It’s 9:30pm. Velvet drapes shimmer under flashing ceiling projections. Greco-Roman statues and a pillared colonnade lead to the stage. The nightclub bass fades into slow jazz, and the mood shifts. Cabaret dancers in ruffled gowns, jewelled masks and elaborate peacock feathers step on to the stage. The sequence starts slow, almost teasing, before erupting into splits, cartwheels and aerial contortions. The performers then step off the stage and thread between tables, as if the diners are a part of the spectacle.
This is not an auditorium. This is Dramique, billed as India’s first theatrical dining experience, newly opened at Delhi’s The Grand Hotel. The food and drinks are designed to complement the spectacle. Think ‘Golden Affair’, a cocktail of turmeric infused gin, lime acid, honey and ginger beer, paired with mushroom dim sums or sushi rolls.
“The idea for Dramique was born from a desire to create something that goes beyond a restaurant or a show—a space where fine dining, storytelling, and performance merge seamlessly,” says Samir Sehgal, whose brainchild it is. “Our culinary and bar teams worked closely with the creative directors to ensure that every dish and cocktail fit into the larger narrative of the evening. It is about harmony—the visuals, flavours and music all come together to tell one cohesive story.”
Nearby, The Piano Man at the capital’s buzzy Eldeco Centre staged a different kind of theatrical dining earlier this year. In collaboration with Sunset Cinema Club, the jazz club screened the quintessential millennial comfort film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) under its ‘Gourmet Cinema’ experience. The twist: every location the characters travelled to and every turning point in their journey arrived with a new flavour on the plate. Barcelona came with Churros con Patatas and La Tomatina with La Tomatina chicken and a goat cheese and tomato puff tart.
The decade-old Piano Man is often credited with putting performances at the centre of the dining experience. Today, it operates three outlets, two in Delhi and one in Gurugram, and has become known for its consistently stellar live music performances. But making the diners receptive to such experiences has not been easy. Founder Arjun Sagar Gupta, a musician himself, recalls nights when guests walked in expecting the typical Delhi bar: loud conversations, clinking glasses and music reduced to background noise. “I have personally had to step in and ask people to lower their voices during performances,” he says. “We also introduced a ritual called the ‘Silent Song’, where every night we pause all service and bar activity so that the room is wholly focused on listening. We have had over 44,000 minutes of music performed during Silent Songs, and they have been crucial in shifting audience behaviour.”
The shift has allowed The Piano Man to expand its repertoire beyond music to other performance-led evenings like ‘Gourmet Cinema’ and ‘Superqueens the Musical’, a drag spectacle that highlighted inclusivity and identity and became a stellar hit.
Speaking of drag, Kitty Su, the bustling nightclub at The LaLiT in Delhi, has been hosting drag performances for years. In 2022, drag queen Betta Naan Stop even performed at The LaLiT Great Eastern in Kolkata.
“In Delhi and across India, the theatrical dining scene is entering a beautiful period of evolution. Guests today seek experiences that go beyond a traditional dinner or night out—they want narrative, immersion, and artistry woven into their evenings,” says Aashin Moitra, general manager, Kitty Su. “Nationally, too, India is embracing concepts that combine performance with gastronomy, signalling a future where dining becomes an immersive cultural experience rather than a linear one.”
Interestingly, even as bars and restaurants embrace theatrics, the spaces traditionally built for spectacle are moving the other way. Multiplex chain PVR INOX recently opened India’s first luxury dine-in cinema in Bengaluru, where the movie watching experience comes with chef-curated menus from the chain’s in-house brands like Crosta, Wokstar and Local Street.
“Cinema today is as much about the overall outing as it is about the film itself. Audiences want comfort, food and entertainment to blend into one seamless experience. That became the starting point for reimagining what a movie can be,” says Aamer Bijli, lead, marketing & innovations at PVR INOX. He says that the theatrical dining space in India is moving from being a nice-to-have addition to a core part of the premium cinema experience.
While still nascent, theatrical dining is clearly on the rise, buoyed by packed shows and entrepreneurial backing. “The energy, the applause, the repeat visits—it has been incredibly rewarding,” says Sehgal, who is already eyeing other cities. “Internationally, destinations like Lío Ibiza or The Theatre Dubai have set the bar for immersive dining, and we want to bring that world-class energy to India with our own cultural twist.” The audience, too, has evolved, according to him. “They want to be surprised, moved, immersed. Dramique is our way of giving them that—a world where dining becomes art,” he says.
While essentially a space centred around music, The Piano Man, too, is looking to expand to cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru. According to Gupta, the momentum feels overdue. “From day one, we focused on showing that it is possible to build a secure, sustainable business with art at the centre. Since then, there has been an exponential rise in performance art across Delhi and that is a very healthy sign,” he says.
Deeply immersive and offering something beyond just a culinary experience, theatrical dining is in its way multi-faceted: whether in a group, as a couple or alone, there is something for everyone.
And the drama isn’t garnish any more—it is the point.