Mumbai Café, Tandoor Club's second exquisite Indian restaurant after Delhi Bazaar

Exactly two years after opening their first restaurant, the contemporary and highly creative Indian restaurant Delhi Bazaar, the founding trio of Tandoor Club, Eqbal Hossain, Bastien Peccoux, and Alexis Gracio, are back with the opening of a new restaurant, Mumbai Café.

This time, head to the 9th arrondissement, a stone's throw from the Grand Rex and the Folies Bergères, to discover what it's all about: a vibrant tribute to the irani cafés of Mumbai. Appearing in India in the 19th century, created by the Persian immigrant community, these popular restaurants were themselves inspired by the style of the illustrious Parisian cafés. The circle is now complete.

Working hand in hand with the architects at Dorénavant Studio, the trio of friends offer their own interpretation of the Iranian cafés withtheir typicalArt Deco heritage in Mumbai. And what a beautiful restaurant it is, with its large chrome corner counter, colorful banquettes arranged to create intimacy, and shimmering hues that make you want to sit down and watch the ballet of waiters carrying trays laden with delicious food.

When it comes to good food, the executive chef and co-founder of Tandoor Club, Eqbal Hossain, has spent a long time studying the recipes that have made these Indian establishments so successful. Better still, he traveled with Bastien and Alexis to Mumbai for several weeks to visit all the leading restaurants and meet their owners to learn the secrets of a cuisine that is an essential part of Indian culture but too little appreciated in France.

The result is a menu that pays homage to Indian traditions, divided into chotas (small dishes to share with your guests), tandoor oven grills, badas (fabulous dishes in sauce), sides (naans and more unusual variations), and traditional desserts with a twist.

Among the chotas we loved were the keema pav (€8), two beautiful buttered buns to dip in a chicken curry similar to a spicy bolognese (delicious), and the Bombay sandwich (€7), a cheddar-flavored take on an iconic Mumbai sandwich, generously topped with mint and coriander chutney, potatoes, beetroot pickles, cucumber, tomato, and onion (a must-try).

The same pleasure can be found in the sauce-based dishes, including a competition-worthy chicken pasanda (€15), a mild dish made with chicken thighs marinated in a creamy sauce with cashews, almonds, and mild spices, simmered in cream and cider (a distant cousin of butter chicken, but more original); and the chettinad fish (€19), a fillet of sea bream marinated in spices, served with a sauce made from tomato, black pepper, coconut, garlic, onions, and roasted spices.

Mumbai Café has chosen to focus on lesser-known Indian specialties that deserve to be as well known and recognized as the ever-popular tikka masala and tandoori chicken.

Of course, you can't miss out on the spiced basmati rice (€3), generously covered in sauce, the naan (garlic, cheese, or the ultimate combo of both; €2-€3.5), paratha (€4), a kind of naan with a flakier texture, and high-quality cocktails and mocktails, infused with Indian spices and ingredients, such as the Chowpatty cocktail (Calvados, homemade pear juice, homemade green chili syrup, lemon juice; €11).

If you still have room, the desserts are just as impressive as the rest of the menu, such as the rum baba-style gulab jamun (€9), small Indian doughnuts soaked in saffron syrup and rum, cardamom cream, lemon gel, and seasonal fruits; and the chocolate tart for those who love strong flavors (€9), with chocolate ganache, jaggery caramel, and puffed millet on top.