Cover From handmade pastas and wood-fired dishes to craft cocktails—Cantina is an Italian-American restaurant in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex where Anthony Burd brings flavour and flair to the menu (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
From handmade pastas and wood-fired dishes to craft cocktails—Cantina is an Italian-American restaurant in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex where Anthony Burd brings flavour and flair to the menu (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
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Anthony Burd brought his loud, unapologetic cooking style from Hong Kong to Bangkok, and now, he’s in Mumbai. We ate at Cantina—and asked him why
I had a seven o’clock table and arrived at half past, which in Mumbai is not especially late and in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) is almost expected. BKC—the city’s purpose-built financial and commercial district, home to the Reserve Bank of India, the consulates, and most of Mumbai’s major corporate headquarters—doesn’t wind down at the end of the working day so much as switch registers. The office crowds pour out into the same streets that the restaurant crowd is pouring into; the result, around seven on a weeknight, is a particular kind of gridlock that is very Mumbai and entirely maddening. By the time I reach Cantina, a drink is well-earned.
Cantina sits in BKC’s G Block, and is the Mumbai outpost of chef Anthony Burd — better known simply as Tony—an American from New Jersey who built Tony’s Sukhumvit 11 into one of Bangkok’s most reliably packed Italian-American restaurants, with previous stints in Hong Kong at Mercato By Jean-Georges, and a formative period living and cooking in Italy. The pizza oven sits out in the dining room, visible from nearly every seat. The playlists wander between classic Frank Sinatra and music that wouldn't be out of place in a downtown New York bar. Nobody is pretending this is a place of solemnity.
A few days after that dinner, Burd joined a video call from Bangkok. Even then, the food kept circling back into the conversation. There was hamachi ceviche: thin slices of yellowtail in a fermented habanero dressing with avocado and citrus. On paper it reads like a dish hedging between Italian and Peru, but it works. The fermented habanero gives it warmth and depth without tipping into heat for its own sake.
When asked what his vision for Cantina had been before it opened, and whether he felt he'd hit it, Burd said: “Just real Italian food. We aren’t pretending to be something that we’re not. Big Italian flavours, loud plates, a fun, high-energy restaurant.” He was matter-of-fact about it in the way people are when the answer is genuinely simple. “I have guests who come, honestly, every single day. They’ll use the place almost like a café and set up their laptops. But then they’re back for lunch and dinner too.”
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Above Anthony Burd (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
Anthony Burd (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
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The chicken lasagna made sense of that. It’s the kind of dish you could eat on a Tuesday without ceremony. Slow-built chicken ragù, confit tomato, a spuma di parmigiano (a light, airy foam made from aged Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese) on top that sounds like it’s showing off but in practice just adds a gentle, savoury lift to the richness underneath. The pasta holds its shape and the tomato is concentrated and sweet. It’s comfort food taken seriously, which is not as common as it should be.
Burd has been watching BKC closely since before the restaurant opened. “I was sitting there for a while and there’s not many places to go to sit and have a coffee,” he told me. “The place next door—it’s not the greatest café—and it fills up at lunchtime. I had to walk one kilometre away to find a good place to sit.” He’s thinking about opening earlier, adding a few breakfast items, maybe a weekend brunch. BKC is not a residential neighbourhood—almost nobody lives there—which means everyone who comes to Cantina has, in some way, made a decision to be there. He seems to understand that as an opportunity rather than a limitation.
The truffle pizza was the dish that lingers. House-made truffle sauce as the base, three cheeses, rocket leaves and fresh shaved truffle on top—not truffle oil, which would have been the easy and lesser choice. It’s earthy and indulgent, the kind of pizza that makes you lose track of the conversation for a moment. The crust has a good char. You don’t get that without someone who knows what they’re doing at the oven.
Mumbai's Italian restaurant scene has long frustrated those who know what Italian food can be: well-intentioned places that soften and Indianise until the cooking loses its character. “I’ve actually heard that as well,” he said. “I’ve been asked to do certain things and I said, no—that’s not the concept.” He left it there. The restraint seemed deliberate.
Above Hamachi ceviche (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
Hamachi ceviche (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
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He has cooked across enough of Asia to have a clear read on how different cities receive his food. Hong Kong, he said, took it as indulgence—a special occasion affair. Bangkok treats it as comfort, something woven into the week. Mumbai he described differently. “Mumbai embraces it fully—with bring it on mentality. Bring on the portions, bring on the richness, bring on the attitude, bring on the spice.” What surprised him most was the openness and the volume at which people talk about food here. “They really talk about what they like, and they really talk about what they don’t like. The rich sauces, the heavy hand, the big plates—zero fear of indulgence.” Coming from New Jersey, I suspect that registers as a compliment.
He’s been cross-pollinating between his restaurants in a way that feels genuinely iterative rather than formulaic. “I’m bringing back at least eight of the best sellers from Mumbai to Bangkok,” he said. Chicken wings, for instance, is a dish he’d never thought to put on the Bangkok menu until he saw how Mumbai responded to them. “I put chicken wings on there and now we sell so many. I never thought of having them, but it’s become mandatory. And why not? In Italy we had chicken wings too—Tuscan style. I just thought it wasn’t exactly fine dining,” he pauses, “but we’re not trying to be fine dining. We’re trying to make comfort food. Make people happy.”
On the drinks side, the cocktail menu is called ‘No Work Ethics’, which is either a warning or a promise depending on how your evening is going. The Limon—vanilla bean vodka, limoncello and fresh lemon—is ideal for Mumbai’s humidity. It’s cold, barely sweet and sharp enough to cut through any richness.
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Above Chicken wings, a favourite at the restaurant (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
Chicken wings, a favourite at the restaurant (Photo: courtesy of Cantina)
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Burd is careful about what comes next. “Cantina is still a baby,” he said. “Right now I just want to keep the focus there. Dial in the new dishes, dial in the lunch menu. We’re seeing a lot of the starters and appetisers selling, but not as many of the main courses, so I want to add more there, switch a few things around.” Sandwiches are coming, tapping into what is one of the city’s growing food obsessions. He mentioned, almost in passing, that he’s recently started making chocolate in Bangkok. Another project. Another story. There always seems to be another story with Burd.
When asked about destination dining—whether Cantina might draw people specifically to Mumbai to eat there—he brought it back to something simpler.. “Diners aren’t coming for just the food anymore. It’s about the feeling, and the place. Cantina is not just a night out. You eat big, you drink well, you laugh—and you make sure the guest is leaving happy, no matter what.”
The name Cantina, it turns out, wasn’t his. The owners had the name before he came on board; his contribution was in the kitchen and in the bones of the space—making sure the pizza oven was visible, pushing for the private dining room, dialling in the bar. He was happy to let them lead on the storytelling. “They’re really passionate about how they wanted it to be, and I think they did it very well.”
Mumbai’s Italian restaurant scene has spent years being politely adequate. Cantina is neither polite nor adequate—it’s louder and more confident than that, and the city is better for it. The truffle pizza alone justifies the trip to BKC. And in a neighbourhood where, until recently, you had to walk a kilometre to find a decent coffee, that’s not nothing.
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As the Regional Editor for Watches and Jewellery and Editorial Content Lead for Tatler GMT, Amrita Katara specialises in luxury watch and jewellery coverage across Asia, with expertise in editorial strategy, feature writing and interviews with industry leaders. Her past roles span luxury lifestyle media and client partnerships. Based in Mumbai, Amrita’s work bridges global trends and Asian market insights.
