First Look at Joshi House, a new minimalist restaurant in Bandra, Mumbai

At Joshi House, we meet a vegan ceviche that did not feel like a compromise.

On our plate is a layered arrangement of palm hearts, young coconut, jalapeños, and green apple salsa. This cold dish is strikingly different from (but as interesting as) the menu’s more classic Nikkei Tuna Ceviche. In it, cool cubes of leche de tigre-cured fish sit under a tumbleweed of sweet potato crisps, on a bed of glistening cucumber discs, fringed with slivers of buttery avocado and ripe cherry tomatoes. Both appetisers are textural marvels assembled with an agile hand—chilled, light, complex, with a satisfying bite, and a judicious nod to acidity and heat. Samin Nosrat might approve.

These bites from the raw bar made our first taste of Pali Naka's delicious new restaurant, Joshi House, a place that could not have been more appropriately named. Its five dining areas–each with their distinct mood—are instantly comfortable, the sort of place where everyone will feel like a regular, with their favourite table, and a preferred seat on it.

If the House feels less like a restaurant, and more like a generous friend's airy alabaster bungalow, this is no happy accident. “I want all my guests to feel like they have come to my home,” says owner and restaurateur Suren Joshi. “This has been important to me for all my properties.” Indeed, his last restaurant was called Su Casa.

Joshi was also a founder at the erstwhile Pali Village Cafe, so the location holds nostalgia for him. When the property came on the market about a year ago, he picked it up and then figured out what he wanted to do with it. Star architect Ashiesh Shah transformed the space to look like a minimalist mansion in busy Bandra. “Joshi House is a bit of Rajasthan contemporary in Bombay,” says Shah. “It feels like a very well-travelled, nomadic tastemaker's home somewhere in Jaipur. I wanted to create something that looked like it has always existed—it should feel like the haveli has always been here, and I've just painted it all.”

Joshi spent his childhood in Rajasthan, which explains the connection. The bohemian courtyard, with fluffy cushion-laden sofas, vivid red chairs, hand-carved pale marble balustrades, a burbling fountain, potted plants, and a tree, is flanked by a serene monochromatic dining room with wood and white terrazzo tables. Arches abound. Stairs from the courtyard lead to the second storey, and a charming, intimate balcony with two tables for two. Here high-backed armchairs allow us to rest our hands on the backs of their silver lion armrests. It's an excellent spot for a date—intimate, secluded, with an option to observe the bustle below. Indoors on the first floor, softly gleaming argentine booths for four in a narrow hallway lead to an 'elephant safari bar' with monochrome murals of pachyderms over low-slung charcoal couches, under a glimmering glass mosaic ceiling. A curtained gilded bar counter makes this a room with many possibilities–we foresee private dinners, speakeasy events, and hedonistic birthday brunches.

Joshi House, like Pali Village Cafe, serves only wine. An extensive list culminates with a pageful of approachable, playful wine cocktails, some of them in martini glasses. One such is Clear Curry, white wine made slightly savoury by infusing it with kadipatta. We were skeptical until we tried it.

Who would think that sparkling wine spiked with hazelnut and vanilla would pair well with chaat? It does, when the chaat is a sweet potato shammi topped with avocado salsa and a scoop of frozen yogurt, or a khasta kachori blanketed with mutton kheema, chutneys, and an unctuous, throat-tingling nihari jus (that we want to drink straight from the jug, and we do). The effervescence cuts through the richness of these dishes, and of an unfussy, unadorned, but tasty, juicy mutton seekh.

If the House feels like a home, the menu feels like it belongs to a house party or potluck by professional chefs. It's eclectic and diverse, featuring small plates and large, with something for everyone, without coming off as a multi-cuisine mishmash.

And so, Penne Pomodoro and roast chicken feature on it as easily as the Japanese-Lebanese pastiche of miso-glazed eggplant on a billow of labneh and cumin-caramelised carrots, or the on-the-shell lobster Shetty, which is lavished with a sauce that seems like the lovechild of ghee roast and gassi.

Joshi, who has also founded and owns coffee shop Javaphile, and the gym I Think Fitness, says he believes in getting a great team together and then letting them take charge with minimal interference from him. Chef Richard D'Souza, who helms the kitchen has previously worked at Pali Bhavan and Masala Craft, while his sous chef Ajinkya Biwalkar was part of the kitchen team at The Table, and junior sous chef Insiya Rangila has earned her chops at Taj Land's End and Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai. For our meal, two days before opening, each dish was brought out and introduced by the chef or the cook, who conjured it.

Dessert for our table was tiramisu and a disc of ghevar and an opera. Except that the tiramisu here is a cruffin-like roulade with coffee ganache, mascarpone mousse, and a liquid centre of coffee reduction that's so strong it's like bitter treacle; the barely sweet opera has matcha sponge, mango-passionfruit jelly, and snow made from the best mango milkshake of our childhood memories; the stellar ghewar is sandwiched and piped with saffron rabri cremeux and pistachios. Joshi tells us he has a sweet tooth. 

He also has an appetite for courage and conviction—it's a tough time to be launching a new restaurant property while solid dining institutions are struggling to survive. Joshi believes that Joshi House offers the sort of relaxed elegant comfort that people are seeking now. After our visit, we suspect he might be right.

Address: Plot Number 602, Dr Ambedkar Road, Pali Naka, Bandra West, Mumbai. For reservations, call: 9220081888

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