The House of Makeba has opened O’Vanta, a new dining concept in Ahmedabad that ditches the usual restaurant format in favour of something closer to live theatre. Located at the Spectra Museum on Science City Road, the space opened its doors on August 24, 2026, and is built around one idea: food doesn’t have to be the only thing on the table.

At O’Vanta, every course arrives alongside a matching shift in light, sound, aroma and storytelling. All eight tables — seating 48 guests in total — move through the same 100-minute journey at the same pace, so the room effectively performs one synchronized experience together rather than dozens of separate meals happening at once.

The menu is a seven-course vegetarian tasting format spread across nine “acts,” bookended by a Welcome and a Reset. It changes with the seasons, and a Jain version is available on request. A few dishes give a sense of the direction: a Tom-Kha Pani Puri that blends coconut, tamarind and kaffir lime, and a Khaman-inspired Burrito Bowl finished with a yogurt espuma.

“The opportunity with O’Vanta was not to create another restaurant with a different theme, but to question what a dining experience can actually be,” said Nipun Kanodia, Ram Singhal and Akash Singhal, Co-founders of O’Vanta by House of Makeba. “At O’Vanta, the food is only one part of the narrative. The changing light, sound, aroma, pace and collective movement of the room are designed to give each course context and emotion.”

The concept is aimed at couples, groups of friends, food enthusiasts, and increasingly at corporate and brand events, team outings, and tourists or NRIs visiting Gujarat.

O’Vanta sits within a combined investment of roughly Rs 5 crore into the property, which it shares with Loko by House of Makeba, the group’s specialty coffee label. Of that, around Rs 3 crore has gone specifically into O’Vanta’s technology, infrastructure and culinary format.

It marks House of Makeba’s first fully immersive, themed dining concept. The group was founded in Ahmedabad in 2018 and currently runs seven outlets across Gujarat, with three more under construction and slated to open later in 2026. Loko by House of Makeba currently operates one standalone outlet in the state.

Market Research Outlook: O’Vanta signals India’s F&B sector moving beyond food quality alone into experience-led differentiation, chasing premium spend from corporate and tourist segments. The Rs 3 crore tech/format investment shows rising capital intensity in immersive dining. Expect more theatre-style, ticketed dining concepts emerging in non-metro cities beyond Mumbai and Delhi.