The rebranding of Ahmedabad’s food scene

The first thing that hits you at Sora is not the menu, but the sheer scale of the ambition. Spanning an impressive 11,000 sq ft, this Asian-Peruvian restaurant, designed with Art Deco flourishes, feels less like a neighbourhood haunt and more like a space airlifted from Dubai.

In Ahmedabad, a city where the ‘spirit’ has always been strictly zero-proof, a new breed of restaurateurs is proving that the absence of a bar is not a limitation but a catalyst for culinary theatre. Sora is not the opening act of this shift, but a signal that the city is no longer a stopover on the way to Udaipur or Kutch. It is now a weekend destination for zero-proof, high-end gastronomy.

Beyond the thali

Ume a drink at Sora
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

While Ahmedabad is historically celebrated for its iconic street food and the belly-bursting thali, the city is evolving into an innovative dry gastronomy hub. Without the crutch of alcohol to drive revenue, restaurateurs here are forced to focus on the quality of the food and the theatre of the experience. Understandably, the city has outgrown the ‘multi-cuisine’ comfort zone of the past and moved into micro-specialisation. There is a newfound appreciation for provenance and technique.

At Sora, which explores Nikkei cuisine (a fusion of Japanese techniques and Peruvian ingredients), the Yuzu Panca Soup is brewed at the table using a siphon — a two-glass chamber device used by baristas at speciality coffee bars. Vegetable stock rises to meet marinated vegetables before being filtered back down into a crystal-clear broth. Finished with a bright hit of yuzu, the result is a clean, spice-flecked soup that feels thoughtful rather than just performative.

A few blocks away on Billionaire Street sits Cacaoté, a 15,000 sq ft chocolate brasserie that feels like Ahmedabad’s very own Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. Cacao sourced from Central America, South America and Africa is roasted and conched in France before it is transformed into bonbons, cakes, petite gateaux and chocolate tablets at the Ahmedabad patisserie.

The city’s appetite for these immersive, high-concept eateries has paved the way for spots like Bottega which serves Màla cuisine and Burma Burma which has successfully introduced the nuances of Kayan and Shan cuisines to the city. The latest sensation is Komo By Kaffa a sprawling 23,000 sq ft café with vaulted ceilings, sweeping pillars and mood lighting, a scale and polish not commonly associated with neighbourhood cafés.

This trend toward massive, high-design spaces is not accidental; it is driven by a unique business model. “The biggest draw for restaurateurs here is the luxury of space,” says Sujit Mehta, co-founder, We Serve, a restaurant consultancy firm based in Ahmedabad. While an 18,000-45,000 sq ft footprint would be commercially unsustainable in Mumbai or Bengaluru in Ahmedabad, it allows for a multi-pronged revenue model: a restaurant, banqueting hall, and catering unit all under one roof. “The dynamics work because each segment has a different season,” Sujit explains.

“When the restaurant is slow, the catering and banqueting pick up the slack.” While setting up these high-spec spaces requires a significant investment, typically ranging from ₹5-7 crore, the payoff comes quickly. “Most restaurateurs see a full return on investment within 1.5-2 years. This speed is driven by an average spend of ₹1,200–1,500 per person and the security of nine-year land leases, which shields owners from the volatility of frequent renewals,” he adds.

A taste for technique

Khow suey at Burma Burma
| Photo Credit:
Assad Dadan

While the long leases and sprawling square footage provide the structural foundation, the growth is also accelerated by a change in domestic habits. “In the aftermath of the pandemic, we saw a surge in home cooking. The easy availability of exotic ingredients from aged cheeses and mushrooms to ‘00’ flour, nori sheets and even cactus allowed people to engage with global cuisines at home,” says Mihir Shah, owner of Bottega. He adds, “Restaurants had no choice but to adapt to these changing tastes to keep pace with their guests.”

Gujaratis love to travel and seek out new culinary experiences, and they now expect that same level of exposure and sophistication once they return home. Ankit Gupta, co-founder of the Burma Burma chain, says that when they opened two years ago, specialised dining concepts were rare. “Today, we are seeing an influx of niche formats, from Korean eateries to dedicated dessert cafés. New dining hubs like Sarkhej–Gandhinagar Highway and Prahlad Nagar have also fuelled this change.” This receptivity has turned Ahmedabad into a strategic launchpad; Ankit often tests new menus here before a national rollout.

Food consultant and cookbook author Kamini Patel identifies social media aesthetics and changing domestic habits as key drivers of this shift. As family units shrink and interest in home cooking declines, dining out has moved from an occasional luxury to a lifestyle choice. “The audience is ready to spend on quality,” Kamini explains, noting that the city’s youth are the primary engine behind the change. Armed with higher disposable incomes and a preference for elevated cuisine, this younger demographic is consistently opting for premium dining experiences over traditional meals.

Mocktails 2.0

Elixir, a zero-proof drink at Burma Burma

For a state without alcohol, zero-proof drinks are creating quite a splash. Mixologists are trading sugary punches for sophisticated botanicals, smoked syrups and clarified juices to build complex mocktails. These are served with the same theatricality as any high-end cocktail, using dry ice, artisanal ice blocks and house-made bitters.

At Sora, the Thai dessert mango sticky rice is deconstructed in a glass. A base of mango and pandan is clarified with coconut milk and then topped with warm rice foam from an iSi siphon. The result is a contrast of cold and clear meeting warm and creamy. Popular Peruvian drink Chicha Morada is served sangria style in a wine glass, behind a dry-ice cloud. “Making non-alcoholic drinks is far more difficult than people realise,” says Sanyog Nikharge, head mixologist at Sora. “I personally enjoy a spirit-forward drink, so I wanted to create the same complexity, acidity and mouthfeel minus the ethanol.”

For Sanyog, it is about according the same respect to a zero-proof creation as one would a top-shelf pour. The presentation is intentional, designed to mirror the ritual of traditional drinking. One of his creations, Shrooms, an interpretation of the Old Fashioned, swaps the burn of whiskey for apple and shiitake mushroom reduction. The meaty umami bite is balanced with soy and finished with the sharpness of fermented Umeboshi (pickled Japanese plum).

Cacaoté interior
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

At Burma Burma, the only thing missing is the hangover; the drama and the burn are served as standard. The bar uses culinary rigour, from agar-agar clarified gins and sous-vide herb extractions to edible leathers and activated charcoal. Paired with a dice-based drinking game, it is a playful reminder that zero-proof need not mean zero character.

Design in a city of architects

Since Ahmedabad is a city of architects, some of the new restaurants are housed in stunning brutalist structures, restored havelis, or minimalist interiors, making the ambience just as stunning as the menu. The dining aesthetic, once rooted in traditional settings, is transitioning toward a modern and often futuristic sensibility.

Take Cacaoté, for instance. Designed by Australian firm Storm Worldwide with interiors by London’s LEQB, it is a literal immersion into the world of cacao. A dramatic ceiling mimics the flow of molten chocolate, while display units echo the curves of cacao pods. Sora, on the other hand, tilts Art Deco. Tufted-leather booths, fluted pillars and gold-mesh screens act as translucent dividers without closing off. The lighting is equally theatrical – clusters of pendants resembling clouds hang from thin cables. This is a space designed for the theatre of dining.

Sujit notes that there is a newfound penchant for open-air settings and outdoor dining. Unlike the enclosed, air-conditioned boxes of the past, newer projects are prioritising expansive, airy layouts that blur the line between the interior and the street outside. He is currently working with design heavyweights like Mumbai-based Sumessh Menon and Delhi’s Tanya Chutani of Pantone Collective, who are introducing a more global, plush visual language to local dining.

The anticipation surrounding the 2030 Commonwealth Games and a potential 2036 Olympic bid is already driving a significant wave of infrastructure and hospitality development. In the more immediate future, Ankit predicts that the growth of GIFT City and the arrival of the Bullet Train will propel the city’s dining scene to match the scale of Mumbai and Bengaluru “The city is ready for more single-cuisine restaurants,” Sujit says. “The potential here is still largely unrealised.”

The Gujarati thali remains the city’s culinary soul. Here are the top thali joints in Ahmedabad:

Agashiye, The House of MG- ₹1695

Vishalla, Opp. APMC Market- ₹848

Pakwan, Sarkhej – Gandhinagar Highway- ₹400

Raj Thaal, Bopal- ₹450

Rajwadu, Malav Talav- ₹1050

Gordhan Thal, Sarkhej – Gandhinagar Hwy- ₹425

Gopi Dining Hall, Prahlad Nagar and Elis Bridge- ₹425

Chandravilas, Gandhi Rd, Old City- ₹350

Ananda, Sindhu Bhavan Road- ₹1155