The new wave of North-East Indian food in Andheri
Summary
From delivery kitchens to full-fledged restaurants, young entrepreneurs from India's North-East are reclaiming their distinct culinary cultures, and serving the traditional cuisines in Mumbai's western suburb of Andheri
In Mumbai’s western suburb of Andheri, a Naga restaurant has been running with packed tables on weeknights. Not far, a small eatery is popular for its modest thalis from the North-East. A few kilometres away, a cloud kitchen specialising in Manipuri food has just opened. And, an expert home chef has been familiarising Mumbaikars with the indigenous foods of Assam.
There has never been a better time for north-eastern food in Mumbai, and that too in the heart of Andheri West. Since the pandemic, a renewed spotlight on hyperlocal cuisines across the country has seen young entrepreneurs from India’s eight sister states reclaiming their distinct eating cultures through delivery kitchens and budget-friendly 10-14 seaters in the area. It helps that the suburb’s booming F&B scene, backed by expanding infrastructure and popularity as a hub for the film and TV industry, draw migrants from the region, primarily seeking opportunities in the restaurant, beauty and wellness industries, and often for that one big break in showbiz.
'Amid Mech, who landed in Mumbai from Baksa in Assam in 2007, wanted to become an actor, but as things would have it, he ended up working at restaurants and spas. In 2023, he started The Taste of Northeast India. “Like most of us, I missed my home food. So I decided to open a restaurant serving dishes from my region," says Mech, who travelled across Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya for research, and runs it along with his Naga wife Thunchen Beni in Versova.
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The menu is simple—chicken curries with bamboo shoot and bhut jolokia chillies, banana blossom and fermented fish chutneys, zero-oil dishes and Assamese masor tenga (fish curry)—and modestly priced at ₹400-500 for a meal for two. “Earlier people were wary of the flavours, but today they ask me to cook axone (fermented soybean)."
For Lin Laishram, the Manipuri model and actor from the 2019 Netflix film Axone, starting a cloud kitchen was a way to channel her love for the food she grew up eating. Born in Imphal, she launched Akhoi last month in Versova. Laishram moved to Mumbai in 2001 and after graduating from Sophia College, she relocated to Andheri for work, as most of “the production houses and casting agencies were in Lokhandwala or Versova."
The thalis ( ₹550-650) are best-sellers, and include ooti, a dried peas dish, eromba, a chutney traditionally made of ngari or fermented fish and mashed veggies, the classic singju, a spicy salad, and a delicious chakhao, or black rice kheer. Although most of the ingredients like wood ear mushrooms, herbs like culantro, and heiribob, a pomelo-like fruit, are sourced from back home, she is happy to find seasonal items at the local Four Bungalows market.
In nearby Juhu, Singju opened in January with its selection of Assamese, Naga and Manipuri food. Co-founder Raktim Roy, who came to Mumbai from Guwahati in 2009 to work in film production, says, “There was always a vacuum of not having access to home food." The menu has a few Nepali/Tibetan and Chinese dishes too because the latter “is the go-to food for Mumbaikars, and we thought they might serve as an entry point to our cuisines."
North-East migrants once thronged Kalina-Santa Cruz, where the University of Mumbai campus welcomed students from the region. Old-timers remember Thotrin cafe for its pork specialities, momos, snails and fermented items. Archaeologist and culinary historian Kurush Dalal, who taught on the campus from 2011-19, remembers the premises being open to students from the North-East for Sunday mass. “A hearty pork curry with potatoes and sticky rice remains my favourite at Thotrin," he says.
In 2023, when the F&B industry was slowly bouncing back from the pandemic, two friends decided to open a restaurant that would serve simple, home-style food from Nagaland. Former flight attendant Watirenla Longkumer and fashion consultant Zhuvikali Assumi are from Dimapur, and moved to Mumbai for work. They had started Naga Belly from their apartment in the Oshiwara locality during the lockdown. “We didn’t take it seriously because we were sceptical about how people would react because our food is cooked without oil and spices, and often has a funky flavour," says Longkumer. But when orders started coming in, they had to step up. Today, Naga Belly (mains ₹350-500) is known for its fiery smoked pork and bamboo shoot curries and axone chicken wings, and an excellent anishi pork, a speciality of the Ao tribe. “We wanted a space on the main road, and not hidden in some gully," she adds.
Andheri also works for business owners as rents are comparatively lower than the city’s southern neighbourhoods, and Bandra. Gitika Saikia, who has championed the foods of her Assamese community for over a decade, says, “Considering south Mumbai’s vegetarian population, it is tricky to own non-vegetarian kitchens there, that too for cooking pork and buff." Saikia, who runs Gitika’s Pakghor out of her apartment in Andheri West, initially got flak for serving red ant eggs and silkworms that she grew up eating for festivals like Bihu. “I’d say the attitude has changed. People now understand there is a cuisine different from Chinese or Bengali," she adds.
In a sea of restaurants serving regional cuisines and global flavours, food from the North-East is clearly having a moment here. While Laishram says, “we deserve it", Saikia believes, “there is a long way to go."
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