bombay Sweet Shop. The dessert shop chain aims to revitalise Indian snacks, similar to how cultural treats like mooncakes and mochi have revamped.
With five stores to date, Bombay Sweet Shop is committed to preserving mithai (Hindi for sweets). We had the privilege of seeing how chef Girish Nayak and his team create treats, like laddu and potato salli. It’s a labour-intensive task that requires attention to detail, from temperatures to textures. One also needs in-depth familiarity with the ingredients, from the fat content of different milk to how different flavours collide.
Nayak travelled across India to learn various mithai recipes, including some that were at risk of disappearing. The, he paired them with the French techniques he honed at The Culinary Institute of America and Jean Georges. With most recipes not having specific measurements, it was a matter of practice to translate that into commercial products.
Packed for gifting and sharing, the treats are fast catching on as a Mumbai must-have. Diwali marks a peak period for Bombay Sweet Shop, with orders coming in from all over India. What makes the success even sweeter than their candies is that it is a distinctly Indian triumph. It’s a revolution that the late Cardoz started and a baton Hunger Inc. is now holding.
Clearly, Hunger Inc. is doing well. But as they explain over a lunch at O Pedro, five concepts are plenty for now. And they are not in a hurry to scale unless it makes sense. But both Seth and Bhanage feel there are more stories to tell. They just want to do so at a pace that allows them to do so meaningfully. Perhaps that is the true meaning of new age Indian hospitality they espouse. It is one of building people and community, rather than an empire. And they will do so, one great meal at a time.
Also see: #review: Raffles Bali’s Rumari serves up a dinner worth flying for
