Delhi NCR's dining scene has always been quick to adopt trends, but the launch of OJU in Gurugram has stirred a different kind of chatter. This is not just another restaurant opening on Golf Course Road - it is Karan Johar's first restaurant in the capital region, and it arrives with a clear intention: to serve food and cocktails with equal weight, and to make going out feel like an event again. KJo has dabbled in hospitality before - his Colaba project Neuma reimagined the legendary Indigo space in Mumbai - but OJU feels like a sharper statement. It is built for the Gurugram crowd that likes its evenings lively, its plates shareable, and its cocktails as thought-through as the food.
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The First Impressions
When you first enter, the space feels calm and minimal. But once you settle in and look closer, or as the evening energy builds, you notice the bolder, dramatic elements. The space, designed by Aayushi Malik, leans into muted stone, wood, and soft lighting, but small details jump out - Kyoto-inspired wallpaper, book-lined walls, and an outdoor corner that doubles up as a modern Zen garden. On a weeknight, the energy is already high: tables of four splitting sushi rolls, bar stools filling up with cocktail drinkers, and a playlist that knows when to rise above the chatter.
Photo Credit: Oju
It is stylish, yes, but not stiff. The interiors are not trying to impress you at one glance - they let the atmosphere build around you.
On The Menu At OJU
The food programme is helmed by Chef Mahmoud Mohamed Awadalla Gaber (Moh) and Chef Nitin Bhardwaj.
On the table, the Pickled Tomato Maki Rolls are a neat way to begin - tart, tightly rolled, a small flavour bomb. Scallop Kushiyaki is treated with the respect it deserves, smoky from the grill but still soft at its core. There is Prawn Tempura that lands crisp without weighing you down, and a Grilled Salmon Robatayaki that draws attention to how precise an open flame can be in the right hands.
Photo Credit: Oju
The big hitter is the Black Miso Cod, glossy and sweet-savoury in that Nobu-inspired way, but it carries its own personality on the plate. If you want to keep it simple, the sushi bar will take care of you: nigiri, sashimi, and maki done clean and straightforward. For comfort, the gyoza and mantou deliver without fuss.
It is food that works both ways: you can sit through a three-course progression, or simply keep ordering plates to share while the drinks keep arriving.
Photo Credit: Oju
Where The Cocktails Take Over
If there is one place where OJU feels more disruptive, it is the bar. Conceptualised with Countertop (the award-winning collective led by Pankaj Balachandran) and run by Siya Negi, this programme refuses to play background music to the food-it wants the spotlight.
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Negi builds cocktails around a Japan-Peru dialogue. That sounds academic, but in practice, it is fun. Highballs lead the menu: tall, sparkling, built for sipping without overthinking. Then come bolder pours: pisco meeting yuzu, koshu cutting through citrus, drinks that start bright early in the evening and get darker, moodier as the night stretches.
Photo Credit: Oju
It is not a list that intimidates. Yes, you can order the complex lunar-cycle cocktails, but you will also find something sharp and straightforward if you want to keep it easy. That balance-serious technique, unfussy delivery, is what makes the bar feel like a star in its own right.
Karan Johar's Stamp
There is no missing Johar's influence. The restaurant is conversational, detail-heavy, but also playful. In his words:
"Oju is really close to our hearts. It's something we built with people we love working with, and every bit of it carries that energy. To me, it feels like the natural next step for Neuma, a space where cocktails, food, and atmosphere come together in a way that makes you want to linger. I see it becoming that ritual you look forward to, the place you keep coming back to. And we're only getting started. I can't wait to see Oju travel to more cities with us."
That "ritual you look forward to" is already evident. The tables are lively, the cocktails are flowing, and the space feels like it was designed to stretch an evening, not rush it.
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At Rs 4000 for two, OJU is not a casual pick, and it does not pretend to be. It is polished, high-energy, and conscious of its role in Gurugram's dining map.
For Karan, it is another expansion of his off-screen storytelling. For Delhi NCR, it is a chance to see if star-led dining can mean more than novelty. And for diners, it is simply a place that reminds you why a night out should feel like more than just dinner.
Where: OJU, Ground Floor, The Anya, Golf Course Road, Gurugram
Price for Two: Rs 4000 (Approximately)