Thirty-four years ago, three graduates of the Institute of Hotel Management in Chennai came together to launch Eden Vegetarian in Besant Nagar. Known for its Continental fare — corn florentine, crepes, milagu sevai shashlik, mushroom on toast — the restaurant is still packed with diners every day.
Venkatesh Balakrishnan, director, Eden Vegetarian, says upscale vegetarian restaurants in Chennai were a rarity when he launched the outpost with Aparna Venkatesh and Subadhra Raju. “We had Sangeetha and Saravanaa Bhavan serving traditional South Indian fare, but not Continental cuisine. Pasta, for instance, was only on five-star hotel menus,” says Venkatesh, adding that they wanted their focus to be on Italian and Continental fare. “People still come for our dishes like corn on toast, and Madras risotto that is made with basmati rice.”
Venkatesh MB, Aparna Venkatesh and Subadhra Raju
| Photo Credit:
Johan Sathyadas
After they opened, Venkatesh says they were overwhelmed with the response, and Eden was packed through the week with diners coming from as far as Broadway. In 2004, the trio launched a second outpost at Harrisons Hotel, which did well until a pandemic-induced closure.
Diners at OMO
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Special Arrangement
The standalone vegetarian restaurant rises
While India has always had a strong vegetarian customer base, offerings like Eden Vegetarian were trendsetters for their time. Over the decades, the industry has seen several new dining formats, chefs exploring varied cuisines, and a shift in the way Indians eat out. But, a trend that has quietly been making its way across our culinary landscape is that of the standalone vegetarian restaurant.
Latest outposts include The Kind Roastery and Brew Roomz, Continuum in Bengaluru; Paashh, Uppu in Mumbai; among others. A study by Data For India says that the share of Indian adults who eat meat rose to 80% in 2021 from 74% in 2006 (dataforindia.com). Yet, vegetarian menus are clearly on the rise everywhere.
Rajan Sethi of OMO
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Special Arrangement
Highlighting Indian plants and produce
Four years ago, Rajan Sethi, managing director, Bright Hospitality, launched OMO, a farm-to-table kitchen in Gurugram to spotlight “India’s diversity of produce, regional food traditions, and culinary techniques”.
He says going all-vegetarian was a conscious decision. “The idea was never to create a vegetarian restaurant by simply removing meat from the equation. It was about building the entire experience around what we could do with plants and Indian produce,” he states, adding that their menu changes with the season.
Diners at OMO
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Special Arrangement
Over the last two years, Rajan — who also runs Ikk Punjab in the capital — has seen vegetarian dining “move beyond being defined by what it excludes to being defined by what it can offer”.
He says guests are becoming more curious about vegetables like lingdu (fiddlehead fern), regional Indian ingredients such as Gobindobhog rice, and the stories behind what they eat. “There is a growing appetite for more thoughtful, ingredient-led vegetarian experiences. A lot of our diners are not necessarily vegetarian, but they are increasingly open to choosing a meal based on the ingredient and the experience rather than whether it includes meat,” Rajan adds.
Saffron risotto at OMO
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Special Arrangement
What diners demand
Most often that not, when people think of vegetarian food, they automatically gravitate towards South Indian food, but this is slowly changing, says Deval Shah, founder of Mumbai-based Tao 66, which offers a seven-course vegetarian Thai tasting menu. “As long as the food is good and authentic, people aren’t necessarily looking at whether it is South Indian, North Indian, Asian, or anything else. Fusion was definitely a big trend for a long time, but people are now coming back to authentic, classic dishes with interesting ingredients,” he says.
Chef Niharika Peri
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Special Arrangement
For owner-Chef Niharika Peri of Bengaluru’s Eatinn’ Love Trattoria, the decision not to serve meat at her establishment was due to several factors, and not just that she is a vegetarian. The restaurant — known for its Neapolitan sourdough pizzas, pastas, and ice creams — is popular among communities such as Jains and Marwaris, who are more comfortable with an all vegetarian kitchen, she explains.
A new wave
In Bengaluru the concept of vegetarian fine-dining has been around longer than most cities. “1947 Restaurant was one of the pioneers in scaling up the fine-dining vegetarian space across multiple branches,” says Prem Vatsav of Eat Theory Hospitality who recently launched Alé (wave, in Kannada). “The London Curry House was a major trailblazer in introducing the innovative vegetarian concept to the city,” he adds.
Palakai potli chukka at Alé
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Special Arrangement
Prem, who also helms Bangalore Brew Works (currently under renovation), says that “180% of our revenue here comes from liquor”. “Earlier, I would never consider launching a restaurant without a bar license, but there has been a shift in the industry. During research for Alé, we found that a majority of diners are willing to pay top dollar for truly innovative vegetarian dishes. We also recognised the large Jain population in the Jayanagar market, which prompted us to intentionally focus on providing extensive Jain options,” says Prem.
He secured a bungalow built in the 1960s with his architect wife, Arpita Jain, designing the space. “We preserved the structure entirely without breaking an inch of the house, choosing instead to utilise its courtyard where the 100-seater Alé sits.” The alleyway has been put to use as an all-day coffee and matcha bar, Co,Ma, serving specialty coffees, matcha, and eggless bakes.
A snapshot of the 100-seater Alé
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Special Arrangement
Addressing the rise in non-vegetarians opting for vegetarian meals, Prem talks about how “most modern Indian restaurants thrive due to their innovative menus, driven heavily by social media influencer marketing, which has sparked curiosity among non-vegetarian diners as well”. Prem admits that the clientele at Alé is different from Bangalore Brew Works, where the focus was more on the alcohol. “In a concept like Alé, diners need more attention. We also value their suggestions, take feedback, and the concept is more food-centric,” says Prem.
Fillo Bakes, a vegetarian Japanese-inspired moving bakery in Bengaluru
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Special Arrangement
Bakeries that skip eggs
And it is not just QSR’s or fine-dining establishments cashing in on the market, but bakeries and cloud kitchens too. Like Neha S Nirmal and Nischal Vasant Meethal’s Fillo Bakes, a vegetarian Japanese-inspired moving bakery that launched in the Garden City in December 2025. “For years, a large part of the vegetarian audience skipped baked goods because most contain eggs. I have also noticed that customers ask more about ingredients: butter or margarine, jaggery or millets, instead of how processed it is in terms of refined sugar and maida,” says Neha, who offers shokupans, milk breads, savoury karepans, and anpans.
Fillo Bakes offers shokupans, milk breads, savoury karepans, and anpans
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Special Arrangement
Considering Japanese variants have several meaty options, why did the duo veer away from these? “Being a fully vegetarian kitchen opens Fillo to a far larger audience: anyone can order for a family gathering, a festival or an office table,” says Neha who does not intend adding meat-based items. “Our category doesn’t need them. For us, butter does the work that eggs would normally do for texture, and we have tailored our range for India, where vegetables, millets and proteins offer enormous variety. Being clear about who we are matters more to me than a longer menu.”
For anything to work commercially, you really just have to know what you are putting into the business and what you are getting out of it, says Deval. “Whether you are a QSR, a fine-dining restaurant or a regional cuisine concept, there is space for all these formats to grow because, as a country, we’re looking for everything: a QSR when we’re on the move, a fine-dining restaurant for a special occasion, a regional restaurant when we’re craving something specific,” he says.
Miang Kham at TAO 66
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Special Arrangement
For Nischal, dealing with a buyer’s perception of Fillo Bakes as ‘vegetarian’ or ‘egg-free’ can be read as plain or limiting. “I have to prove it is neither”. “Another challenge is that of championing the craft: getting the right texture without egg means leaning on butter and technique, and keeping recipes stable without egg-based shortcuts takes time and skill,” he says, adding that sourcing and delivering temperature sensitive products in a climate like India is a logistics challenge of its own.
Moo Krop at TAO 66
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Special Arrangement
A menu that evolves
For Rajan, one of the biggest challenges is that he cannot rely on familiar formats or a protein-led centre of the plate to create excitement. “You have to constantly think about how to give vegetables and Indian ingredients enough depth, texture and character to make the experience feel complete. That pushes us to keep experimenting with seasonality, fermentation, preservation, live-fire cooking, and lesser-known Indian ingredients. It also means the menu has to keep evolving with what is available, rather than becoming repetitive,” he says, adding that the per-table spend on a weekday is approximately ₹6,000, which goes up to ₹10,000 on weekends.
Moringa saaru at Alé
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Special Arrangement
At Alé, Prem says his share of operational and market challenges includes service staff requiring extensive training and constant supervision to ensure strict SOPs are followed during all guest interactions. “Manpower requirements are higher when compared to running a same-sized pub in the city, as a lot of elements must seamlessly align to execute the experience properly. There is also a continuous need to change and adapt the menu based on guest feedback,” he says, adding that a new menu is set to launch later this month. At Alé, he serves about 100 guests on a weekday and approximately 300 covers (per day) on a weekend, with an average spend of ₹800 per guest.
Rocambolesco at Eatinn’ Love Trattoria
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Special Arrangement
Banking on business
“During my initial research, industry experts told me a vegetarian restaurant will never shut; it will always be profitable,” says Niharika. “During my early days, I have faced walkouts when diners realised there was no meat on the menu. But today, regardless of their dietary preferences, diners are now happy with an all vegetarian menu, especially when it is not a multi-cuisine restaurant.”
The fruit sando at Fillo Bakes
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Special Arrangement
Nischal says people pay for vegetarian food when the quality is evident, not because of the label. “For us, being fully vegetarian widens the audience instead of narrowing it, and a vegetarian kitchen is operationally simpler too. Good butter and dairy, quality ingredients and labour-intensive techniques are not cheap, so I cost every recipe carefully and bake to order rather than guess at demand,” he explains.
OMO, Rajan says, “was built with the belief that a vegetarian restaurant can command the same value as any other fine-dining experience, provided the food, ingredients and overall experience justify it”.
