Can mithai and baklava replace chocolate? Two Mumbai stores try to find out

The Byculla-based establishment hopes to reinvent sugary Indian treats and make them a fashionable gifting idea again.

Hopping across some mishtan bhandars of Jaipur two years ago, the young and curious team of Hunger Inc Hospitality did something that can make a shop owner’s demeanour go quickly from welcoming to vexed. The group, who like all potential customers had been encouraged to taste the sweets, was carefully trying one of everything but buying nothing. “After a couple of times, I began asking them to charge us for 100 grams of mithai and let us sample the lot,” chuckles co-founder Yash Bhanage. This pocket-friendly window shopping was part of research for the food company’s Bombay Sweet Shop, which