AlienKind

I’ve been watching far too much For All Mankind, so AlienKind’s commitment to life on Mars works rather well on me. The Bengaluru-born quick-service café landed in Oshiwara with sealed UFO burgers, elaborate smoothies and enough chrome to launch a small spacecraft.

Everything is washed in a Martian red-orange glow. A colossal alien bust surveys the room while helmets and other bits of imagined space gear are exhibited like museum objects. The ceiling LED screens play footage of planet trajectories and spacecraft machinery while digital ticker tapes run around the walls. Even the chairs, tables and surprisingly comfortable banquettes are upholstered or finished in silver.

AlienKind ultimately looks as though it belongs just outside a Star Wars: Hyperspace
Mountain ride at Disneyland. I’ve been noticing this strain of amusement-park restaurant design across Mumbai. Places such as Staqx and Steam Room also feel increasingly like sets where the spectacle, merchandise potential and long queues are part of the experience.

The menu speaks fluent wellness TikTok. There’s blue spirulina, beetroot powder, vegan collagen and multivitamins in everything we order. Drinks are divided into Galactic Smoothies, Celestial Juices, Cloudy cups (milkshakes) and the premium Quantum Series. The packaging is equally impressive and the substantial plastic cup has a sculpted lid and orange flip cap. AlienKind has clearly spent heavily on its branding, and at least the money is on full display.

We go straight for the Hypernova. It combines dragon fruit, mango, orange, coconut milk,
beetroot powder, multivitamins and coconut collagen foam. The staff cannot explain where the multivitamin blend comes from or tell us much beyond what is written on the counter card. Still, it’s an excellent drink. Thick, cold and large enough to count as a mini meal, it arrives with funky red streaks from the beetroot running through the glass.

The Sonic Pulse from the Celestial Juices sounds more complicated than it tastes, but we enjoy it thoroughly: pineapple, orange, honey, multivitamins and blue pea gel. The blue pea gel adds little visually and the flavour reminds us of a Bombay maara maari, the familiar pineapple and sweet lime combination served at juice stalls across the city.

The Starship Burgers have buns pressed shut around the edges like flying saucers. The barbecue paneer holds a huge paneer patty coated in sticky, smoky, sweet-spicy sauce with pickled cabbage and spicy mayo. The bun is dry, but the filling compensates. We still prefer the parmesan chicken with a thick minced-chicken patty, parmesan, slaw, pickled cabbage and spicy mayo. It is cheesy, rich and far better than the gimmick suggests.

AlienKind might be engineered for internet virality. But I’m happy to report the food and drinks keep pace.

Time Out tip: Go late. We reached with just 15 minutes to spare before closing and still had
enough time to order and eat in without enduring the several-hour queues that have been drawing Gen Z all day.