Eat, Shop, Repeat: Everything You Can Do At Nepean Sea Road

As you enter the store, you’ll literally notice four walls filled with colourful, printed and patterned fabrics. Their speciality? Most of their fabrics are handcrafted, i.e. hand-woven, and not machine-made. They have an army of local artisans and skilled weavers from different states who are manually involved in the manufacture of these rich fabrics. You name the fabric and they’ll happily present multiple options in front of you. Apart from the quality and quantity of fabrics, we were pretty impressed by the friendly and highly trained staff.   

Known For: Handcrafted fabrics and materials. From Banarasi to Lucknowi and from Kashmiri silk to imported fabrics, we were stoked with the variety they had on offer. 

Shell Out: The price range starts from INR 100 per metre. 

A quirky display made from cut pieces of different borders welcomes you as you enter this tiny border store. Look at any corner and you’ll find tons and tons of border rolls displayed neatly on the shelves. From real silver borders to zardosi and from neon sequence ones (our favourite pick) to pearl and diamond ones – you're surely going to ace your traditional outfits with their borders.

Known For: Designer borders and Indianwear accessories. 

Shell Out: The prices start from INR 1, 500 and go up to INR 20,000 per roll (each roll is 9 metres long). However, if you need just a few metres, they’ll provide that as well.

P.S: Apart from borders, they have quirky and bright coloured latkans and buttons as well. So, we’re saying, next time opt for a DIY type outfit and be your own designer and adorn your outfit with these pretty add-ons and accessories.

Another decade-old boutique, almost 90% of their collection includes sarees of different types and states. If you want to check out multiple types of sarees under one roof without hunting in different stores to choose the one which best suits you, this place is ideal for you. Some of their collection includes crisp patola sarees, bright coloured bandhani sarees, fine embroidered sarees, chic Banarasi sarees and more.

Known For: All types of sarees

Shell Out: The price range of their collection starts from INR 700 and goes up to INR 20,000. 

P.S: For those who love collecting unique and ethnic dupattas, they have two types of those including bandhani and patolas as well.

A fancy and super elegant boutique, the Indian Pitara store has clear demarcations for its store collections. Left: for jewellery and Right: for designer Indian wear. When it comes to jewellery, expect varied and offbeat designs here: from contemporary-inspired statement jewellery to bridal wear. The bridal wear collection mainly included gold and zardozi collection with different precious gems.

Known For: Statement jewellery and contemporary-styled Indianwear

Shell Out: For jewellery starts from INR 5,000 and goes up to INR 50,000. And for Indianwear starts at INR 5,000 and goes up to INR 35,000.

P.S: Their Indian wear section is an array of exclusive designer pieces -including shararas, indo-western pieces, lehengas, gowns and more. 

Saw an image of a pretty lehenga or kurta on your Instagram feed and want the same one? Well, Vivaa on Nepean Sea Road is where you need to head. Equipped with a designer and in-house tailors, they’ll assist you and stitch an entire customizable outfit. Even if it’s just a piece of blouse – they’ll stitch it for you. If not customized, you can choose from their varied collection of Indian wear (which includes casual wear to heavy wear) from their store as well. 

Known For: Customized Indian wear.

Shell Out: Their services start from  INR 900 and go up to INR 20,000. 

P.S: Well, their collection is pretty dynamic and keeps on changing depending on the seasons. For instance, during summers you’ll see more cotton kurtis, whereas during winters (which is a wedding season) you’ll see more of the party and bridal wear collection.

No traditional outfit is complete without an ethnic and classy pair of shoes. In fact, these can uplift your look and take it to another level altogether. After exploring the multiple fabrics and Indian wear stores, we spotted this 30-year-old store which had some of the best collections of shoes, mojaris and heels in this store. Each pair on their shelf is handcrafted by local, skilled artisans. Giftorium literally has unlimited options when it comes to mojaris and juttis. Each finely embroidered with gota work, threads, diamonds, pearls and zari. We strongly recommend you pick the pastel-shaded juttis with delicate zari work on them. 

Known For: Handcrafted juttis and mojaris

Shell Out: The ethnic shoe collection starts from INR 700 and upwards. 

P.S: Looking for something evergreen? Pick the gold and pearl ones, they’ll never go out of fashion. Apart from these, they had elegant and finely embroidered wedges which would look best when paired with a lehenga or saree. Oh and they've got a bunch of traditional pothlis and clutches as well. 

Be it traditional, indo-western or a hippie look, a tiny bindi has the charm and elegance of completing your ethnic look. From Bollywood actresses like Bipasha Basu and Anushka Sharma to popular international faces like Selena Gomez and Julia Robert (and infamously, Gwen Stefani), they’ve all slayed it with this tiny accessory on their foreheads. For all the bindi lovers, we’ve spotted an entire store with only bindis. Yup, you heard it right. Called Vividha, the store had approximately 9,000-10,000 types of bindi designs (yup!). What we loved was that when we entered the store, there were rows and rows of bindi packs arranged from top to bottom on slider doors. You could go crazy in there. 

Known For: Bindis. 

Shell Out: Starting from INR 50 and going up to INR 500. 

P.S: Apart from bindi, they had a tiny collection of bangles and a few other accessories.

If you're a SoBo kid who'd grown up in this hood - you'll know this store is an emotion. From stationery to fashion accessories and shoes and from imported chocolates to electronics - Khamdhenu has it all. Oh, and they've also got an entire outlet dedicated to just kitchenware that's five minutes from the main outlet. Just cross the road and you'll spot it!  

This designer boutique is right opposite the C.O.O. bakery and can be easily spotted by its vintage, royal blue door. It's at Vintage Almari where designer wear meets casual and contemporary. You'll find perfect outfits here for chotu functions or Indian wear for special occasions that are neither too heavy nor too light. You'll also spot an area dedicated to handcrafted jewellery.  The boutique houses two designer labels - including Jyoti Gardoia (that includes kurtas, jumpsuits in Maheswari silks) and Hetal Shah ) for designer jewellery.

Just besides Vintage Almari is Mayori Jaipur, that's a haven for printed Indian wear. From elegant bandhani to pretty florals - their collection is simply oh-so-breezy and comfortable. They use only natural fabrics making their outfits super breathable and they are anti-wrinkle at the same time. Their collection ranges from co-ord sets to dresses and from tunics to dupattas - they offer an array of Indian clothing options for every day wear.  

This one is towards Kemps Corner, 10 minutes away from the Nepean Sea Road bridge. From floral hampers to bouquets - Bageecha is a tiny little floral paradise. Gift you loved ones super pretty hampers from Bageecha and at the same time you can also shop stuff for your home garden from them. 

A sports complex, walking trail, a park and beautiful Arabian Sea, PDP is an iconic landmark in this hood. You can opt to take sports classes here (from tennis and yoga to cross-fit), take a walk on their running track, your kids can enjoy the park and lastly the mesmerising sunset and sea view. This park is easily accessible via a bus that stops right opposite the park.        

Luxury meets wellness at this space. With an emphasis on wellness of body, soul and mind - Bambuq offers an array of treatments that eases aches and pains instantly. This is coupled with their pampering massages or facials with their well-curated oil, creams and scrubs. Some include their classic herbal detox massages, Thai massage, Balinese and Sports massage and more. Their services start at INR 3,000 and upwards. 

Ahh this one's iconic and my personal fave. Dinesh's stall is parked right opposite Kamdhenu. He offers more than 30 types of dosas ranging from sada dosa, masala dosa, chilli cheese dosa, mysore dosa, onion sada dosa and more. So, when in this hood, def try his crisp dosas.   

Specialising in luxury desserts, Country Of Origin, is known for their dessert in jar concept! Apart from this, we love them for their heavenly and sinful cakes including Old fashioned chocolate cake, toffee hazelnut mousse gateau, NY style lemon cake and more. And lastly their brownies and cookies too are worth a bite.