How India fell in love with handmade pasta—and the people leading the charge

Until a few years ago, pasta in India meant penne, elbow macaroni, or maybe fusilli tossed in red or white sauce, or something suspiciously pink, with an occasional appearance of pesto. But in kitchens across India, a quiet flour-dusted revolution has been unfolding—and now, it’s impossible to ignore. Handmade pasta, with all its irregular beauty and old-world romance, is having its moment.

The one-size-fits-all dishes are quietly being replaced with dusky charcoal tortellini stuffed with spinach and ricotta, feather-light agnolotti in orange butter, and delicate strands of trofie clinging to sauces. The new-age pasta chefs are reimagining what Italian food means in India, one hand-rolled pasta at a time.

Rolling it back: Tradition meets technique

At Pomodoro in Mumbai, Chef Afshaa Rajqotwala builds her menu on the foundation of memory—food that doesn’t belong in a fine-dine setting, but on street corners and sunlit family tables. “Pasta doesn’t come from fancy spaces,” she says. “It brings warmth and comfort, and that’s what we’re trying to build.” Her charcoal tortellini is striking, a nod to the classic squid ink pasta—reimagined with activated charcoal to suit vegetarians—and layered with natural beetroot and spinach stripes for colour and depth.

Delhi's Our Pasta Lab's journey began during lockdown with a hand-cranked pasta machine. “In India, we love everything freshly cooked, so why not pasta?” says co-founder Divneet Sethi. She and her partner Ashmeet Sethi took the long, slow route to perfecting handmade shapes, eventually building a loyal base of takers, including cafés, restaurants, and homes across the country. Their secret lies in the craft: bronze-die extrusion, slow air drying, and no eggs. It may raise eyebrows, but these eggless pastas hold sauce like a dream, just as well as their traditional counterparts.

The appetite for pasta has grown to be more curious, confident, and experimental. “They can tell the difference between instant and handmade,” Rajqotwala notes.

The personality behind the pasta

What makes India’s pasta movement feel so intimate is how personal it is to the people rolling out the dough. At Cacio e Pepe India, founder Apeksha Agarwal didn’t set out to build a business. For her, rolling pasta for friends and family began as a weekend creative release in her bedroom, which evolved into a full-time pursuit of the purest Italian flavours. “There was no pressure,” she says. “The Italian food served here did not appeal to me. I just wanted to recreate what I loved eating in Italy.”

Her weekly menus, now followed by thousands, range from the classic to the unexpected: candied orange and mint ravioli or a winter-friendly interpretation of Ligurian pancotti made with local greens. “I dictate the menu each week. It’s seasonal, emotional, and entirely my own.” That independence—combined with a loyal, organically grown community—is the soul of her pasta studio.

In Lower Parel, Mumbai, Chef Devika Manjrekar took a different route. Inspired by her time in London and early supper clubs that tested her menu without her even realising it, Toast Pasta Bar became one of the country’s first pasta-first restaurants. “Pasta is my favourite food,” she says. “So a place dedicated to just that felt obvious.” Her mainly-women kitchen exudes warmth, empathy, and strength—values reflected not just in the people, but the plates.

The pasta at Toast doesn’t follow Indian tropes. “Right now, my favourite is a confit duck agnolotti with orange butter and duck fat pangrattato—a dish that exemplifies how far the city’s palate has come,” she says.

The rise of the curious diner

This new pasta generation isn’t just cooking for guests—they’re teaching them. Across cities in India, pasta-making workshops and supper clubs are quickly becoming the new way to dine out. "At Toscano, head chef and COO Rohit Tokhi has watched the appetite for these sessions grow steadily. “There’s something powerful about understanding the process,” he says. “Guests want to touch, taste, and then replicate it at home.”

The sessions are more than entertainment—they’re insight. “Dishes we introduce in workshops often make it onto the menu,” Tokhi notes. “They’re a live feedback loop.” 

At Toast, the same intimacy plays out in quieter ways. Supper clubs and tastings help the restaurant stay rooted in its people. “They helped us find our community,” Manjrekar says. “They’re the reason we stuck to our guns.” At Cacio e Pepe, Agarwal’s 10-seat dinners have become sought-after gatherings where pasta is served family-style, and the line between home and restaurant disappears completely.

The future of India’s pasta story is shaping up to be as diverse as its influences. In a world of overcomplication, the luxury of simplicity—a flour, an egg (or not), a pinch of salt—feels exactly like what we 'kneaded'.

Lead image: Toast Pasta Bar

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