Inside Nisaba: Chef Manish Mehrotra’s new restaurant at Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi

When Chef Manish Mehrotra parted ways with Indian Accent after 15 years after winning multiple awards for the progressive Indian restaurant, the question on everyone’s lips was, what will he do next?

He took a year off. A year of travelling, catching up with family, doing collabs with friends and just enjoying having “no routine”. After a 24-year-run with EVH International (the group that owns Indian Accent, along with many others), he says he needed a break.

Nisaba is proof that a well-timed pause is sometimes the best creative decision.

Samosa, Muradabadi daal, buknu, everything chutney
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At Delhi’s Humayun’s Tomb Museum complex, a sense of calm engulfs visitors even before setting foot on its green manicured gardens. Nisaba, with its clean lines and warm sunlight streaming in through the large windows, fits right in. 

The space is designed to shift from bright and open during the day to dramatic and intimate during the evening, with lighting that highlights the subtle accents and details of all three spaces. The calm pervades right through the lounge, the bar area and to the dining space, where we come face to face with a sculpture by artist Dhananjay Singh.

In a way, the work encapsulates Nisaba’s spirit of creation, renewal, and interconnectedness.

“Nisaba is the goddess of grain in Mesopotamia. I wanted a name which was easy to pronounce, was international but also had a nice Indian ring to it,” says the chef.

He, along with founding partners Amit Khanna and Binny Bansal, decided to set up a culinary space that draws inspiration from everyday dishes found across India, presented in a contemporary restaurant format. Amit shares, “He (Manish) has continued to keep his guests engaged with menus that change, reflecting his deep understanding of textures, flavours, presentation, and seasonal ingredients.”

British takeaway
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Special Arrangement

The menu is succinct, with familiar ingredients from different parts of the country. “I wanted an easy menu, one that doesn’t intimidate. People should be able to eat with their hands without hesitating. The food should be able to speak to the India of today,” says Manish.

What better way to begin our meal than with mini samosas generously dunked in a comforting Moradabadi dal. Served with the aptly titled Everything Chutney – sweet, tangy and spicy – it sets the tone for the evening.

The popular nadru churma from Kashmir, typically served with dahi, makes a debut with burrata, walnut chutney and Kashmiri chilli jam. Barbeque river sole – easily one of the highlights of the meal – is coated with tamarind chilli miso, the chef’s nod to Nikkei cuisine. We eat it with a tangy mooli-adrak lachcha. Admittedly, the curry leaf chicken fails to impress, although the pickled drumsticks do elevate the texture.  

Mains arrive with a flourish. The tamarind chicken kadhi is balanced with pink ginger and an imli leaf paratha. We dunk soft butter buns in the chunky chilli tomato crab ghotala before diving into chanar paturi kofta in a pleasingly pungent cauliflower kasundi curry served with puffed hing kachoris. Amit insists we try his favourite kadhai potatoes with Himalayan jakhiya seeds — a dish that is equal parts comforting and indulgent.  

Some of the dishes on the menu may remind Indian Accent regulars of the signature dishes there — treacle tart, pav bhaji and blue cheese naan being a few — but as the chef points out, he can change the dishes, but he cannot change his cooking style.

Jaipur Saffron Pheni, Chocolate, Nisaba Pistachio Kulfi-02
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Dessert includes Jaipur saffron pheni with chocolate drizzle — the sweetness cut down with a nutty pistachio kulfi. But it is the baked rasmalai with fried chironji and nolen gur makhana where we linger.

Cocktails follow a similar trajectory with elevated familiar flavours. The tequila-based Pickled Pear is mildly sweet and tangy. The Banana Chilli Shadow with gin and chili vodka is playful with hints of banana and lime, while the Tea Fermentation brings together mezcal, strawberry and Assam tea kombucha in a complex, yet grounded manner.

Chef Manish Mehrotra
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

There is no dearth of good Indian restaurants in the capital, but with the addition of Nisaba, it appears that we now have a destination which heroes quality ingredients imaginatively, in a refined space. And while it is not entirely easy to separate Indian Accent from Chef Manish Mehrotra, with this new chapter it seems he has embarked upon something more personal.

Nisaba is at First Floor, Humayun’s Tomb World Heritage Site Museum, Sunder Nursery, Nizamuddin, and is open from 12pm to 12am. A meal for two costs ₹5,000. For reservations call 9810906091.

Published – January 16, 2026 12:11 pm IST