If the restaurant’s name doesn’t give it away, perhaps the menu will. Inja is India’s first Indian and Japanese restaurant in New Delhi.
Calling it fusion would be of disservice to chef-partner Adwait Anantwar’s culinary vision for Inja. “My cooking is very instinctive. For example, if I'm in a supermarket and I see an ingredient, I will think of the flavour combinations that go along with the ingredient and what I have eaten made with that particular ingredient. The first dish on Inja’s tasting menu is the best example of that,” says the chef.
The dish in focus is Aam papad with tuna or mango papad with tuna. “I've had some dishes with tuna and mango, so I knew that tuna and mango go very well together. But the approach is very different to any others. It’s like I take a glass of water, add lemon and sugar. The process is ingrained in my brain,” explains chef Anantwar.
Located in south Delhi, Inja offers an experience that is innovative yet deeply rooted in heritage. The restaurant doesn’t just combine Indian and Japanese cuisines, but celebrates the contrasts.
Inja’s concept marries the delicate, technique-driven approach of Japanese cooking with the rich, complex flavours of Indian cuisine and results seem to have been well received as the restaurant entered Asia’s 50 Best extended restaurants list 2025 at No.87, within a year of its opening.
“I have never worked for a Japanese restaurant before, though I trained Indian cuisine and have been a chef for only three and a half years. The restaurant I used to work for was always being compared to other modern Indian restaurants and I disliked that. Even while growing up, I was being compared to other children. This is what made me want to do something different. I didn’t want to become like anyone else and that was what drove me to come up with an idea that no one else had.
“I was also fascinated by Nikkei cuisine and knew that Peruvian ingredients and Indian ingredients had many similarities. Peruvians use produce like ramdana, which is amaranth, and Indians made a sweet with them. It was simple similarities like that. That is how I got the idea of doing Indian and Japanese,” explains the chef.
Inja opened with an a la carte menu and in seven months, a tasting menu was introduced. “We do not simply change dishes on the menu, but change the entire menu every six months or so,” says chef Anantwar.
“The menu is often inspired by Indian street food because my last place of work before Inja was focused on street food. I spent six years doing Indian street food and that is how my brain works and what I am most comfortable with. I also love to eat street food. Delhi is one of the best places in India for it. That's kind of food that inspires me,” adds the chef.
The result is an experience that is both refined and approachable , with standout dishes such as Shiso leaf Banarasi chaat, which is shiso leaf tempura with a semi-dried tomato and pomelo chaat, with tamarind ponzu, wild puffed rice and jhakiya (dog mutard) seeds. The Lobster rasam chawanmushi, chef Anantwar’s favourite dish from the a la carte menu, is a silky savoury egg custard, butter poached lobster tail in rasam masala and drumstick (moringa) marrow.
“The Aam papad and tuna is my favourite dish on the tasting menu,” says the chef, who is also rather fond of India’s Northeastern cuisine. The Corn raab with soba and Naga smoked pork is a testament to that.
The restaurant’s design mirrors this duality, incorporating minimalist Japanese aesthetics with vibrant Indian elements to create a balanced atmosphere. Inja is not just about food as is evident with the Panch Indri Cocktail Menu, a curated selection designed to engage the five senses.
Cocktails from bar manager Supradeep Dey add flavour and aroma and sound. The menu is divided into these three categories.
Cocktails inspired by the sense of hearing, also known as “Shrotra Indriya” in Ayurveda are crafted to resonate with the senses, creating an auditory experience, like the Satori Hi-Ball. The “Chakshu Indriya” cocktail is where every element is designed to delight the eye and enhance the drinking experience, like the Glaxay. A celebration of taste, known as “Rasa Indriya” in Ayurveda, captures the essence of taste through sweet, sour, bitter, and umami notes. I highly suggest trying the Inja Picante. The “Ghrana Indriya” cocktails are infused with aromatic botanicals and fragrant essences to captivates the sense of smel; and “Sparshana Indriya” celebrates the tactile sense of touch.
Bold colours and spices with refined minimalist techniques form the essence of Inja. I mean, where else in the world does one get a Gobi 65 Maki Sushi, but at Inja?
