What to expect from chef Manish Mehrotra's new restaurant Nisaba

On the first floor of the Humayun’s Tomb Museum Complex in Delhi, a new restaurant, Nisaba, opens this weekend. The facade seems like a seamless extension of the heritage precinct with its jaalis, use of sandstone and play of light. The interiors are minimalist with sleek contours and clean lines in a bid to keep the spotlight firmly on the food. A sculpture by Dhananjay Singh, known for his organic forms crafted from bronze and metal wire, anchors the space. The work is a reflection of nature’s bounty with an allusion to the very name of the restaurant, Nisaba, or the Sumerian goddess of grain, nourishment and writing. This much-anticipated space is chef Manish Mehrotra’s first restaurant under his own banner, Manish Mehrotra Culinary Arts (MMCA), backed by partners and entrepreneurs Amit Khanna and Binny Bansal.

Many of Mehrotra’s inventive creations from the years he spent at Indian Accent in Delhi have been imitated by others across the country, from his blue cheese naan and pulled kathal taco to besan laddoo tart. His style of serving sorbets in pressure cookers too has been copied endlessly. At Nisaba, he starts with a clean slate. “Here, you will find relatable comforting flavours—nothing is intimidating,” says Mehrotra. “This is an Indian menu for a global Indian.”

The set of 42 dishes offers an interplay of the familiar and the innovative. The details in every creation touch upon a memory. The use of fried chironji in the baked rasmalai, for instance, takes me back to the desserts made by my grandmother, the small nutty seeds adding a crunch. Mehrotra adds another layer of texture with the use of nolen gur makhana. Regional flavours are elevated through sub tle innovation—like the mushroom chops, reminiscent of the Bengali chop, served on a bed of mushroom makhani. Or, the stuffed sweet pepper that brings zing to the delicate chicken reshmi, Himachal gucchi and shroom naan. The buknu, a spice mix traditionally made in homes in Uttar Pradesh both for its flavour and medicinal value, makes an appearance in the samosa served with Moradabadi dal and “everything chutney”. “I don’t want to label the food at Nisaba. We are not calling it modern Indian or regional Indian. The dining habits across the country have changed in the last 25 years—our menu seeks to represent that growth,” says the chef.

In a way, the restaurant reflects the latest stage in the evolution of modern Indian food within the fine-dining space, which started with in-your-face experimentation, molecular gastronomy and deconstructed dishes. Then came chef-led eateries such as Indian Accent, Junoon by Vikas Khanna, who now helms Bungalow in New York, Gaggan Anand’s eponymous restaurant in Bangkok, The Bombay Canteen, Masque and Tresind Studio in Dubai led by Himanshu Saini. They added a sophisticated touch to regional flavours, bringing their own vocabulary and ideology to the menu. In the latest chapter, you can see a certain maturity, driven by subtlety, in the approach to Indian cuisine.

Raaj Sanghvi, CEO of the culinary events and rating platform Culinary Culture, too, has noticed the change. In his view, diners are no longer impressed with theatrics or gimmicks. Innovation today is quieter, more confident and rooted in flavour, often marked by simple presentation. “This is a conscious move away from the tasting-menu-only format that Manish (Mehrotra) helped popularise at Indian Accent. The focus now is on flexibility and allowing diners more choice in how they experience the food,” he says.

This is the first of the big launches that the Capital is likely to see this year, the other being Gaggan Anand’s RaGa, which will open later in 2026. Both bring the focus back to Delhi as a dining destination. According to Sanghvi, while Mumbai and Bengaluru were pushing boundaries and building strong chef-driven dining cultures, Delhi’s identity had become overly dependent on legacy and hotel restaurants. “Manish’s Nisaba and Gaggan’s RaGa have the potential to decisively shift that balance back. What makes it more significant is that both chefs could have chosen to open anywhere in the country, yet both have con sciously chosen Delhi. That alone signals renewed confidence in the city as a serious dining destination,” he says.

Both restaurants are steering clear of tags such as ‘traditional’ or ‘formal’ dining. According to Mehrotra, Nisaba lies between the casual and fine-dining space with accessible price points. Sanghvi notes that both Mehrotra and Anand, who once operated exclusively at the top of the dining pyramid, now recognise that the most exciting space lies in the middle. “Indian diners have changed, palates have evolved and there is a grow ing preference for food that feels less formal, more relaxed and more fun. That said, both restaurants will still have signature dishes such as Gaggan’s Yogurt Explosion and Manish’s Dairy Dal. And honestly, thank god for that. Imagine going to a Rolling Stones concert and not hearing Satisfaction or Start Me Up!” he says.

For Mehrotra, Nisaba presents a whole new chapter in his culinary journey. He took a brief hiatus from cooking in professional kitchens in 2024 to spend some time with his daughter, who had just graduated from class XII. He even stayed away from social media, making a brief appearance once in a while to post images of his terrace garden. This pause readied him for the next stage of his career. Once he decided on the concept of the restaurant, he created a set of 120 dishes for the menu. After numerous trials, Mehrotra whittled the list down to 42. “But the ones that didn’t make it to the launch menu are still being worked upon. You will see an iteration of them later on,” he adds.

The menu reads like a journey across India with the Madurai soy kola, sambar onion, crispy rice gunpowder, or the beetroot goat cheese dahi vada, fresh green tomatoes, nutmeg miso rice. Mehrotra has focused on winter ingredients such as the Kashmiri haaq and turnips, or the saag in a dish of jammy eggs, pinenuts and makki ki roti. Some of the stand outs include the chilli tomato crab ghotala, claypot Motihari mutton with airy hing sattu kachoris and mutton seekh kebab doused in blue cheese butter and served with baked naan. In the dessert section, he has added a dish of house potato chips with chashni (syrup) miso and vanilla bean ice cream—a fun take on the chip and dip. “How can a cuisine move forward if it does not adapt or progress? Nisaba brings into focus that culture of care and honesty that accompanies Indian cooking from across regions,” says Mehrotra.