A Food Guide to Pune

The city of Pune is home to some restaurants and places and people serving experimental, innovative, and delicious food. Suprita Mitter takes us through some of them.

Growing up I always considered myself a ‘Bombay girl’. The city was my home and I took pride in telling friends what to eat, where to get a good bargain, hole-in-the-wall spots that cooked up a delicious storm, secret bars and the best places for chai. When I moved to Pune in 2019, there was the natural excitement of moving base and living in a new city. But what I didn’t expect was that despite almost two years in lockdown, and a period that was filled with anxiety and grief, the city in its own way gave me the strength to carry on.

I visited Pune several times when I lived in Bombay. Needless to say, I had eaten at German Bakery, hung out at a brewery, gorged on cakes, Shrewsbury biscuits and wine biscuits from Kayani Bakery. As someone who enjoys writing about food, the first thing I did when I moved was eat its biggest landmark eateries — biryani from George, Garden vada pav, SP-DP from Vaishali, dosa at Supriya. My partner was born and raised in Pune and had his list too — milkshake and sandwiches at Marz-O-Rin, a drink at 1000 Oaks, dinner at Prems or Arthur’s Theme, butter chicken at Royal Connaught Boat Club, Bamboo soup at Thai House.

But I felt certain Pune was more than just the vintage charm of these iconic eateries. It was only in 2022, through chance encounters, recommendations from fellow foodies, and plain old curiosity, that I stumbled upon several innovative, wholesome and delicious meals. Today, I talk about the food community in Pune with great pride — its restaurants, bakeries, food studios, hoteliers and chefs, deserve a pride of place in lists that feature India’s best.

My list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a collection of some great food experiences from Pune.

Aragma

I first visited Aragma for a cook-along in 2022; we made a no-fuss Thai curry. It was my first meeting with founder, Poornima Somayaji. At the time, Aragma (meaning the small joys of life) offered masterclasses and private chef’s tables. Today, it is a 24-seater restaurant with a degustation menu (and also offers cook-along sessions).

“The underlying ethos is to showcase who we are and to give credit to the food ecosystem, largely led by farmers and their produce,” says Poornima. A meal at Aragma means connecting with origins of ingredients: the tribal community in BhimaShankar in the Western Ghats, who grow Indrayani rice, or the honey used in their desserts.

Coriander ice cream with gondhoraj gel and a dusting of mustard powder.

The recipes, created by chef Amit Ghorpade, transform simple, everyday ingredients into pieces of gourmet art. Imagine a skewer of persimmon with strawberry chilli jam and strawberry; a tart with diced navalkol (kohlrabi) puree, or dessert — mahua mousse (mahua is sourced from a village in Central India) with passion fruit and banana. “We want to take everyday vegetables that people have stopped eating like navalkol, make a dish with it, and hope that when people try it, they go back and look for it in the market,” explains Poornima.

The tasting menu includes dishes made with bajra (on their winter menu), fresh toor dal, eggplant and buttermilk sauce, a soup of plums, and a coriander ice cream with a gondhoraj lemon gel and a meringue dusted with mustard powder.

Address: Ground floor, Insignia, Balkrishna Sakharam Dhole Patil Rd, opposite Axis Bank, Sangamvadi, Pune.

We Idliwale Barroom

‘We Idliwale’ started with a team of 3 people and in a tiny 150 sq ft hole-in-the-wall. Chef Abhishek Joshi, after a stint as commis at Dubai’s Folly By Nick & Scott, and as assistant sous chef at The Bombay Canteen, brought flavours from his childhood to Pune — idli paired with chicken, mutton and prawn gravies. Today, We Idliwale has outlets across Pune.

The latest offering from Abhishek and his co-founders, Chirag Jadhav and partner, Neha Anand, is the We Idliwale Barroom. “This menu is inspired by the streets and households of South India. The podi bacon or ghee roast sausage isn’t traditional, but gives us a chance to be playful with the menu. My food works well with alcohol and beer. Dosas or appams with meat curries are a common practice in Bangalore and in the toddy shops of Kerala,” says Abhishek.

We Idliwale Barroom serves food inspired by the streets and homes in South India.

Dosa or appams with meat curries are the staples on this menu.

Some standout dishes are buff chilli, slow-cooked pork ribs in a Kerala-style vindaloo, and Karwar-style prawns infused with Karwari garam masala and coconut milk. The dosa comes with bhindi chutney, lentil chutney and cluster bean chutney. The filter coffee eclair (a collaboration with Tokyo Bakery) is another winner.

For Abhishek, ingredients matter. “We source rice for the Dindigul biryani and Ambur chicken biryani from Tamil Nadu — a short grain jeeraga samba. The Bedgi chilli comes from Karnataka, the turmeric and the pepper come from the same farmer in Palani Hills (Tamil Nadu) from where we source our coffee.”

The same is true for their cocktails. There’s a Kachampuli Highball using Kachampuli vinegar from Coorg, fresh turmeric turned into a liqueur for the cocktail, Haldi Highball, and a Coconut Negroni where the gin is fat-washed with coconut oil and grilled pineapple Campari.

Address: We Idliwale Barroom: Unit 102, One West, Balewadi

Zeera

Chef Prabhjeet Singh was born and raised in Amritsar, and has travelled across India — an experience that reflects in the ingredients and cooking techniques. At Zeera, Conrad Pune, the food is impressive and unpretentious.

Zeera’s menu celebrates undivided Punjab and Sindh through generations-old recipes. “The cooking techniques are important here. Meat, for example, should never be cooked on a high flame as it becomes rubbery. Our cooking requires patience. Our dal makhni is cooked for 48 hours. The dal is soaked overnight and cooked at 180 degrees making it soft and creamy,” says Prabhjeet.

On the menu is the Lahori charga, similar to tandoori chicken but made with tomato and coriander, unlike its counterpart. The seekh kebab from Multan gets its flavour from the mango wood that is used to cook it, and Multani masala, which is a mix of carom seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and mango powder.

One of my favourites on the menu is the vadi aloo, which is made both in Punjab and Sindh. “Vadi in Punjab is handmade, and gluten free. It consists of urad dal mixed with easily digestible spices — fennel, red chilli, turmeric, black salt and black pepper. We get our vadis from Amritsar.” Their sarson da saag is one of the best I’ve had. “The sarson in Punjab is different from the one you get in Maharashtra. The stem of the sarson here resembles that of spinach while the one from Punjab has a thick stem. We keep the stem and cook it overnight so the fibres become smooth.”

The Satpura Chaat, or Satpura Chole, is a speciality from Amritsar and consists of a seven-layer puff pastry. “The consistency of the dough and the cooking of the layers is crucial in this dish. People queue up for this in Amritsar.”

Address: Conrad Pune, 7, Mangaldas Rd, Sangamvadi

Ginkgo

Chef Breehadesh Kumar’s love for Japanese food, and the culinary skills of the team, are what make Ginkgo a great Japanese restaurant in Pune. Opened in 2021, Ginkgo is an informal Japanese bar serving Izakaya food.

My favourites include the chicken karaage, a Japanese-style fried chicken using potato starch batter instead of flour, served with a tangy Yu Rinchi sauce; the Aji-fry that is on the menu when horse mackerel is in season; Hanetsuki gyōza, a dumpling cooked three different ways simultaneously; and Tonkotsu ramen, with an eight-hour broth, handmade temomi chuka noodles with slow cooked pork chashu, a fish cake, marinated eggs and scallion and black garlic oil. Also look for the persimmon and sweet lime salad with rucola, butterhead lettuce, pumpkin seeds, almonds and a ponzu sesame dressing. “Persimmon is commonly eaten and loved in Japan, especially in autumn. It’s everywhere, so people even dry it to preserve it, called kaki,” explains Breehadesh. Beyond ramen and sushi, there’s oyakodon (chicken and egg rice bowl), donburi (a Japanese rice-bowl dish consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients).

The tonkotsu ramen at Ginkgo has a broth cooked for eight hours and handmade temomi chuka noodles

At Ginkgo, you get detailed sketches of the dishes and their ingredients.

An IHM Mumbai graduate, Breehadesh went to Japan on a MEXT scholarship for a year and a half where he studied the Japanese language and confectionery, and then interned at Kikunoi Honten in Kyoto, a 180 year-old, three Michelin Star restaurant. At pop-ups and special events, Breehadesh showcases Kaiseki-Ryōri, a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner.

He also makes detailed, artistic sketches of the dishes with explanations (which he will share on request!).

Address: 12, Damodar Villa Apartment, Warje Malwadi Rd, Rahul Nagar, Kothrud.

Our Goya city guides are usually focussed on restaurants you can visit in person, but in a break from tradition, we are including two excellent delivery-only spots that deserve mention, and without which, a Pune weekend would be incomplete.

The Good Butter

When Smita Sharan quit her job in 2010, little did she know that she would become one of Pune’s sought-after bakers. After quitting, it felt natural to start baking, she tells us. “I liked the idea of having my own loaf of bread for breakfast. My partner (Khamir Bhatia) suggested that we try selling my bakes because all our friends loved it,” she says. They started small, in 2015, selling granola and nut butters. Over the years came tea cakes and cookies, sandwich loaves and breads. “Both of us love coffee and chai, so initially, it was all about making things that would go with these beverages.”

The Good Butter is known for its bakes, especially the Belgian chocolate citrus, hazelnut tart and their nut butters. The menu now also includes dairy-free, gluten-free and refined flour-free bakes, granolas and condiments. “When I use a different flour, it has less to do with making a gluten-free bake and more to do with experimenting with these flours and seeing what flavour profile the new ingredient brings to the bake,” says Smita. It’s how she found that ragi works surprisingly well with chocolate, and that sesame seeds lend a unique flavour to several bakes. Her menu features sesame seed butter, a strawberry and a black sesame cream bun, and coming soon, a cake with lime leaf and pandan.

Apart from their website and Instagram, The Good Butter is also available at the Pagdandi bookstore.

Address: The Good Butter, Row House 1, opp. Shivaani Residency Solitaire Villa, Balewadi, Pune.

The Daily Cut

‘Preservative free, artisanal, cold cuts’ — I was sold on those exact words. The first time I met Chef Niket Drego was when he decided to hand deliver our order for East Indian choriz. “I'm a trained chef and I specialize in pastry,” he said.

Niket got into cheese making and cold cuts as a hobby. During his travels around India he realised that most places making cold cuts used chemicals that weren’t permitted by government regulations. That’s when he started The Daily Cut.

The products are made on a Friday or on a Saturday, sliced at midnight on Saturday, and shipped out on Sunday morning. “It doesn't have a long shelf life but if you go to a restaurant, you would expect your meals to be made fresh and not stay frozen for months altogether, right? So whether it’s for someone who is buying it for themselves or for their restaurant, everything is fresh and made to order,” says Niket.

It’s not just the freshness that I love about Niket’s products, it’s the interesting Indian flavours that he creates. One of my favourites is the miso-cured bacon, where the enzymes of natural house-made miso (a Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with koji rice) is used to cure the meat. In the Caper-Churri Pork Salami, Indian capers are used with a chimichurri sauce (an uncooked sauce made using fresh parsley, oregano, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and cayenne chilli flakes), which is very chatpata, and the East Indian Chorizo features East Indian bottle masala. For the Argentinian Chorizo, Kashmiri chillies are smoked used instead of imported paprika. Niket also experiments with cooking techniques. “The Goan chorizo is quick-cured. I want to reimagine it like a Spanish chorizo with the same flavour profile, and have it aged for six to seven months.”

Suprita Mitter was born and raised in Mumbai and now lives in Pune. She enjoys writing about these two cities, the places she travels to, food, history, people, performing art, and the good things in life. Follow her on Instagram

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