The Frame announced its opening in Meherchand Market, Lodhi Colony, with the kitchen at the centre of the house and the wine list close beside it. Led by chef and co-founder Adhyan Prasher, the menu draws on classical French technique and Italian hospitality, bringing a finesse to Delhi that few diners have yet experienced here.The Frame is founded by Adhyan Prasher,Aryaman Bhardwaj and Nishit Chadha. The kitchen works like a studio: every plate is built with the same discipline, intention and craft as a canvas.The building unfolds like a story, with each floor a new chapter. On the first floor, guests receive a poem card that introduces the pelican folklore running through the architecture, branding and menu. The pelican is The Frame’s monogram, chosen for the way she carries ideas and flavours across coastlines, much as the restaurant brings cooking, art and stories from different places together under one roof.The Frame takes its name from its address. When artists from around the world arrived in Lodhi Colony to create live public art, the founders saw that the neighbourhood already worked as a frame, its streets an open-air gallery. The restaurant brings that energy indoors.The façade is the work of architect and co-founder Nishit Chadha, who trained in Barcelona and draws on Antoni Gaudí’s experimental, hand-built approach to design. Where Gaudí worked with physical models and hand drawings, Chadha shaped the façade by hand in clay, then reinforced it with glass, concrete and polymer. It is a design made for this building alone.That handmade spirit carries indoors. Mosaic tile walls bring the characters of the pelican folklore to life, and a hand-painted ceiling traces her full journey. Limewash, stone, ceramics and sandstone complete the rooms. Every mosaic and artwork was made specifically for The Frame.“We wanted people to leave thinking about the meal and the art as one evening, not two separate things. But the kitchen is the heart of this house. If you walk out remembering the food as much as the art, we’ve done our job,” said the founders in a joint statement. The first floor is where the kitchen’s thinking is easiest to read, and it begins with the small plates. Wine leads at The Frame,The list is designed to change, consistent at its core and moving with the seasons, so it sits as easily beside a quick ground-floor plate as it does beside the tasting menu.Prasher’s cooking is rooted in French technique, shaped by years in kitchens alongside Michelin-star chefs and a grill-led start as a commis. The Frame does not fuse its two influences. France provides the gastronomy; Italy provides the warmth and generosity at the table.“I want simple food, but the technique and the process should define it, and the ingredients should be the star. I wanted to bring that finesse back to India, and be part of something a lot of people haven’t tasted here yet,” said Prasher.
Dining and Cooking