Restaurant India News: Malaika Arora and Dhaval Udeshi Unveils Sweeney in Mumbai

Born out of extensive research, return visits, and time spent in kitchens that rarely call themselves restaurants, Sweeney brings together home-style Thai and European cooking in a way that feels both deeply familiar and newly alive. 

The food is shaped by memory, repetition and care - recipes rediscovered from homes, preserved with respect, and reimagined for the table today.

“Sweeney is the taste of comfort - the flavours I return to wherever I am in the world. It’s a second home that feels warm, instinctive and lived-in — where you arrive hungry, stay longer than planned, and leave feeling quietly looked after,” shared Malaika Arora.
 

The kitchen is rooted in domestic Thai traditions - bold, coconut-rich Southern flavours layered with turmeric and fermented pastes, alongside the gentler, herb-forward warmth of Northern Lanna cuisine. Complementing this is an intimate European narrative, beginning with Italian home cooking - olive-oil-rich preparations, slow-simmered sauces, handmade pastas - gently extended with subtle French refinement and Mexican warmth. 

“Sweeney was built through research and return — understanding how food is actually cooked at home, and how craft is learned at the bar. It preserves what deserves protection, while actively building the next generation of talent,” added Dhaval Udeshi.

The space mirrors this philosophy — a slow reveal of sage green interiors, layered natural textures, warm shifting light, intimate dining pockets, and a seamless alfresco extension. It is calm yet alive, refined yet welcoming.

Chef Ravraj Singh Chandok shared, “The focus is on preservation and reinvention — carrying these home-style dishes forward with care, technique, and intention.”

If the kitchen looks to inheritance, the bar looks to the future. Designed as a women-led platform and exchange programme, the bar functions as an incubator for bartenders of tomorrow. Led by Beverage Director Fay Barretto, the drinks programme is anchored in modern classics, precision, balance, and discipline - where learning happens during service, under pressure, behind the counter. Each cycle, one drink is quietly entrusted to a bartender in becoming, held to the same uncompromising standard as the rest.