Haoma

The broader context for this kind of cooking is instructive. Across Asia, a generation of chefs trained in classical Indian techniques has been rerouting those techniques through local produce, creating what is broadly called neo-Indian cuisine.

The Spice Logic: Indian Tradition Through a Thai Agricultural Lens

The editorial angle most worth applying to Haoma's menu is the one that asks what happens to coastal and South Indian spice traditions when the coconut, curry leaf, tamarind, and kokum at their core are sourced or substituted locally. South Indian and Goan cooking depends on a specific aromatic ecosystem: the fat of fresh coconut, the volatile oils in curry leaf that dissipate rapidly after harvest, the sharp fermented sourness of kokum, the slow background acidity of tamarind.

What the We're Smart Green Guide's 4 Radishes recognition (awarded to Haoma and documented in the venue's award record) confirms is that the kitchen's plant-forward approach is not decorative. The scoring framework for that award weights organic farming practice, water conservation, zero-waste systems, and community engagement, all of which Haoma has implemented as operational infrastructure rather than marketing positioning. For a restaurant working within the Indian culinary tradition, where vegetables and legumes have always carried more structural weight than in most Western fine-dining formats, the alignment between ancestral cooking logic and contemporary sustainability certification is more coherent than it might appear from the outside.

The seasonal vegetarian tasting menu that runs alongside the main menu is a direct expression of this alignment. Indian cuisine, particularly from the subcontinent's south and west, has a long tradition of full vegetarian formal meals. Haoma's vegetarian programme does not read as an accommodation for non-meat-eaters: it reads as the kitchen working within a tradition where pure plant cooking has its own deep grammar, distinct from the protein-with-sides logic that dominates most Western tasting menus. Against the Thai-heritage houses, it offers a different culinary grammar entirely while matching them on local-produce seriousness.

Its Michelin star (awarded 2024) and its Opinionated About Dining ranking of 89th in Asia (2025, down from 86th in 2024 and 61st in 2023) place it in a legible position within the regional critical conversation. The La Liste score of 80.5 points in 2025 (78 points in 2026) and the Star Wine List recognition across multiple consecutive years suggest a programme that performs consistently across food, wine, and broader hospitality criteria. That consistency is relevant in a city where openings are frequent and rankings are volatile. Trèsind Studio in Dubai and Opheem in Birmingham, both of which are reframing Indian fine dining through contemporary technique and local produce sourcing, though without the urban farming model Haoma has built on-site.

Planning Your Visit