THE new sunday express MAGAZINE Eat Play Talk Voices Devdutt Pattanaik Shinie Antony Dr Alka Pande Ravi Shankar Dr Ramya Alakkal Mata Amritanandamayi march 1 2026 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Apron Adventures A new culinary wave is blending cuisine with art and culture—where dining feels like an experience, not just a meal Restaurants are turning diners into doers, inviting them behind the counter to knead dough, toss toppings, and fire up their own pizzas. It’s dinner as entertainment—where you bake it yourself and savour every slice twice as much Creative Consumption Restaurants are transforming into interactive playgrounds where patrons paint, glaze, and customise artefacts as part of the evening’s experience. Tables invite diners to shape and personalise objects with their own hands. In the process, they craft not just keepsakes, but memories layered with colour, texture, and a sense of authorship Mindful Mornings Cafés blend organic breakfasts with guided meditation circles and open spiritual dialogue, inviting guests to slow down and reconnect, creating a community space where mindfulness is practiced as much behind the counter as at the table A By Samiya Chopra cross Indian restaurants, dining tables are becoming more than places to eat. Bars turn into lecture halls, dining rooms into intimate stages, and menus into vessels of memory and story The old order-eat-leave routine has softened. For a . generation seeking connection as much as cuisine, restaurants are evolving into cultural sanctuaries—where food meets art, dialogue, and community What’s evolving, in essence, is the very definition of eating . out. Once a straightforward act—refuel, indulge, celebrate—dining now resembles a cultural escape. The young are not simply going out for dinner; they are seeking a narrative, a mood board, an aesthetic, a moment to collect. In an age where time feels compressed and attention fragmented, the restaurant becomes a portal. A Korean tasting introduces a city to Seoul’s street corners; a mezcal-paired supper whispers of Oaxaca; a poetry night over mezze turns strangers into confidants. This appetite is not accidental. India’s urban youth, shaped by global exposure and digital saturation, are endlessly chasing experiences that feel new, layered, and Instagrammably intimate. Novelty is the new nostalgia; immersion the new luxury If a decade ago the . flex lay in snagging a reservation at the newest restaurant, today the flex lies in discovering a pop-up supper club with a guest ceramicist or a Japanese tea ceremony tucked behind a bakery . Economists may chalk it up to the rise of the experience economy; sociologists may point to a generation starved for offline communion; restaurateurs simply call it evolution. On a winding uphill lane in Assagao, North Goa, G-Shot Coffee Roastery & Cafe sits behind an old Portuguese home. Sundays don’t just start with organic breakfasts and warm sourdough; they begin with The Sunday Sitting, a meditation circle with the team’s guru, followed by an open forum where guests ask questions about relationships, purpose, and their own meditation journeys. During her visit, market research professional Akanksha Arora found the ritual surprisingly transformative. “The meditation session made me learn how to loosen myself up, and that’s what made the experience even more soothing.” German co-owner Prem Arup describes the space as an extension of their spiritual practice. “We stumbled upon this place after years of backpacking and envisioned this cafe as a space to ground our meditation in our profession.” G-Shot also holds daily meditation sessions for its staff. “We believe in being joyfully present in whatever we’re doing—baking bread, barista duties, or cleaning washrooms.” But wellness today has travelled far beyond Goa’s tropical calm. In Bengaluru, it’s evolving into lifestyle. Sarah Nicole Edwards noticed that “wellness is no longer just a 40-minute morning walk, but has become a part of people’s way of life.” The missing piece, she felt, was connection. So she built The Studio by Copper and Cloves in Indiranagar: a plantbased café fused with movement classes like pilates and yoga to combat the loneliness epidemic. The formula works. “Working professionals come for morning classes, post which they take a shower and comfortably log into work from the cafe with their morning coffee in hand.” Software engineer Armit Sahu, 26, frequents the space for both work and community “I often socialise with the friends I . have made here.” Alongside its movement classes, the Studio moonlights as a sensorial playground—hosting mobile-free hobby clubs, networking delis, salsa sessions, and sound healing circles—each designed with one quiet intention: connection. Here, the café and movement studio don’t live in silos. Events spill across both spaces with grazing bars, hi-teas, and even protein smoothie bowls served mid-yoga. For founder Sarah, the pairing feels intuitive. “Food only ends up enhancing the experience,” she says. That same alchemy of food and experience unfolds when beer meets books, when a neighbourhood bar morphs into a third space—half lecture hall, half lively salon. At Hyderabad’s Over The Moon Brew Co., this transformation takes flight during Pint of View, a series that pulls academia out of campus and into buzzy breweries. As chairs pivot towards a projector, cocktails clink, and curiosity sharpens, attendees revisit ideas once parked in college—historic movements like the Telangana rebellion, scientific concepts like nitrogen, or art-led explorations of caricature and illustration. “We chose breweries because they are spaces designed for relaxation and socialisation, and are antithetical to the stress generally associated with lectures,” says Trisha Bhugra, curator of Pint of View’s Hyderabad chapter and a master’s student in Philosophy “This . setting shatters the intimidation that surrounds academia and dissolves the hierarchies of a lecture hall.” On Sundays, Pint of View turns the neighbourhood bar into a cerebral salon. By Thursday it becomes a trivia arena, and on Saturdays, a salsa floor. Partner Shwetha Bathla has seen firsthand how the setting changes the stakes. “The idea behind these added events is to create an engaging outing and add value to the bar’s experience.” Food has a way of unlocking memories that were once tasted and forgotten, and at Ikk Punjab in Chandigarh, it happens every day The brainchild of Rajan and Deepika . Sethi, the restaurant resurrects pre-Partition Punjab through Mathi Chholey and Shakkar Wali Roti, dishes that ignite family conversations. An elder points at the plate, suddenly transported: “Oh, this is something we used to eat.” Writer and brand lead Vernika Awal calls it “comfort food,” noting how Ikk Punjab has become a rare space where generations dine together and find common ground. But cuisine is just the entry point. With black-and-white family portraits, phulkari textiles, hardbound book stacks, and old-world showpieces, the space resembles a Punjabi family living room. From this staging emerged ‘The Heritage Gathering’, a cultural vertical that leans into art, literature, and nostalgia. The first event—a folk music baithak led by Sunaini Sharma, granddaughter of ‘Nightingale of Punjab’ Surinder Kaur—arrived with claps in unison and 1950s Punjabi classics. Book launches, author talks, and special dinners followed. “Young people coming in and connecting to their heritage is the best part,” Awal says. The restaurant becomes a living archive; the gatherings, a trunk of stories. Turn to page 2 Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment