Sometime in 2018, a restaurant called Mustard — offering French and Bengali cuisine, not as fusion but as two separate cuisines connected by their use of mustard — opened in Mumbai. It shut its city outpost during the pandemic, though the Goa restaurant continues. Now, the hospitality entrepreneur behind it, Punam H. Singh, is back with a new concept, in a new neighbourhood.
Called Portal, her new venture in Kala Ghoda is a bistro and bar spread across 1,200 sq ft, next to Otra. The 48-seater currently runs from noon to midnight. A breakfast menu lau champagneches shortly, after which it will open as early as 8 am, timed to its neighbourhood, which draws as many shoppers as office-goers.
The logic behind the location is deliberate. “It’s the art district — the cultural centre, the stock exchange, shoppers, constant footfall. Very popular, and during season time, people from all over the world come for heritage walks. This area has choice, it has romance. But what we saw as consumers was that you either had cafes or restaurants. So where do you go if you want champagne for breakfast? That was the starting point. Why should breakfast be boring?”
Singh spent 11 years in F&B and a decade with Fabindia heading expansion in the western region before starting her own consultancy, and accidentally entering hospitality as an entrepreneur a decade ago with Mustard.
Tall ceilings, arches, and pillars set the tone at Portal, while a ceiling light that shifts from bright to warm to dim mirrors the rhythm of the day. A hand-painted mural depicts South Bombay and the neighbourhood of Kala Ghoda.
Step inside Portal and the city recedes. The tall ceiling, the arches, the pillars, and a ceiling light that mimics natural light — shifting from bright to warm to dim as the day moves — create the distinct sensation of being elsewhere. A hand-painted mural depicts Mumbai: the art district, Marine Drive, the waves of the Arabian Sea. “The neoclassic elements are there but we were very mindful not to make it into a museum. At the end of the day, we are a cafe and a bistro. We wanted to keep it lively at every step,” said Singh.
The menu, in Singh’s own words, is “borderless and cuisine-agnostic.” With Mustard, she had a defined framework she couldn’t deviate from. “Our customers became our brand custodians. If we did anything that wasn’t Bengali or wasn’t French, they had an opinion.” Portal is the correction to that constraint. The result is a menu that moves between miso pasta and rawas, togarashi in gazpacho, and a rice sandwich with tofu or tuna on a bed of balsamic and soy with wasabi on the side. “We just wanted to have fun with the menu and do what we wanted.”
Among the dishes we tried, we liked everything barring an avocado carpaccio where tanginess from pomelo overpowered everything else. Barring that, we truly enjoyed their roasted beetroot salad that arrived like a small still life — slow-cooked beetroot and rucola leaves arranged in near-floral formation, pickled onions carrying goat cheese cream as its petals with balsamic drizzled over. Tomato tartar that uses four variations in tomatoes – cherry red and yellow tomatoes, regular tomato diced and sun-dried tomato, served on a bed of thick almond cream cheese with crunchy quinoa, each bite was flavourful. The big boy sando, stuffed with paturi-style paneer marinated in mustard, pickled beetroot and avocado in soft bread, needed to be eaten immediately — it will not hold — but while it held, it was very good. It came with sweet potato fries on the side, which we kept returning to. The quality of ingredients throughout is worth noting: the sweetness of the sweet potato, the punch of the wasabi, the depth of the balsamic. The pasta section has ambition. Some are hand-rolled. The Genovese is made with semolina — gluten-free, with pesto, for anyone avoiding maida.
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Maple Pumpkin Tart and Rice Sandwich at Portal. Photo courtesy/Special Arrangement
For meat eaters, there is plenty: a roast buff sandwich, lamb kimchi sando, a piccata with buff filet steak, classic roast chicken and rawas roasted in miso. Even the Caesar salad comes with a chicken fillet rather than shredded chicken.
Desserts are worth saving room for. Their rich and gooey pumpkin tart is surprisingly good and is already a repeat-order. The almost apple pie, baked apple slices topped with torched castor sugar and served on a light crème with cinnamon, is the one we kept going back to till the plate was clean.
“Portal lets the guest curate their own experience — go back in time with something nostalgic and traditional, or go forward with something modern, depending on the time of day,” said Singh, who credits Chef Gregory Bazire, who put together the menu, and Chef Dhiraj Biswas, who spends 15 days a month training the kitchen team and maintaining consistency. Portal is barely a week old, but repeat visitors — some already on their second and third visit — suggest the effort is landing.
Drinks have received equal attention. A coffee bar with a vinyl player serves brews made using Karabi coffee alongside matcha and fresh juices. A bar at the far end covers cocktails, wines and non-alcoholic options. Music is programmed deliberately: easy listening in the morning, jazz as the day settles, something heavier as night progresses. Jazz nights, curated by Revolver Club, are lined up.
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Coming soon: acai bowls, delayed by the ongoing conflict, and congees planned for monsoon.
When asked if Portal would expand, Singh laughed. “Don’t ask a woman who’s just delivered when she’s having the next baby. I’ve still got sleepless nights to deal with.” She did, however, confirm a desire to bring Mustard back to Mumbai. That, for many, will be the news worth waiting for.
Dining and Cooking