Dare to eat at this spooky Halloween pop-up?
Farmlore Bengaluru chef Johnson Ebenezer and chef Nelly Robinson of Sydney's NEL restaurant will cook up a horror feast inspired by Western ghouls and ghost stories from Indian folklore this weekend
It’s almost Halloween, which means it is time for ghoulish dinner parties in the form of hollowed-out pumpkins, or at best bloody red cocktails. But, how about a meal inspired by Indian devils and monsters, as well as spooky legends from around the world?
For Halloween this year, horror buffs can sign up for ‘Nelvanthi’, that will see chef Johnson Ebenezer of Farmlore Bengaluru team up with chef Nelly Robinson of NEL restaurant from Sydney for a unique four-hands dining experience. "It's a feast that plays with light and dark, fun and fear," says the British chef, who is known for his innovative degustation menus. Both the chefs were recognised at The Best Chefs Awards 2025 held in Milan earlier this month.
‘Nelvanthi’ is a mishmash of the words Nel, Robinson’s Sydney restaurant NEL, and vanthi, a take on the Tamil word vatanthi that means rumour, suggesting the ways in which folklore is usually passed around.
The 10-plus course menu features five dishes by Robinson, who is also making his maiden trip to India, and will highlight native Australian ingredients such as wild barramundi, wildfire spice and spanner crabs from North Queensland. His first course takes inspiration from Mexico’s Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead festival (celebrated on 2 November) and is called Lucifer’s Awakening. Created out of a mould that resembles a human skull, the sorbet course will feature green chilli, pineapple and coriander. There’s also a dish inspired by the interplay of smoke and fire called Inferno’s Whisper. The small plate will be his take on biryani, and served with a biryani-smoked bread along with a (biryani) broth and crispy black rice. “I don’t know if I’m being brave doing this, but biryani is my absolute favourite dish in the world," he says. The dessert course named Heart of Hades will have beetroot brûlée meant t evoke an edible heart along with strawberry and balsamic compote and a strawberry gum consommé. “The idea is not to be outrightly devilish but also bring some prettiness into the dish," he adds.
Ebenezer, on the other hand, has done his research on popular Indian devils and witches such as Munjya, Raatha Kaateri, Kutty Shaitan and Mohini among others to create a menu that honours stories from regional folklore. Take Raatha Kaateri, who devours animal blood, and is also worshipped as a village deity in some parts of southern India. Ebenezer has created a dish with mushrooms that resemble duck feathers, a sausage made with beetroot and duck, and layered with gobindobhog rice to be served with a butter made of lamb brain. There is a dish inspired by the tales of Mohini, who is believed to reside in a moringa tree, dressed in a white saree wearing jasmine perfume. His take: a white lobster made to resemble a saree and presented with a whiff of jasmine.
There will be a lot of surprises through the experience. The restaurant will be transformed into a den of devils with the staff wearing horns and vampire teeth. Diners may expect to be blindfolded to eat on the farm outside the restaurant. One of the courses may also have them watch a horror movie clip wearing 3D glasses. “I want people to come with an open mind and go back with the idea that food is a great medium of storytelling," says Ebenezer.
In the past, Farmlore's Halloween menu has taken inspiration from the 2022 film The Menu where the head chef (played by actor Ralph Fiennes) murders his diners. The team faithfully recreated every course under Ebenezer's supervision, except that he didn’t kill anyone in the end.
‘Nelvanthi’ is available to book for dinner on 31 October and 1 November at Farmlore, Bengaluru at www.farmlore.in.
Priyanko Sarkar is a Mumbai-based writer covering the F&B industry.
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