India, Nov. 3 -- I'll be honest, I walked into Nila expecting to be impressed. I did not expect I'd be plucking edible flowers off a plant on my table. Bengaluru has no shortage of tasting menus, but Nila is on a different frequency. Also read | I went for a 10-course Meghalayan feast in Bengaluru and ended up dining with royalty, discovering the culinary soul of the northeast

It's chef Rahul Sharma's intimate, moon-obsessed, quarterly-shapeshifting restaurant - 24 seats, no paintings, one open kitchen, and a 12-course menu that rewired my brain about what regional Indian food can actually be.

At Nila, you pluck your appetiser off a plant on the table. You eat tamarind as ice cream. You realise black pepper ice cream should have always ...