French Press Global hosted the second edition of the Tastemaker's Table on April 18th at Naarma, Nehru Place, in celebration of Maison French Press brands Siddhartha Bansal and Maalya by Isvari, with Suntory Toki and Quaffine as the evening's alcohol partners. The concept behind the Tastemaker's Table is an editorial milieu, a room of people who shape what others will eventually consume, being served something ahead of its time. For its second edition, we found ourselves somewhere that felt designed for exactly that.
The Outdoor Area of Naarma
Naarma sits inside Epicuria at Nehru Place, brought to life by Akshay Anand, the force behind some of the city’s favourites such as Toy Room, Cosy Box, La Serre, and Ophelia. From the moment you step in, the rose installation anchoring the main dining room makes you stop. The private dining room has hand-painted walls that seem to move with the light. Step outside and it shifts completely, graffiti, open air, a rawer edge. Every section of the space has its own mood, and together they create something that feels like a seductive escape from the city around it. The decor is so intimate and romantic that you genuinely forget you are in Delhi, and more than once during the evening, someone at the table remarked on exactly that. Against the backdrop of Nehru Place's relentless energy outside, Naarma draws a clean line between the world and the room, and the room always wins.
Naarma Interiors With Their Iconic Red Rose Anchoring The Room
The kitchen is run by three internationally trained chefs. Chef Jayson Gubat Cagaoan brings fire-kissed precision from Michelin-starred kitchens across Asia, including Roka and the St. Regis. Chef Amit Singh is the details man, the one whose influence you feel most in the finish of each dish. Chef Sardoma Dumaguing Bienvenido Jr. earned a silver medal at the Philippine Culinary Cup 2023 and brings grounded authority to the menu. The bar programme was conceived by Heena Kewalramani and Pablo Guidoni, and its Spanish influence runs through everything, from the choice of base spirits to the way the drinks are constructed. The menu for the evening was specially handcrafted by Naarma for French Press Global, bringing together some of their bestsellers and crowd pleasers.
A Handcrafted Menu Highlighting Their Bestsellers, Pictured Here are the Lemon Pie Smash, The Mantequilla y Fresas and Their Signature Chicken Gyozas
The Cocktails: Where the Night Began, and Ended
I started with the Lemon Pie Smash, and I say started loosely, because I also ended with it. Philadelphia cream cheese-washed Roku Gin, basil, lemon, vanilla, toasted yuzu marshmallow foam. The fat-washing softens the gin's botanicals into something velvety, the basil keeps it grounded before it tips into dessert territory, and the yuzu foam sits on top and lingers long after the last sip. It was my favourite drink of the night and the one that had the table talking well before the food arrived. The Lemon Pie Smash is the kind of drink that turns you into an unreliable narrator for the rest of the evening, because everything that comes after is being silently measured against it.
Rating: 5/5
The Mantequilla Y Fresas, Made With Haku Vodka, Sichuan Butter, Strawberry Cordial, Sake, Lime
The Mantequilla y Fresas followed: Haku vodka, Sichuan butter, strawberry cordial, sake, lime. The Sichuan butter adds a low numbing warmth that you register before you understand it, sitting underneath the brightness of the strawberry and the clean cut of the lime. Elegant and composed, and the sort of drink that makes you pause mid-sip to think about what is actually in the glass.
Rating: 4.5/5
The Espresso Martini came from the handcrafted menu too: Haku, Quaffine, espresso, chocolate bitters, vanilla. The Quaffine is doing real work here, not just sweetening the drink but deepening it. India's first cold brew coffee liqueur, it brings a texture and complexity to the glass that separates this from anything comparable in Delhi right now. The depth it adds is the reason this Espresso Martini works as well as it does. More on Quaffine below.
Rating: 4.5/5
Later in the evening, with the mains, I tried the Not a Picante from Naarma's house menu, built on cilantro reposado and tamarind juice. The tamarind adds a sourness that pulls cleanly against the heat, and the cilantro reposado gives it a complexity a standard spiced margarita simply does not have. A strong house offering, and one that held its own alongside the bespoke menu for the evening.
Rating: 4.3/5
On Quaffine
Mini Coffee Liqueur Bottles Gifted At The Event By The Quaffine Team
Quaffine was founded in Goa in 2022 by Isaac Vivek Mani and Olson Pereira, both long-time veterans of the Indian alco-bev industry. Their starting point was a love of Madras filter coffee and a gap they kept encountering: India had no serious homegrown coffee liqueur. The name blends 'aqua' and 'caffeine', a reference to the cold brewing process, which involves steeping 100% single-origin Arabica beans from Chikmagalur in cold or room-temperature water for up to twenty-four hours, through an eighteen-step process with no artificial additives. The result is vegan, gluten-free, and built on tasting notes of chocolatey coffee, dates, roasted nuts, raisins, and a hint of butterscotch. At 25% ABV it holds its shape in cocktails without dominating them. Olson Pereira, co-founder and master blender, has described coffee as a culture rather than a beverage, and that philosophy comes through in every glass. Quaffine is currently available across Goa, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Thailand, and Kenya, and as an alcohol partner for the evening, it found exactly the right context at Naarma.
The Food: Starters
Naarma's food menu moves between Japanese and Mediterranean influences, and the starters section is where the kitchen's range shows up first. The table ordered across both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus, and there was very little left on any plate.
The avocado maki roll arrived with a crispy tempura-coated exterior that shattered cleanly without overwhelming the avocado inside. A simple execution, done with more care than you expect. The cream cheese and edamame gyoza were light and fresh, the base had good colour, and the skin held that fine balance between yielding and structure. They disappeared before the table had finished discussing them, which says enough. On the non-vegetarian side, the shrimp tempura maki roll had a batter so light it surprised everyone who tried it, and the chicken gyoza were fragrant and well-seasoned all the way through. The pepperoni pizza arrived on a true Napoli crust, thin and blistered with a proper char at the edges, served with hot honey. It is a departure from the Japanese-Mediterranean direction of the rest of the menu, but the kitchen does it with enough conviction that it earns its place.
Rating: 4/5
Mains
The Thai Chicken Yellow Curry with Rice
This is where Naarma had the room. The Thai Chicken Yellow Curry with Rice and the Black Bean Chicken with Fried Rice were the dishes that made people stop mid-conversation and look down at their plates, which in a room as lively and buzzing as this one on a Saturday night is truly something. The black bean sauce had depth and a fermented complexity that built rather than announced itself, the fried rice came with real wok-smoke and fragrance, and the chicken stayed tender throughout. The Thai Chicken Yellow Curry was warming and aromatic with a richness that balanced well against the rice. On the vegetarian side, the Thai Vegetable Green Curry with Rice and the Hot Garlic Vegetable with Fried Rice both held their own, the green curry in particular was fragrant and layered, and the hot garlic preparation had a satisfying heat that kept people going back. Everyone raved about the mains, across the table, across dietary preferences. It was the section of the evening that had the most consensus, and the most empty plates.
Rating: 4.8/5
Dessert
The Laughing Buddha Tiramisu
The Red Rose
The Red Rose and the Laughing Buddha Tiramisu closed the evening. The Red Rose leaned into the restaurant's own rose installation with obvious intent, and the aesthetic connection was lovely. The Tiramisu had a good espresso soak and generous cocoa, and the mascarpone had body to it. Both were enjoyable. But after mains that landed with that much conviction, dessert was the one section that felt like it had more to give. The kitchen has the range and the ambition on full display throughout the rest of the menu, and desserts are where that ambition could extend further. Something to watch for in future iterations of the menu.
Rating: 3.2/5
Glimpses From The Second Edition of The Tastemaker's Table by The French Press Circle
A night spent amongst great company, with Naarma's nightlife buzzing warmly in the background, is the kind of evening that reminds you why these gatherings exist. The second edition of the Tastemaker's Table found a home here that felt earned. Suntory Toki and Quaffine gave the cocktail programme its backbone. The drinks were sharp, the mains were the kind that make a loud room go briefly silent, and the company was exactly what you would want on a Saturday night in Delhi. Naarma handled all of it without breaking a sweat. As second editions go, this one set a bar that the third is going to have to work for.
Good rooms are found. Great evenings are made. Naarma and French Press Global made April 18th both.
Editor's Rating: 4/5