Spooks and sweets

From themed menus to spooky black clay pottery, Halloween, a celebration of the supernatural, grows in popularity with every passing year.
With Halloween on the same day as Deepavali (Oct 31), the city is ready to celebrate both festivals in unique ways.
With Halloween on the same day as Deepavali (Oct 31), the city is ready to celebrate both festivals in unique ways.
Updated on
3 min read

BENGALURU: Zombies, vampires, masked murderers, and creepy clowns. Yes, it’s that time of year when we play hide-and-seek with everything horror and beyond with the celebration of Halloween, and Bengaluru’s dark clouds provide the perfect eerie backdrop.

Now celebrated as a festival of the macabre and all things supernatural, Halloween originally began in the West as a way to honour the dead, drawing heavily from Celtic folk customs that marked the end of the harvest season. While we might not see a sudden zombie apocalypse on a bullet train like in Japan, Bengalureans are already putting their own spin on blending tradition with modern twists to celebrate.

Light and Shadow

With Halloween on the same day as Deepavali (Oct 31), the city is ready to celebrate both festivals in unique ways. Farmlore, a farm-to-table experiential restaurant in North Bengaluru is hosting a 12-course fusion menu, with the theme ‘Good vs Evil’. “The entire menu is a ‘Good vs. Evil’ narrative, with Deepavali folklore blended into the storyline.

The ingredients we use serve as reference points in a culinary comic strip, which unfolds across 12 courses. Characters from both Halloween and Deepavali folklore come alive, but I’d prefer to keep the surprises under wraps for the guests who will be dining with us,” says Johnson Ebenezer, co-founder and chef patron of Farmlore.

While the Farmlore event will be organised from October 31 to November 3, many in the city have already begun the Halloween festivities, Sharon D’souza, an artist recently hosted a pottery and clay modelling workshop. “For Halloween, we decided to host a themed event.

Since Halloween and Deepavali are happening on the same day, we wanted to combine both festivals into something artistic. We incorporated diya making and created ‘blanket ghosts’ from air-dry clay. We had participants from different age groups – children as young as five, all the way to adults – some came in groups, while others joined solo and made friends along the way,” shares D’souza.

A Halloween Frenzy

Iris Nixon, member of Yakuza, a new event-organising company, says that while they had been to many Halloween parties over the last few years in Bengaluru, they wanted to organise their own Halloween party(starting at `300) as their first event in the city. “Halloween has really gained momentum in Bengaluru over the years, and this year felt particularly exciting, especially since our early bird passes sold out in a flash.

The interest was overwhelming, and we even had to turn down some people to maintain the crowd ratio,” she adds. Something that stood out to her was how easily they found Halloween decor this year – something that was once hard to come by in India. Chef Ebenezer agrees. “Bengaluru’s dynamic, culturally rich environment and its enthusiasm for new ideas make it ideal for experimenting during these festivals,” he says.

Anupa Sahu
Anupa Sahu

Eerie Treats and Sips

One cannot complete the Halloween vibe without throwing some spooky treats and cocktails into the mix. Gouri Koushik, founder of a plant-based bakery in Indiranagar, says, “For Halloween, we’ve introduced themed treats-monster cookies and some spooky cupcakes. We’ve had a lot of pickups at the store for the cookies and cupcakes, and we’re receiving a few bulk orders as well.”

The Scene, a craft and kitchen bar, is hosting an extravagant Halloween affair in a scary alfresco setting till November 3. “This is a place where the ambience changes with the seasons. This will be our second Halloween Affair,” says Arjun Raju, co-founder of The Scene. Their menu features a range of spooky Halloween cocktails and cuisine to go along with it.

“The cocktails are curated by utilising modern mixology techniques with house-made ingredients like black magic tincture and scary pumpkin shrubs, perfectly blended with premium spirits,” adds Raju. Apart from the cocktails, the immersive decor will include a spooky tunnel entrance, giving guests the feel of walking through a haunted house. “There will be hanging zombies, creepy motion dolls, face painting, tattoos, a selfie booth, and a ‘witchy bartender’ roaming around with boozy blood shots,” he adds.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com