Picture this: a mezze platter served on a bell metal plate. But wait, there's a twist. On pan-Indian gastro-pub chain Monkey Bar's new menu, it's being positioned as the Indian odyssey platter (Rs 390). The baba ghanoush becomes a Bengali-style baingan bharta; the hummus, a Rajasthani kaddu preparation; there's a shalgam ka achaar from Punjab that has been mixed with Kalimpong cheese for a kick; and the lavash has become kori rotti, whereas instead of pita, there's an assortment of Indian chakna — wafer-thin appalam, crunchy and colourful fryums, and light-as-air fafda.

This complex mix of flavours serenading the culinary harmonies from all of India alludes to the larger philosophy behind the massive do-over, where menus across Monkey Bar's outlets will be changed to incorporate 41 new dishes and eight fresh cocktails. The underlying logic binding all of the menu's offerings — be it revitalising drinks like the Tomesh collins (Rs 390), a citrusy gin-based concoction that incorporates lime murabba, and sip me tender (Rs 390), a deceptively heady mix of rum, coconut and anardana churan, or robust and delicious dishes like the buff gundruk fried rice (Rs 355) served with edamame, tender meat and carrots tossed in a piquant paste of fermented radish leaves (from the Northeast) — is making regional Indian food fun.