Quick Answer
Ebony is a Pan-Indian restaurant on the 12th floor of Barton Centre, 84 MG Road, Bangalore 560001, operating continuously from the same address since 1993. The kitchen began as a Parsee restaurant under founding chef Zubin Aria and evolved across 33 years into a 140+ dish Pan-Indian menu with a North Indian and Mughlai centre of gravity. Recognised at the Times Food Awards 2020 and at the Zomato Awards.
TL;DR
- Opened: 1993, on the 12th floor of Barton Centre, MG Road, Bangalore. 33 years of continuous operation from the same address.
- Founding chef: Chef Zubin Aria, who launched the kitchen as a Parsee restaurant.
- Cuisine evolution: Parsee origins, then Punjabi, Mughlai, Tandoori, and Continental expansion through the late 1990s and 2000s.
- North-West Frontier layer: NWF cooking was added later through recipe contributions from Chef Arif Ahmed and is carried forward today as recipe heritage.
- Current menu: 140+ dishes, Pan-Indian with North Indian and Mughlai weight; one Parsee dish remains as a heritage marker.
- Awards: Times Food Awards 2020 and Zomato Awards.
- Leadership continuity: Krishna Shantakumar, General Manager, holds a 20+ year tenure with Ebony.
What Is Ebony Restaurant in Bangalore?
Ebony is a Pan-Indian restaurant on the 12th floor of Barton Centre, 84 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore 560001. The restaurant has operated continuously from this address since 1993, which makes it one of the longest-running Indian dining rooms on MG Road. The dining room sits inside the same building as Hotel Ivory Tower, and Ebony's kitchen has been responsible for one of the more steadily evolving Pan-Indian menus in central Bangalore.
The cuisine itself is the story. What began as a Parsee kitchen in 1993 has, over 33 years, settled into a 140+ dish Pan-Indian menu with North Indian and Mughlai weight. The evolution was not a rebrand. It was an accretion. Each generation of chef inculcated techniques and recipes that the kitchen kept and built upon, which is what gives the menu its layered depth today.
Where Is Ebony Located?
Ebony sits at the 12th-floor address of Barton Centre on MG Road, with lift access from the ground level. The location is 5 minutes from MG Road Metro Station on the Purple Line and 100 metres from the Brigade Road junction. UB City is a 12 to 15 minute walk and Cubbon Park is approximately 2 km away.
The address is what allows Ebony to draw both a long-time MG Road regular base and the steady stream of visitors who book Hotel Ivory Tower for the location alone. Most diners walk in.
How Did Ebony's Menu Evolve Over 33 Years on MG Road?
Ebony's menu has gone through three distinct expansions since 1993. Each one widened the kitchen rather than replacing what came before, which is why the present-day menu carries the visible layers of every era it has lived through.
Ebony's Menu Evolution at a Glance
| Period | Cuisine Layer Added | Key Influence |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Parsee founding menu | Chef Zubin Aria, the first chef at Ebony |
| Late 1990s to 2000s | Punjabi, Mughlai, Tandoori, and Continental | Northern Indian and tandoor technique adopted across the kitchen |
| Subsequent expansion | North-West Frontier (NWF) | Recipe contributions from Chef Arif Ahmed, carried forward as recipe heritage |
| 2020 | Times Food Awards 2020 recognition | 27 years into operation |
| 2026 | Pan-Indian menu of 140+ dishes | Layered menu with North Indian and Mughlai centre of gravity |
The Parsee Beginning: Chef Zubin Aria's Founding Kitchen in 1993
Ebony opened in 1993 with a Parsee menu under Chef Zubin Aria. Parsee cooking is one of the more under-represented Indian cuisines on restaurant menus, rooted in the community's Persian heritage and built around dishes like Dhansak, Patra Ni Machhi, and Sali Boti. The original Ebony menu was built on that recipe foundation, and the restaurant's identity in its first years was Parsee-forward. Those dishes are no longer on the menu today, but the kitchen discipline they instilled, slow-cooking, balanced spicing, and respect for regional integrity, carried into every cuisine that followed.
The Punjabi, Mughlai, Tandoori, and Continental Expansion
The first major expansion took the kitchen north. Punjabi, Mughlai, and Tandoori cooking were layered onto the menu through the late 1990s and 2000s, alongside a Continental section that catered to MG Road's mixed corporate and leisure clientele. This is where Ebony's modern identity took shape.
The Mughlai influence drew on the same culinary lineage that established Mughlai cuisine in Indian fine dining: slow-cooked, layered, technique-heavy. Tandoor work became central. Kebabs, breads, and tandoor-finished mains shifted Ebony's identity from regional Indian to broadly North Indian.
The North-West Frontier Layer: Chef Arif Ahmed's Recipe Heritage
The third expansion added North-West Frontier (NWF) cooking through recipes contributed by Chef Arif Ahmed. NWF cuisine is meat-forward, smoke-heavy, and built around high-heat tandoor and grill technique. Plates like Kakori Kebab, Arcot Lamb Chops, and Patiala Talli Kukkad sit within this lineage. The current kitchen carries these recipes forward as documented heritage rather than reinterpretations.
What Does Ebony Serve in 2026?
The current Ebony menu holds 140+ dishes and is positioned as Pan-Indian with a clear North Indian and Mughlai centre of gravity. The breadth comes from 33 years of accretion. Older popular dishes were retained while newer refined dishes were incorporated alongside them.
The menu's structure is now distinctly layered: Pan-Indian regional plates from Davangere to Rajasthan, North Indian classics, Mughlai mains, tandoor-finished kebabs and breads, and one remaining Parsee dish as a heritage marker. Lunch service runs alongside an à la carte dinner offering.
What Are Ebony's Signature Dishes?
The signature plates at Ebony are spread across the menu's regional layers, which reflects 33 years of additions rather than a single chef's single statement.
| Dish | Region / Style | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dahi Ke Kebab | North Indian (highest-selling dish on the menu) | Hung-curd kebab with a soft interior and a tandoor-finished crisp exterior. |
| Kakori Kebab | Lucknowi / North-West Frontier | Slow-pounded minced lamb kebab finished on the seekh. |
| Arcot Lamb Chops | Tamil Nadu | Tamil-Nadu-spiced lamb chops, marinated and grilled. A regional outlier on a North-Indian-heavy menu. |
| Patiala Talli Kukkad | Punjabi | Tandoori chicken with a Patiala spice profile, slow-built and rich. |
| Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken | North Indian | The kitchen's signature North Indian gravy plate, reliably popular across decades. |
| Murgh Firdausi | Mughlai | Mughlai chicken in a creamy nut-based gravy. |
| Dilliwale Tawa Paneer | Delhi / North Indian | Delhi-style paneer cooked on a flat tawa with onion-tomato masala. |
| Davangere Kadak Aloo | Karnataka | Crisp Karnataka-style potato preparation, one of the few South Indian regional plates on the menu. |
| Laal Maas | Rajasthani | Rajasthani red mutton curry with red chilli and yoghurt, full-heat. |
What Awards Has Ebony Won?
Ebony's recognition includes the Times Food Awards 2020 and the Zomato Awards. The recognition came 27 years into operation, which is the relevant detail: a Pan-Indian kitchen that was still being judged competitive against newer restaurants more than two and a half decades into its run. Both the Times Food Awards and the Zomato Awards publish annual restaurant lists across major Indian cities, with selection processes that mix critic reviews and reader voting.
What Makes Ebony Distinctive Among MG Road Restaurants?
Ebony's distinctiveness comes from how the menu was built, not from a single hook. Three structural choices compound:
- Layered menu accumulated across 33 years. The kitchen has accumulated technique and recipes from multiple chefs, and the menu visibly carries every layer it has lived through: Parsee origins, Punjabi-Mughlai expansion, NWF additions, and Pan-Indian regional plates.
- Leadership continuity. Krishna Shantakumar, General Manager, has worked with Ebony for 20+ years. That kind of tenure produces operational consistency that newer kitchens take a decade to develop, and it shows in Ebony's ability to maintain a 140+ dish menu without quality drift.
- Rooted continuity. Ebony has held the same floor, the same address, the same building since 1993, and used that time to refine the kitchen, the service, and the menu in place. The address has not moved; everything inside it has sharpened.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ebony
Where is Ebony restaurant in Bangalore located?
Ebony is on the 12th floor of Barton Centre at 84 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore 560001, inside the same building as Hotel Ivory Tower. The address is 5 minutes from MG Road Metro Station on the Purple Line and 100 metres from Brigade Road. UB City is a 12 to 15 minute walk away.
How old is Ebony restaurant?
Ebony has been operating from the same MG Road address since 1993, which makes it 33 years old in 2026. The restaurant has not moved or rebranded across that period, although its menu has expanded from a Parsee origin into a 140+ dish Pan-Indian menu over those three decades.
What kind of food does Ebony serve?
Ebony is a Pan-Indian restaurant with a North Indian and Mughlai centre of gravity. The current menu carries 140+ dishes across Pan-Indian regional cooking, North Indian classics, Mughlai mains, tandoor-finished kebabs and breads, and a small Continental section. One Parsee dish remains on the menu as a marker of the kitchen's origin.
What are Ebony's most popular dishes?
Dahi Ke Kebab is the highest-selling dish on the menu, a hung-curd kebab finished in the tandoor. Other signature plates include Kakori Kebab, Arcot Lamb Chops, Patiala Talli Kukkad, Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken, Murgh Firdausi, Dilliwale Tawa Paneer, Davangere Kadak Aloo, and Laal Maas.
Has Ebony won any awards?
Yes. Ebony has been recognised at the Times Food Awards 2020 and the Zomato Awards. The recognition came 27 years into the restaurant's operation, which speaks to the kitchen's ability to remain competitive against newer Bangalore restaurants well into its third decade.
Sources and References
- Hotel Ivory Tower official website
- Ebony page (menu and F&B identity)
- Times Food Guide / Times Food Awards (awards lineage)
- ITC Dum Pukht (Mughlai and NWF heritage anchor)
- FSSAI (food safety licensing baseline)