Bombay is no city of joy, or of lights, stars, lakes, hills — those trifling things from which so many other metropolises draw their fame. It is not a place of aching beauty. No river flows through it. There are no flower gardens that burst into bloom seasonally, no mountains framing its edges. But Bombay — yes, most of us still call it that — is a Cartesian delight. A city of nebulous dreams, for its 21 million inhabitants and also those who come in its thrall momentarily. This amalgamation of seven small islands changed hands as part of a Portuguese princess’s dowry and went on to become the biggest economic hub of the subcontinent. It carries a quality of everyday pageantry: A sea laps at its edges all the way from the north to the south. It is Dolby Digital thunder and torrential rain pelting down for weeks; it is the blinding brightness of the Arabian Sea on an October afternoon. It is New York and Los Angeles and Chicago all at once. It is the colonial heritage architecture of Colaba and Ballard Estate; it is the kitschy graffiti on the outer walls of Bandra’s hipster cafés.

It is no coincidence that Bombay is shaped like a continent, like Africa or South America. It is indeed many countries in one. If it were a color — say, red — it would be different shades and textures for each end. South Bombay is burgundy, like the color of the velvet-lined box in which the matriarch keeps the family jewels. The west is fire-engine red, with the gloss of a fresh manicure — all of Bollywood is here. The east is gritty brick red; it keeps the city running. The north, well, it is not red at all, but a maroon with its own vital spirit.

The best way to experience the city’s spectrum of riches is not to visit, but to live in it, even if briefly. Eat the prawn curry and appams at small seafood joints; drink from coconuts sold by vendors on Juhu Beach; admire the waterfront on Marine Drive. Walk around the winding lanes of Kala Ghoda, allowing yourself to be seduced by the flagship boutiques of top couturiers, design stores that stock stationery by local artists, or a powder-blue synagogue. Bombay asks you to speed up and slow down in equal measure. It is a city that asks you to feel everything. Feel alive, most of all.

Don’t worry, you’re in the right place: After navigating a series of twists and turns, some of which your Uber driver insists are dead ends, you’ll finally arrive at your destination, at the back of a former textile mill. In this unassuming industrial setting, founder Aditi Dugar and chef Varun Totlani have masterminded one of the most innovative culinary experiences in India today. The 10-course tasting menu at Masque takes diners to far corners of the subcontinent: a Kerala-style duck sausage pepper fry comes wrapped in a flaky Malabar parotta; a tandoori soft-shell crab pays homage to a beloved version served at the Mumbai seafood temple Trishna; apricot toffees with hints of cardamom and pistachio bring to mind the classic Hyderabadi dessert qubani ka meetha. When it first opened in 2016, Masque revolutionized the way Indians approach fine dining, but Dugar and Totlani continue to push the limits today, regularly traversing the subcontinent and meeting with producers to understand the context of each far-flung ingredient and flavor they orchestrate into their menus. Dugar and Totlani sat down with Further to recount Masque’s journey and shed light on the stories they hope to tell through their food.

AD: The culinary landscape has totally changed. Dining out isn’t just about a special occasion or date night — people’s lives are revolving around where to dine. I don’t think it’s ever been so exciting. Regional food was always available in the privacy of people’s homes, but now people are realizing that it actually has a place in formal restaurant settings.

VT: I also think chefs and restaurateurs are putting more effort into building a concept rather than just a restaurant. As customers, people are becoming more experimental. Post-Covid, people want to try different things; they want to go out not just for meals but for experiences. Together, that drives the booming scene that we’re witnessing right now.

AD: Nobody had explored India the way Masque did in the initial years, spotlighting Indian ingredients from the north, south, east, west. We were the first restaurant to use Indian cacao on the menu, or to bring a ​​Gondhoraj lemon back from West Bengal, or get sea buckthorn from Ladakh. We built relationships with farmers, purveyors, and forest departments all over the country, and they were very surprised to see what we were doing with these ingredients.

AD: It really stems from our personal journeys. We travel so much, and stories have always excited us as people, and Varun really goes into the depth of ingredients. Recently, we went harvesting for seaweed in the south of India. Knowing the people that we were harvesting with, to understand their experiences and their eating habits, then weaving it back into our cuisine is so exciting. From the very beginning, our storytelling has been key in documenting all these processes, and in giving due respect to the stories that we wanted to tell from the farmers and the people that we’re sourcing from.

VT: We do put a lot of work behind our storytelling. India is so hospitable, and when we travel people ask questions — “What are you going to do with this, it’s been growing in my backyard for so long, why do you want it?” When you witness all of that and you enjoy it so much, you’re not just sharing a story but literally explaining to people what you witnessed and how you were treated.
—S.K.

With a mix of venerable institutions in stately structures and cutting-edge galleries tucked into heritage villas, Mumbai is home to a thriving cultural scene. Dinesh Vazirani, cofounder and CEO of the auction house Saffronart, launched Art Mumbai, the city’s first art fair, last year — so he’s the perfect person to weigh on which venues you shouldn’t miss on an art-focused spin through Mumbai.

“The people of Mumbai love and understand art. Jehangir Art Gallery is an essential institution, very closely linked to the story of Indian art: They have exhibited many major artists since inception. The Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation was founded to share Jehangir K. S. Nicholson’s staggering collection of art with the public, according to his wishes. The JNAF now constitutes the modern art wing of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, which also has a robust collection of Indian miniatures, artifacts spanning millennia of Indian history, and many important previously private holdings. Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum, Mumbai’s oldest museum, is a beautiful space that serves as an archive of contemporaneous objects and depictions of early Bombay. The National Gallery of Modern Art is unmissable for anyone interested in works from the mid 18th century through today. The iconic Asiatic Society of Mumbai, which also has some great lecture series, is in possession of many manuscripts — including one of Dante’s Divine Comedy in the original Italian, and a 16th-century Sanskrit volume of the Mahabharata. The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre is a brilliant new initiative that gives a new platform to homegrown artists and performers, while also bringing the best of the international art world to Mumbai.”

Further’s well-traveled friends and contributors share their favorites

“My first encounter with Bombay (as it was called in those days) as an actor was during my second film, Split Wide Open. To get into character, I trailed four boys from the Colaba slums for a month: hung out with them, played carrom with them, watched them score and sell contraband kerosene. Their cockiness, their constant fear of authority, their obsession with cinema, was fascinating. They had stolen into Eros theater and watched my first film, English, August, for free. I’ll never forget the evening they quoted some of my dialogue back to me. It was surreal: four boys on the edge of poverty and physical danger, uneducated, uncared for, eating street chow mein, drinking Thums Up, quoting English dialogue from an art-house film. There is no city like Mumbai.”

In Mumbai’s southernmost reaches, historic Colaba has always been a favorite for both locals and tourists. But even among those who know it well, the buzzy neighborhood always finds ways to surprise and delight. These days, Colaba is in the throes of a revitalization with the emergence of a host of avant-garde art galleries, hip cafés, and stylish boutiques. After you’ve paused for a picture at the Gateway of India and popped in for coffee at the landmark Taj Mahal Palace hotel’s Sea Lounge, set aside a few hours to stroll alongside the Arabian Sea and wind your way through the charming web of lanes that surrounds the hotel. Insider tip: Time your walk during Art Night Thursday, when galleries stay open until 9 p.m. and artists mingle with the city’s creatives and elite alike.
—P.S.

“My top pick always is Americano — it’s one place in Bombay where the bar is at the same level as the quality of food. The ambience is super sexy and the drinks are absolutely phenomenal. One of my favorites is the Worli Bird (above, far left), with tequila, mezcal, passion fruit, and smoked paprika.”

“The bar program at Ekaa, near Victoria Terminus, is fantastic, and it’s also visually very nice. Get the Camphor, made with Indo-Japanese gin, edible camphor, shiso leaves, jasmine syrup, Supasawa, and blue butterfly peas.”

“A surprising addition to the bar scene is Seefah in Bandra. Seefah was predominantly known for its food, by Thai-born chef Seefah Ketchaiyo — I’ve traveled to Thailand twice with her — but a year back you would not have considered it for drinks. Now, their bar menu has become really really good; I like the Chef’s Special, a sesame-whiskey-based cocktail with Meyer lemon and galangal.”

“Woodside Inn is always classic; they’ve traditionally been a beer-first place, but their Negroni with housemade Campari is quite nice. They’ve also recently launched their own range of beers: My pick is the double dry-hopped New England IPA.”

Amid South Mumbai’s rich tapestry of ornate Gothic, Victorian, and Indo-Saracenic grande dames, a clutch of apartment blocks and cinemas with distinctively Art Deco curves and embellishments stand out. The work of a generation of cosmopolitan architects who imagined a new skyline for Mumbai in the 1930s, they are the second-largest collection of Art Deco buildings after Miami’s, but with their own Indian flourishes and tropical imagery. Many have seen better days — thank the humid sea air — but the jewels dotting the seaside arc of Marine Drive and flanking Oval Maidan’s boisterous cricket pitch earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2018.
—S.K.

No visit to a seafood restaurant in Bombay is complete without an order of Bombay duck, or bombil, as it is lovingly called. Served to you shallow-fried with wedges of lemon on the side, its crisp semolina coating giving way to tender, buttery flesh, Bombay duck is not a duck at all. It’s a type of lizard fish that got its name in the days when many railways began their outbound journeys from the city. Bombil developed a cult following in other cities across India, and mail trains that transported crates of the prized fish were marked Bombay Daak — “Bombay Mail.” Through the alchemy of time and tongues, the moniker Bombay duck was born.

The bombil mirrors so much of the city. It is not what you think it might be. It is a fish with bones as soft as tendrils. And if you brave the pungency, and marinate in its flavors for a while, treasures lie within.

During spring, it is not uncommon to see long rows of bombil strung on rope and bamboo frames along the city’s coastline, especially in pockets of the old fishing villages that still exist. If your eyes don’t meet it, chances are your nose will. The sour smell of drying bombil is one of the great many seasonal olfactory signatures of the city. That, and the heady fragrance of sandalwood and frangipani incense wafting out of homes and little shops at the start of the day. The tuberoses at Dadar flower market that release their floral sweat at high noon. And the cardamom scent trails each of the thousands of chai vendors in the city late into the evening.
—A.G.

Seafood restaurants serve bombil year-round. Try the bombil fried or grilled at Konkan Cafe at the President hotel in Cuffe Parade, or the cult favorite Trishna in Kala Ghoda. For a quirky and contemporary take on Goan seafood, O Pedro in the Bandra Kurla Complex is a must-visit — its crab kismur salad is heaven-built with crab and dried coconut flakes.

“My Bombay playlist is based around the songs I was exposed to while growing up in the city and the songs that formed the soundtracks of some pivotal moments in my life,” says musician Rishab Joshi, who, along with Prayag Mehta, is one half of the DJ/producer duo Lost Stories. As Joshi’s playlist suggests, there’s no singular “Mumbai sound.” “What makes Bombay a great music city is the coexistence of so many musical subcultures, that unique cocktail of influences,” he says. Lost Stories’ own music reflects that all-in sensibility, melding traditional and “forgotten” sounds from India’s past with brash, contemporary sonics. Rather than confining his mix to Indian artists, Joshi captures the world-spanning rhythms and textures of a truly global city.
—P.J.L.

Despite numbering fewer than 20,000 at last count — less than a fraction of India’s population — the Parsi community has had an outsize influence on Indian society. Their ranks include many of India’s wealthiest entrepreneurs as well as industrialist J. R. D. Tata, conductor Zubin Mehta, and Freddie Mercury.

Descendents of Zoroastrians exiled from Persia (Pars) who settled in present-day Gujarat, the Parsi community is famously insular, which explains its dwindling numbers. Intermarriage is rare, and religious celebrations are closed to nonbelievers. Yet Parsi cooking has always borrowed liberally to create a sort of proto-fusion cuisine, combining Muslims’ love of grilled meats and offal, Hindus’ predilection for spices, Goans’ use of chiles, and Persians’ affection for preserved citrus and dried fruits.

Of the dozens of Parsi (aka “Irani”) cafés that once defined Mumbai, only a handful remain, standing out like vintage 78 rpm records in a digital world. There’s B. Merwan & Co., known for its plum cakes; Kyani & Co., a staple for kebabs; and my favorite spot, Britannia & Co., a fixture in the Fort district since 1923. Just walking in will set back your mental clock: the delightfully retro signage, the creaky fans swirling above, the chatter of old men speaking Farsi over a backgammon game. The very air is sepia-toned. And the food? As comforting as a grandmother’s embrace. Britannia is rightly known for its dhansak (a fragrant lentil-based curry, made here with mutton), but I’ll never not order the beri pulau — saffron rice with caramelized onions, tender chicken, and puckeringly tart barberries. If you could eat nostalgia, this is how it would taste.

Rahul Bose is an actor and director who also serves as president of the Indian Rugby Football Union. His newest release is the spy thriller Berlin.

Anindita Ghose is a journalist and author based in Bombay. Her debut novel, The Illuminated, is out now by Bloomsbury in the U.S. She is the former features director of Vogue India.

Sarah Khan is Further’s Editor-at-Large, and is also a contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveler. She writes for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Vogue, AFAR, Robb Report, and numerous other publications. She lives in New York City.

Nilou Motamed is cofounder of and Director of Inspiration for Further.

Jasreen Mayal Khanna is the author of Seva: Sikh Secrets on How to Be Good in the Real World. She writes for Condé Nast Traveller India, Vogue, Suitcase, DestinAsian, BBC, and more, and is also visiting faculty at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai.

Smitha Menon is a Mumbai-based food and travel writer and is India’s only 50 Best TasteHunter. Her words have appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes, and Bon Appetit.

Pri Shewakramani was part of the Condé Nast Traveller India launch team and has written for The Established, Vogue, and Travel + Leisure. She is now a marketing consultant, and has launched a wide range of brands in India, from Havaianas to Royce Chocolates.