Restaurant India News: The UAE-born Pincode format by Kunal Kapur makes its Indian debut in Goa with Pincode Bungalow.

After establishing its flagship format in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where it earned widespread acclaim and Michelin recognition, Pincode by Kunal Kapur now introduces its first flagship in India with Pincode Bungalow in Vagator, Goa. 

Having built its reputation in the UAE as a chef-led Indian restaurant rooted in culture and precision, the brand brings that evolved flagship chapter home, choosing Goa for its layered, design-conscious and culturally fluid energy.

“With Pincode Bungalow, we wanted to create a flagship that truly belongs. The house already had its own dignity and Goa has its own rhythm. We chose to honour both. The menu still travels through India’s pin codes, street corners, home kitchens, and old recipes, but the experience is rooted here: Morning coffee, cocktails at dusk, food meant to be shared. Three moods, one home,” shared Chef Kunal Kapur, Founder & Chef of Pincode Bungalow.

At Pincode, every dish is tied to a place. The menu maps India through its pin codes, from Indore’s Sarafa Bazaar and Kolkata’s cabin cafés to Old Delhi’s Dilli-6 lanes, Champaran’s sealed-handis, Sindhi breakfast tables and coastal Tamil kitchens. Alongside favourites, the kitchen spotlights micro-regional dishes such as Dubki Aloo with Bedmi Poori, Nizami Handi, Nadru Kofta and Champaran Meat, balancing them with chef-led reinterpretations. Fire, fermentation, dhungar smoke, dum cooking and charcoal grilling anchor the approach. Personal recipes from Chef Kunal’s childhood and Corporate Chef Sadiya Khan’s family repertoire create a dialogue between memory and method, not a pan-Indian menu, but a deliberately mapped one.

The bungalow unfolds in three moods. At the entrance sits Indiroom, conceived by Sushree Vaish, Head of Marketing at Pincode, alongside Ajit Joshi (AJ) and Shubham Agarwal of Caarabi Coffee Roasters. -

Extending inward, Baar-Bar is the bungalow’s high-energy cultural bar. Developed with mixologist Mukesh Patwal, the cocktail programme leans into nostalgia.

Housed within a restored Portuguese bungalow, the design by Aayushi Malik favours restraint over reinvention. The whitewashed façade, terracotta roof tiles and exposed timber rafters remain intact, preserving the architectural memory of the house. Hand-painted murals along the architraves and window frames introduce the brand as a subtle layer rather than a takeover. Spatially, the mood shifts with intention: Indiroom is warm and intimate in textured plaster, stone and reclaimed timber; Baar-Bar deepens into terracotta tones, black Kota stone and burl veneer; while the glasshouse dining room offers a contemporary counterpoint in metal, glass and textile-inspired detail. The result is a house that feels inhabited, not installed.