A new grill-led restaurant at NMACC turns dinner before or after shows into its own kind of performance

Restaurants inside performance venues often carry a certain dutiful energy. A quick meal before the curtain. A glass of wine during the interval. Something functional, reliable, adjacent to the real event. Flint, newly opened at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NMACC), has other ideas.

Fire, cornbread and curtain calls: Flint steps into the NCPA spotlight

The restaurant arrives as part of a broader shift happening across the NCPA campus. Dining here is no longer a supporting act. With Waarsa, Bay 21 and now Flint, the complex is developing the rhythm of a place where you arrive early, linger longer and occasionally forget that a symphony, a play or a ballet was the original reason for coming at all.

Flint is led by chefs Jaydeep Mukherjee and Rahul Akerkar, and the central premise is simple enough: cooking over fire. Char, smoke, heat and the slightly primal satisfaction of food that has spent time over flame. It is the kind of culinary idea that could easily tip into theatrics. Instead, the menu lands in a far more relaxed place.

I visited during a pre-opening preview, when the restaurant was still finding its stride. Staff moved with the quick attentiveness of a dress rehearsal. Plates arrived one after the other as the kitchen tested the evening’s tempo. There was already a sense of what the place might become: a restaurant built for repetition. Somewhere you drop in for breakfast one day, lunch the next, and eventually dinner after a performance without quite planning it.

The opening sequence of dishes sets the tone. Crisps and dips appear first, three bowls arranged like a small overture of smoke and brightness. A tomato and goat’s cheese pâté is lush and tangy, the sweetness of tomato sharpened by the faint lactic bite of the cheese. The smoked carrot borani arrives cool and velvety, its sweetness deepened by the grill before being folded into yoghurt. And then there is the baba ghanoush — properly smoky, the kind of aubergine purée that tastes unmistakably of flame rather than blender. These are the kinds of plates that disappear quickly, with hands reaching back almost automatically.

Then comes the papaya salad, which I suspect will become a signature. The dish arrives vibrant and complex: blocks of fresh papaya dressed with soft burrata in a way that leans unexpectedly sweet before snapping back with acidity and freshness. It carries the kind of brightness that feels tailor-made for Mumbai’s warmer evenings — tropical, sharp, and extremely difficult to stop eating. By the time the plate was cleared, I was already considering a second order.

Throughout the meal, Chef Jaydeep Mukherjee moved between tables, enthusiastically walking diners through the dishes. He spoke about the fire, the sourcing, the small decisions that shape the menu. There is something refreshing about a chef who remains visibly invested in the storytelling of the food, explaining the thought behind a salad or a grill rub with the same energy.

Flint’s menu travels comfortably across cuisines, the kind of spread that invites a table to order widely. Grilled corn empanadas arrive golden and gently blistered, the filling creamy with melted manchego while a sharp red pepper chimichurri cuts through with brightness. They are indulgent in the most comforting way — slightly messy, deeply savoury and extremely satisfying.

Pasta appears next. The spaghetti with creamy black truffle butter threads through roasted asparagus and mushrooms, the sauce clinging luxuriously to each strand. The truffle isn’t showy or overpowering; instead it hums softly beneath the earthiness of the vegetables, the sort of restrained richness that signals a kitchen with patience.

More surprising is the Manipuri black rice risotto. The glossy, ink-dark grains arrive slow-cooked and gently creamy with mascarpone, punctuated by roasted pumpkin and squash that add warmth and sweetness. It lands somewhere between risotto and a very elegant khichdi — Italian technique meeting a distinctly north-eastern ingredient in a way that feels natural rather than experimental.

Then the grill takes centre stage. The smoked spice-rubbed BBQ pork ribs arrive lacquered and fragrant, the meat giving way from the bone with a satisfying softness. Buttered cornbread sits alongside — crumbly, warm and faintly sweet — while a curried apple sauce introduces a gentle spice that plays surprisingly well with the smoke.

The Texas BBQ spatchcock chicken is equally confident. The bird arrives deeply bronzed, its skin taut and smoky from the grill, resting beside charred miso beans and a silky corn purée that adds sweetness and depth. It’s a generous plate, the kind that leans unapologetically toward appetite.

The cocktails keep pace. The Ambada Picante mixes tequila blanco with ambada hydrosol, orange, coriander and jalapeño, landing bright and aromatic with just enough heat to wake up the palate. The Flint Margarita leans darker and moodier, with tequila, mezcal and fino sherry introducing a subtle smokiness that mirrors the grill.

Between courses I found myself in conversation with Rahul Akerkar about topics that wander well beyond the kitchen. Artificial intelligence. The future of schools. What restaurants might look like in twenty years. These conversations feel natural in a place that encourages lingering rather than rushing through a meal.

I ended the meal — and the evening — with an apple tart Tartini, its caramelised fruit leaning gently bittersweet, the pastry crisp and buttery in the way good tarts should be. Alongside it came Flint’s cold coffee, deeply chilled and nostalgic, the kind of drink that brings the meal down to a relaxed, satisfying close.

The larger idea behind Flint becomes clearer the longer you sit there. This is not a restaurant built around a single occasion. The menu reads like an invitation to mix and match. A burger can share the table with pasta. A baida roti can appear beside salad and ribs. The combinations feel democratic rather than curated.

And that might be the most appealing part of the place. Flint understands that diners rarely stick to categories anymore. One person wants something light, another wants barbecue, someone else orders pasta because pasta always wins.

The restaurant has now opened its doors to the public. My preview visit only scratched the surface of the menu, which is precisely the point. There are dishes left to try, drinks left to taste, corners of the kitchen still waiting to reveal themselves.

What Flint offers, ultimately, is a shift in how an evening at the NCPA might unfold. The performance might still be the main event. But dinner here begins to feel like part of the same programme. And occasionally, if the ribs are particularly good and someone orders the papaya salad again, it may even steal the show.

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