In 2025 and early this year, Bengaluru consistently introduced some incredible thematic and experiential bars, giving mixologists some well-deserved space under the spotlight. In fact, the city occupies four spots in the top 10 of the 30 Best Bars list announced in January this year.
While all the recent focus has been on bars, a new restaurant, Nila, has been prepping to open its doors to the public on January 30. It has been a while since Bengaluru has welcomed a restaurant that only offers a degustation menu, so naturally, all eyes are on it.
Nila is a brand new chapter in the culinary career of Founder and Chef Rahul Sharma. His culinary beliefs were shaped by thoughts and practices presented by global food professionals at the MAD Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2014. He was one of 10 young chefs worldwide selected to participate. On his return to India, he began to research carbon footprint, energy consumption and agricultural practices in the country to better understand how he could make sustainability-forward changes as a chef. His work received a further boost with an internship at the hallowed Noma in 2018.
In 2020, as the Executive Chef at Araku Coffee in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, he found a space that supported his intentions. From sustainable sourcing to efforts in creating a zero-waste kitchen, he left no stone unturned. Rahul created his own organic butter to match the standards of flavour he was looking for; he used vacuum-cooked banana peels to flavour cream, and created seasoning salt out of potato peels. Rahul’s ingenuity in the kitchen has been technique-forward and flavour-centric.
And it is a culmination of this journey that we see in his first independent venture with Nila.
Nila is set in a home-turned-restaurant in Cambridge Layout. Earlier, housing a naati-style restaurant, the space has undergone a sea-change from the bright lights, quick service, fast-turning tables of hungry hordes to take on a monochromatic hue, with mood lighting, minimalistic décor, an open kitchen and intimate seating choices that are well spaced for privacy, yet flexible enough to accommodate larger groups.
The glass ceiling just off the open kitchen area enjoys a steady patter of falling leaves from the tree that gently sways above and outside it. A small outdoor area will be where Chef Rahul will encourage his guests to enjoy their petit fours on a good weather evening, which Bengaluru is legendary for. Even the restroom area, behind a concealed panelled door, is done up with dynamic cove lighting, offering guests a pleasant waiting time.
The ambience sets a lovely tone for the meal experience, one that begins right as you walk in through the door.
Step past the doors, and you are in the living room of Nila, standing next to a floor-to-ceiling light installation. There are sofas, and Chef Rahul explains that you will be welcomed with rhododendron tea and nibbles. And once the restaurant’s license arrives, you will be able to choose from a selection of wines from the open wine trough placed here.
At the table (ask for one under the glass ceiling or the corner table at the end of the restaurant), the playful, round cat-shaped table décor is the first thing to catch your eye. Before you dive into the meal, Chef Rahul explains that this is not another restaurant showcasing a micro-cuisine of India – rather, it focuses on the ingredient traditions of a region and makes it the hero of a dish. The region, for the first chapter of Nila, is Nagaland, in the northeast. So don’t expect a Galho (one pot rice dish with vegetables, meat and fish) or an Anishi (dried colocasia leaves with pork or fish), the way you may know it. Instead, across 12 courses, you will see ingredients shine through.
The meal opens with black rice tucked into a tapioca dumpling, soft and yielding, finished with a light dusting of floral powder and a fresh bite of local greens. It moves into a gentle contrast of tree tomato, presented as a carved flower resting in a frothy cheese custard, its acidity rounded off by the nuttiness of perilla seed.
A one-bite ragi tart follows, earthy and crisp, layered with chive leaves, machengo, and a smooth soy cream that brings the textures together. Then comes skewered pickled persimmon, its sweetness sharpened by pork lard, mustard, and aromatic perilla leaves. One of the most striking courses centres on jewel corn, where purple and yellow kernels grown on the same plant are explored across textures: cornbread, corn custard, delicate corn microgreens, and a final dusting of powdered purple corn popcorn.
A comforting yam milk and bamboo broth follows, before a bread platter arrives with an array of dips: onion, green mango, yellow pepper, Naga chilli, and tomato chutney, bold, layered, and deeply satisfying. The menu deepens with Anishi curry, paired with charred chicken, mustard leaf, and arugula oil, bringing smoke, bitterness, and depth into balance. Pork, brined and fire-cooked, is served with a turmeric and raw mango sauce that cuts cleanly through the richness.
The course closes with wheat noodles tossed in butter, finished with bamboo XO (which deserves to be bottled and shared with the world), subtle, savoury, and lingering. Petit fours follow, alongside three desserts, best left to be discovered at the table.
The 12-course menu does what Chef Rahul set out to do: tell the story of a region through its ingredients. From black rice and tree tomatoes to wild chive leaves, anishi, and indigenous jewel corn, this first chapter will run for the quarter. After that, Chef Rahul shifts focus, introducing a new region through the next chapter of Nila.
