I walk through the foyer lined with welcoming smiles and into a warmly lit bar space that is gently buzzing with conversation. Nooks filled with books and bonhomie beckon. Sculptured windows offer cosy tables for two and a romantic view of blushing bougainvillea and bright moonlight. The music wraps me in a hug, familiar but not intrusive. As a Colaba girl, I find the vibe very SoBo living room, and I feel like I’m visiting a friend’s place rather than a restaurant. But it’s true… this is the all-new La Panthera Eros, the Modern European restaurant headed by Chef Manuel Olveira and founder Mickee Tuljapurkar.
The Eros building at Churchgate, with its Streamline Moderne style of Art Deco architecture and towering ziggurat has always been a personal favourite. Now, after its recent restoration and the Swadesh store and so many new restaurants reviving the space, it’s fast becoming the centrepiece around which South Mumbai’s social scene revolves. La Panthera Eros, the newest entrant here, has created a ripple of excitement in the neighbourhood and beyond and everyone is keen to know what it’s about. And that’s exactly what we are here to find out.
Vibe check
Mickee and Chef Manuel give us the grand tour: An 80-seater eatery with a classy cocktail bar, quiet alcoves for families and friends, plus a plush Private Dining Room. We step out onto the long balcony through the Art Deco doorway. This is not just a smoking area facing the gorgeously lit Western Railway Headquarters building, but one that I predict will stir up some delicious conversations and cocktails come Mumbai’s cooler months.
This dovetails perfectly with their idea of an Aperitivo Hour at sunset. How sophisticated, I think, remembering my vacations across Southern Europe. It promises a great start to the evening with drinks in hand and Spanish pintxos to devour. These are bite-sized bar snacks, usually on a skewer, which delight the palate and enable a good chat. Perfect for that transition between after-work drinks and dinner, and then for lively late-night lounging.
Since we are here for the whole dining experience, from pintxos to post-dinner digestifs, my companion and I are ushered past the bar and into the next room, to a table facing the live kitchen. Now this is supper theatre Pro Max, where we get to watch Chef Manuel presiding over the pass, guiding the kitchen team, and sometimes adding finishing touches to dishes before they are sent out.
The Star Dish: Pintxos FTW
Chef gets us started with some Pintxos. Tasting the Classic Gilda, with a green olive, a pickled piparra (Spanish pepper), a gherkin, some sweet red bell pepper, and a morsel of Manchego cheese, coated in Arbequina olive oil, we get what the fuss is about. Each of the ingredients has been chosen to tantalise the tastebuds and prepare them for the drinks you’d have them with. Those who enjoy seafood could go for the Boqueron Gilda, which has a white anchovy instead of the gherkin. The gildas give your mouth the perfect pucker, slightly astringent with the brine, a tad spicy with the hot peppers, and eased off with the sweetness of the bell pepper and mild Manchego, plus unctuousness of the olive oil.
These briny gildas are the perfect accompaniment for their Dirty Martini, with its silky olive vodka. In fact, La Panthera’s martini programme is on point. Apt, considering that the martini is fast regaining cachet as the go-to classy cocktail this season and the way it syncs with the vintage spirit of the place. 007 would approve. My Sake-tini, with the nutty umaminess of Junmai Sake and hazelnut, also has a surprisingly refreshing side, which balances the intensity of the pintxos perfectly.
Of course, the Spanish bar bites include Patatas Bravas – an all-time favourite – but we decide to go a different route. The crunch on the Brown Cauliflower Croquetas is very satisfying, while the black truffle adds that deeply umami dimension. This dish too features Manchego cheese and it all makes sense when I recall that Chef Manuel has his roots in Toledo, Spain, which is part of La Mancha where the cheese originates, and even has a museum dedicated to it! The meat croquettes made with Iberian ham also bring a little taste of his part of Spain into the mix. I don’t miss getting a portion of Chef’s Gambas Al Ajillo, which I’ve enjoyed at every meal he’s cooked over the years. Succulent garlic-infused prawns in a dynamite chilli oil, to be soaked up with sourdough… you can’t go wrong ordering that.
The Food Menu
The menu does have a selection of tapas or Spanish small plates. Of these, I highly recommend Pan de Ajo. Simple in concept – brioche with a chive-garlic butter – it is so perfectly made and moreish, you might just find yourself bingeing on it like we did! If you’re vegetarian, leave room for Chevre & Leeks, which brings together whipped goat cheese and braised leeks, a sweet fig chutney and tangy lemon zest on grilled sourdough, so beautifully. If your diet is more varied, you might want to try the Bloody Mary Ceviche, such a clever take on the classic, featuring sea bass, cured with a lime leche de tigre, and the brilliant addition of a Bloody Mary granita! When Chef Manuel told me his favourite dish on the menu was the Shio Koji Pork Belly, I just had to sample it. Soft and packed full of umami flavour thanks to the fermented Japanese koji, it goes well with the other elements on the plate… the apple purée, and grilled cabbage, and coffee jus. A touch more of the whole-grain Pommery mustard would have made the dish a bit brighter for me.
There’s just so much on offer at La Panthera Eros that one could keep going back and have a completely different meal each time. The charred octopus with muhammara and pesto looked interesting; as did the Txangurro, their baked garlic butter crab. Of the pizzas, the Scamorza Rosso and the Short Rib Picante are likely to be hot hits (even if you say nay to pineapple on your pie for the latter!). With the 48-hour fermented dough for the base and the gleaming oven that is the star of the kitchen, I already know this is going to be a popular section. There are several kinds of pasta and many mains to choose from too, from agnolotti to ravioli, roasts to bakes, burgers to grills, steak to lamb chops. We go for the morel risotto, al dente yet creamy with the parmesan and the chewy-umami goodness of the morels.
Since Chef Manuel personally recommends his Tarte Tatin (the classic French upside-down apple tart), that has to be the choice for dessert. Think luscious slices of caramelised apple on a well baked tart. Now add a quenelle of slightly boozy Calvados vanilla ice-cream. And you have the perfect end to the meal. But wait, when you see the incredibly creative (and rather adult) sorbets and gelatos on offer, you know you have to come back again and again to try the Blood Orange Negroni Sorbet, the Mascarpone & Black Fig Gelato with a sticky balsamic reduction, and others!
The Drinks Menu
As you’d expect from an establishment like this, there’s quite an impressive wine and spirits list. But it’s the aperitivos and cocktails created by Bar Manager Dwayne Joe D’Mello and his team that will keep you hooked. Golden hour brings you vibrant spritzes and sangrias. And as the shadows lengthen and South Bombay slows down into a reverie, you can savour everything from your favourite martini to clever spins on picantes, palomas, negronis, daiquiris, sours, boulevardiers, old fashioneds, and more. I appreciated that although they obviously use all the contemporary bar techniques, like clarifications or infusions, the focus is on bringing you a drink you like, not impressing you with its back story. As they put it: ‘Less theatre, more taste’.
The journey
In fact, this is Chef Manuel’s credo for everything, and his food has always been about refined comfort, minus the drama. I’ve been following his culinary prowess from the first time he served me his superb seafood paella at JW Marriott’s Arola back in 2015. Even though his mentor Chef Sergi Arola, of Michelin-starred sheen and rock-star presence, was presiding over our table, regaling us with fabulous stories, I got a glimpse of Olveira’s quiet talent through the meal. Having understood Indian rhythms and meeting Mickee, his muse and partner in everything, he had the confidence to soon open his own place in Bandra. La Loca Maria was a success, serving up proper Spanish fare to a city that was hungry for something new and different. Next, they opened La Panthera BKC in 2024, bringing opulence and an almost operatic quality to the European menu and ambience they created.
The new iteration is quite different, of course. Where La Panthera at BKC roars with glitz and glam, La Panthera Eros curls up and purrs contentedly. The hum of power is evident in its comfortable style, but it doesn’t need to flex for us to feel it. Gowri Adappa of A Design Co has honoured the building’s 1930s century architectural history in her interiors, using plenty of curved forms, custom La Panthera mouldings by ZaWorks, vintage lighting, brass, timber, mirrors and bespoke terrazzo in red, green, and beige that complements the green leather bar seats as well as the earthy tones and rich textures of the others. Mickee has given generously of her own collection of books and artefacts to personalise the experience and encourage more guests to relax in the eclectic environment. It may be new, but it seems to pulse with a certain patina of time, a beautiful lived-in luxury. The staff, even for a busy night in the early days of operations, is well trained and attentive. Those who remember the bar scene at the original Indigo with fond nostalgia, will probably find La Panthera Eros to their taste. And psst… I hear whispers about a speakeasy-style bar being developed behind the scenes too.
Read more: Mumbai’s Masque Turns A Decade Old In An All-New Avatar
Also read: Restaurateur Vicky Singh On His Journey And Mumbai’s Evolving Food Scene
