Matcha, Anime and Izakaya: Bay’s Rising Fondness for Japanese Dining and Culture

It is Matcha! A new pop culture trend among Mumbai’s youth—evident from the multiple hospitality spots offering the variants and their dominant presence on social media nowadays. While such an introduction to the food culture of Mumbai is not new and can easily be dated back to at least three years, it is now gaining popularity, much like the culture it belongs to—Japanese.

As much as the streets of Mumbai started adopting the minimalistic approach through cafes, restaurants, and bars dotting some of the popular hangout areas of Mumbai, and the western suburbs, at least a decade back, another niche in this minimalist setting has emerged lately, much to one’s notice – the Japanese confluence to the Mumbai’s hospitality scene. 

Exploring the Matcha variants of the then newly-opened kitchen in Bandra, Tokyo Matcha Bar in 2023, it was easy to think that for it to spread its foot in the market with its minimal matcha grade – a ceremonial grade of which is claimed to have been procured directly from Tokyo — might take some time. Cut to 2025 when even this brand has made enough success to come up with a café experience to offer to the city dwellers. 

Spiral effect leading to Japanese dining

 The emergence of a culture does not come in isolation and is influenced by a lot of factors. Even before the emergence of Matcha, hence, has emerged the fandom for what took the internet and fictional watching to storm, Anime. The Japanese series became a common talk point among the youth and continues to do so. 

It has been similar to the fandom for the band BTS accelerating a rise of tourism in South Korea by Indian travellers and many brands encashing on the merchandise in clothing, as a ripple effect. Some reports also claim that Indians have shown interest in learning the Japanese language and the trend has grown “dramatically” with the learner count increasing from “11,000 in 2006 to over 50,000 in recent years”. 

On the side of tourism, the reports mention that the Indian tourists' arrival in Japan crossed 233,000 in 2024 with a rise of 40%, y-o-y. Direct flights. Moreover, the tourist-heavy destinations like Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and the recent fondness for countries like Vietnam and Azerbaijan have made people look for options that, ultimately, have led to a rise in countries like Japan.

While Japanese food has been available in Mumbai for the last 30 years, with many iconic brands, as per Pranav Rungta, the co-founder of the newly-opened Colaba’s Otoki Restaurant, the spurt in popularity is largely because of the visibility of “good-quality Japanese food by patrons in their travels”. 

Giving the credit to the outbound travel by Indians, not only to Japan, but also to various out major cities like Dubai, Singapore, London among others, he says, “This (such outbound travel) led Indians to experience and understand the cuisine, and hence leading to the larger acceptance to it. This is clubbed with the increasing availability of quality Ingredients, allowing the restaurants here to have more options, which has given a spurt to the Japanese dining culture.”

The other co-founder, Anurag Katriar states that the growing popularity of Japanese cuisine in India, especially, in Mumbai, played a major part in their decision to start Otoki. "The fact that South Mumbai had limited options for Japanese food was also a significant factor in our decision making," he says.

Mapping the culture

While Chef and Co-founder at Sozo Izakaya, Parvez Khan’s own experiences of travelling to Japan and working alongside Chef Morimoto exposed him to the soul of izakaya dining, he also thought of opening a Japanese setting a the recently-opened Sozo Izakaya in Andheri’s Aram Nagar is a testament to the same. “This trend is fueled by a combination of factors: increased global exposure, a growing health consciousness, and a desire for diverse dining experiences, he says. 

Soon within the days of opening, Sozo also became a common visual on Instagram. “Mumbai's culinary landscape has witnessed a significant surge in Japanese dining options. From sushi and ramen to izakaya-style eateries, the city's appetite for Japanese flavours is evident,” he adds.

Tucked opposite the Versova beach, Sozo has enveloped itself in the Japanese aesthetics. We entered a typical and traditional setting that is an ode to the Japanese living room. While it displays minimalism, it also includes a contrasting red wall that gives a glimpse of its kitchen. 

The recently-opened Japanese restaurants have been maintaining a fine balance the minimalism and the Tokyo-inspired street culture offering vibrance, at the same time. Chapel’s road, Mokai – another social media attraction- is well displayed in its settings. Not only does it have the Japanese-inspired ‘Coffee To Go’ takeaway counter, but it houses wabi-sabi aesthetics that become evident with the imperfectly perfect design. 

Along with the staircase that holds the origami birds — in the Japanese style of paper folding that pays an ode to poetic themes hinting travel, migration and exchanges, there lies on the wall, the M-O-K-A-I hanko, one of the best highlights here. 

However, it goes for a good contrast with the dynamic street culture of Tokyo displayed here, especially in the washrooms with the audiobooks playing in the background in between the vibrant display of cultural blends on the walls. "Each element is inspired by my partner's travelling experiences in South East Asia," Mohit Bulchandani had said about his partner and co-owner Karreena Bulchandani while talking to Local Samosa and had mentioned how the restaurant is always full over the weekends.

However, even with the increase in the fondness for Japanese dining and culture, there still exists a gap in the market, especially in the south of Mumbai like Colaba, which led Pranav Rungta to open Otoki. “The broad reason was a lack of a Speciality Japanese Restaurant in South Mumbai. The gap in the market and shortage of quality real estate in the area gave us the confidence to explore this cuisine,” he says.

A tint of ‘local’

Talkng about the infusion of the local elements with regard to the cuisine, Otoki denies adding any dash of local flavours to its cuisines to maintain the authenticity of the Japanese cuisines. "While planning, we were very clear  that we wented to stay true to classic Japanese food rather than indulging in perceived safety of more varied pan-asian food. This confidence emanated from our belief that Indian consumers are now well-travelled and discerning enough to try food in its classical avatar,' says Anurag Katriar. 

Chef Parvez Khan, however, opines that rather than adapting Japanese cuisine to suit local tastes, he has focused on creating familiarity through experience “creating familiarity through experience”. “We have kept the offerings like Ramen which is soulful and hearty, or dishes that reflect the warmth and generosity found in both Japanese and Indian cultures,” he says.

 The Indian touch to the dishes becomes quite evident as we savour some of the dishes at Sozo. “While we stay rooted in Japanese techniques and sensibilities, being in Mumbai naturally brings a sense of awareness to local preferences — especially when it comes to comfort, spice levels, and dining habits,” the chef says. 

The business of survival makes it a necessity to understand the local preferences and adhere to them and even Mokai is not untouched by it- an understanding one gets with its culinary offerings. Chef Khan puts it well. “We are not blending cuisines — we are respecting Japanese traditions while understanding the rhythm of our city. It's more about creating a dialogue than a hybrid.”