Mumbai's 10 best new restaurants in 2010

From the hottest table and most coveted seat, to the sexiest starter and most enticing soundtrack, CNNGo replays the year in restaurants, bringing you the best of what's arrived on Mumbai's culinary circuit in 2010.

KOH by Ian Kittichai, Marine Drive

There are several reasons to take your date to KOH, InterContinental Marine Drive's sexy new Thai restaurant. It's all slick black surfaces and plush leather with accents of purple, yellow and blue; you can't help but start your night at the curved bar that's right by the entrance; and you get to share sizzling stone rice for two, half cooked at your table over lava stone. Definitely the hottest table in the city.

Manned by Ian Kittichai, celebrity chef with successful projects in New York, Barcelona and Bangkok, dining here feels like a night out at a tony lounge in the Meat Packing District, complete with neon pink lights and metallic ceilings. Add to that impeccable service and food that gets progressively better with every course (Chai Mai soup – rice cakes – green curry - luscious coconut cheesecake), and KOH could easily be one of 2010's best moments.

InterContinental Marine Drive; tel. +91 (0) 22 3987 9999; www.ianchalermkittichai.com

Fifty Five East, Santacruz

You should probably wear comfortable shoes to Fifty Five East, the Grand Hyatt’s new restaurant that requires diners to traipse from one "show kitchen" to the next, picking from about a hundred dishes that warrant frequent return trips. Are you being served? Not here.

Bright lights beam through laser cut ceilings and rows of LCD panels will keep you looking alive, as you walk around the 6,500 square foot space decorated by Super Potato, the Japanese interiors firm that did Wink and China House. While the food selection is random -- Lebanese, Japanese, Thai, Indian and Western Grills -- most dishes are tasty. Charm the chefs at the live counters and you may just be able to take a recipe home.

Grand Hyatt, off Western Express Highway, Santacruz (East); tel. +91 (0) 22 6676 1149, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; www.mumbai.grand.hyatt.com

Indigo Deli, Lower Parel

Lower Parel’s modern-day mill workers suited up for Indigo Deli’s second outpost when it opened up at Palladium this year. But then, so did shoppers from the mall, mothers lunching with their daughters and loads of solo lunch regulars.

Now, all sets of diners happily co-exist at Malini and Rahul Akerkar's latest restaurant, making it close to impossible to get a table here without calling ahead. And often even that can't guarantee you a seat. Dig into bacon and cheese beef burgers at lunch time, console yourself after a tough day with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and buy truffle oil on your way out. 

Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel; tel. +91 (0) 22 2498 6262; www.indigodeli.com

Two One Two Bar and Grill, Worli

It was a waste of 4,000 square feet of prime Worli space, that unremarkable resto-lounge called Magick, deserted on most nights. It's lucky that life gave it a second chance, one that resulted in an Italian restaurant where a Milanese chef bakes Camembert, sears tenderloin and tuna to perfection and successful 30-somethings sip on wine and sometimes, mushroom cappuccino soup.

Co-owned by Fire n' Ice's Ketan Kadam and three other guys who named Two One Two after the temperature at which water boils, this mid-town eatery is mostly defined by woody interiors, high back chairs, luxurious couches and an additional al fresco section. In a zip code devoid of hip dining options (Copper Chimney is too old-school and Don Giovani shut down), chef Alex Bignotti's Two One Two is perfect for an interesting ultra urban dining experience.

12 A, Hornby Vellard Estate, on the same road as Nehru Centre, Worli; tel. +91 9920838529 / +91 (0) 22 24901994; Facebook group

Pali Village Café, Bandra

It's hard to pull off crumbly cool decor and a wine-only menu, but the young couple that owns and runs Pali Village Café have done it well. Peeling walls, old fans, foldable, rusty steel chairs, empty cages and paper menus define one of the most popular new restaurants this side of the sealink. 

Despite the super slow service and small portions that everyone loves to crib about, here, in the glassed-in courtyard space and along art deco balconies surrounded by green plants and quirky music, Bandra’s creative and Bollywood lot sip on melon Sula sangria and eat wafer-thin pizza and pannacotta to the soundtrack of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Check your case of the blues in at the door. 

Pali Village Café, next to Janata Bar and Restaurant, Pali Naka, Bandra (W); tel. +91 (0) 22 26050401

Five more best new restaurants on the next page.