The first thing you see when you walk into Sweeney—Malaika Arora and restaurateur Dhaval Udeshi’s new restaurant in Khar—isn’t the bar or the food-laden tables. It’s a 140-year-old mango tree that covers almost half of the outdoor area. Abounding with fruit, it is the kind of tree that makes you instinctively crane your neck to look up, and I’m told that if a mango happens to fall on you while you’re standing underneath it—which apparently happens a lot—the team will give you a jar of mango jam to take home. “The courtyard with the tree. The kitchen. The whole concept is a house,” Udeshi, known for Bombay favourites like Gigi and Lyla, tells me. “There’s a dining table. There’s a sofa. There’s a living room. That’s the whole idea for the restaurant. We want you to feel at home. Anytime in the day, you can just come. You should feel comfortable. You just come.”
The restaurant begins outdoors and moves inward, a structure inspired by Thai spaces, where dining often happens under open air. The outdoor area has intimate clusters of tables, with a low eight-seater in the corner, designed for dissolving into after a long afternoon meal. Inside, the ceilings are high with handcrafted, slow-moving fans, sage green walls and white floor-length blinds that filter the light. Low-height seating on the upper level invites you to curl up with a book or disappear into a conversation you don’t want interrupted. There’s a wooden DJ booth embedded into the floor for those who don’t mind a bit of ambient sound. It’s an all-day space in the true sense of the word—somewhere you could come to work, mope, celebrate, or do absolutely nothing.
Udeshi and Arora have been hands-on with everything, from selecting the exact shade of green paint (which changed six times) to the cutlery used in the restaurant. It makes sense. Sweeney is their home away from home, at least in spirit. “Scarlett House (the first restaurant Arora and Udeshi collaborated on) was about inviting people into my home; it was intimate and deeply personal,” Arora says. “Sweeney came from a different place in my life. Travel has always been a big part of who I am. When you’re constantly moving, food becomes your comfort and your constant. Thai and European home-style cooking have always felt very grounding to me—like familiar flavours that make unfamiliar faces and places feel safe.” Sweeney grew out of that feeling. “It’s the kind of place where you arrive hungry, stay longer than planned and leave feeling quietly taken care of.”
Along with aesthetics and purpose, safety sits at the top of the priority list. The restaurant is on the main road in a well-lit area; this is a non-negotiable for both owners. “All our spaces are safe for women. There are women working across the floor. Even if you come alone, nobody will bother you,” Udeshi promises. “You can party anywhere in the city on a Friday or Saturday. But it’s better here because you can actually see each other, hear each other out. You can meet new people organically.”
Sweeney is one of the few places in the city that has something special going on behind the bar as well. “The bar programme here is very close to my heart,” Arora reveals. “It is built around empowering women bartenders by giving them a safe, visible platform to perform and grow, under the membership of Fay Barretto, who herself has navigated and overcome many challenges in the industry. We’re also launching the Sweeney exchange programme, where we will send female bartenders to some of the world’s best bars to learn from global talent and bring that knowledge back to India. The goal is simple: to help create world-class female bar talent in India.”
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The food at Sweeney is simple. If you're in the mood for Thai, there are different kinds of curry, drunken noodles, pad thai and krapow chicken; dishes that do exactly what they promise to do. The Miang Kham—a betel leaf wrap layered with sweet, salty, sour and spicy notes—is a gift you pack yourself before wolfing in one bite. If you prefer European cuisine, the Gnocchi Colocasia glossed in truffle cream, basil oil and Parmigiano Reggiano, served with a seed cracker, is so addictive, you’ll find yourself asking for seconds right after. The Nutty Feta Parcels, small pockets of mouthwatering goodness topped off with a drizzle of mountain truffle honey, are a must-try.
And of course, there are the desserts: the Tub Tim Krob—rose-flavoured water chestnut with sweetened coconut milk and crushed ice, and the Cacao Delice—chocolate mousse, hazelnut praline, feuilletine and chocolate brownie crumbs are great for a cheat day. But it’s chef Ravraj Singh Chandok’s mango sticky rice crème brûlée, served with vegan coconut gelato, that will have you returning to Sweeney again and again, to try your luck under the mango tree in the courtyard.
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