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What began as a radical experiment in New Delhi returns with greater ambition. Taking over Mumbai’s Mukesh Mills, The Gathering Edition 02 brings together chef-led tasting menus, artist collaborations, and cultural conversations to create a fleeting but immersive portrait of contemporary India — experienced slowly, deliberately, and only once.
It started as an idea. For three days in February 2025, some of India’s best chefs, artists, and visionaries came together for a once-in-a-lifetime cultural confluence. They called it ‘The Gathering’. Taking place at the Travancore Palace in New Delhi, the first edition of The Gathering was a food festival unlike any other. Part restaurant pop-up, part art festival, part concept-led consortium, it reimagined what a contemporary Indian festival could look, feel, and taste like.
This year, on January 16, The Gathering returns for its second edition. Taking place over three days at the historic Mukesh Mills in Mumbai, Edition 02 will turn the mills into a hub for taste, ideas, and art. Throughout the event, India’s most creative chefs, artists, and thought leaders will unite to craft a new expression of modern India — expressed through singular flavours, forms, textures, and sensations.
This edition features five new chef- and artist-led pop-up restaurants, each offering 5-course tasting menus curated for 20 guests per seating by top culinary experts in India. These menus are entirely new and will never be repeated — each serving as a culinary manifesto and showcasing a distinct cuisine and school of thought. Balancing fine dining with experimentation, these pop-ups are the highlights of The Gathering’s gastronomic vision.
‘Taste. Terrain. Tapestry’, by Chef Niyati Rao and designers Abraham & Thakore, interprets India’s textile traditions as shared archives of flavour and fabric. ‘The Noodle Factory’, led by Chefs Doma Wang and Sachiko Seth with artist Udit Mittal, recreates a Kalimpong noodle factory to honour labour, memory, and everyday craft. ‘Highland Crossroads’ by Chef Bawmra Jap and artist Pablo Bartholomew maps the cross-border foodways of the Kachin people across Northeast India, Northern Burma, and Yunnan. ‘The Parisian Fold’, by Chef Ralph Prazeres and artist Ankon Mitra, folds Goan childhood flavours into classical European technique through spatial and culinary duality, while ‘Connective Perspectives’ by Chefs Priyam Chatterjee and Rishabh Seal, with artist Akshita Garud (aka Two Odd), explores home and belonging as something assembled, intimate, fluid, and personal.
Deep within the cavernous interiors of the mills, The Mills — The Gathering’s exclusive speakeasy — offers a deliberately atmospheric counterpoint to the festival’s public spaces. Drawing on the site’s textile past, the speakeasy replaces bright, dazzling spectacle with a dim, opulent glow, where stories are woven as carefully as fabric once was.
Designed for unhurried conversation and quiet encounters, the space leans into nostalgia as a catalyst for exchange, pairing the setting’s intimacy with bespoke cocktails crafted by acclaimed mixologists. Anchoring the space sonically are highlight DJ sets by Elsewhere in India, Chef Gresham Fernandes (aka Plan B), and Raja Balasubramanian (aka The Professor) — shaping a soundtrack that is as thoughtful as the spirits.
The Salon is the intellectual heart of The Gathering, created for the culturally curious. Here, food extends beyond the plate to serve as a lens for exploring art, culture, politics, history, spirituality, and innovation, with distinguished voices leading thoughtful, engaging conversations. They use cuisine to navigate India’s changing social and cultural landscape. Set within the mill’s raw elegance, the ideas are as layered as the space itself, committed to expanding how contemporary India views food. Highlight sessions at The Salon include ‘Food & Changing Neighbourhoods’ in Bandra with Naresh Fernandes, Gresham Fernandes, and Meher Marfatia; ‘The Parsis & Their Cuisine’ with Kurush F Dalal; ‘Eating, Remembering & Writing: India’ with Rini Singhi and Meher Mirza; ‘Seafood & Sustainability’ with Ganesh Nakhawa and Aaron Savio Lobo; and ‘Mumbai’s Food History in Ten Plates’ by Pronoti Datta among others.
Beyond the Pop-Ups, The Mills, and The Salon, The Workshop, The Shop, and The Arena, The Studio, and The Moveable Feast complete The Gathering Edition 02, forming a living, breathing portrait of contemporary India and creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience that blurs the lines between food, design, and discovery.
Learn more about The Gathering here.
