Love Actually… Is On The Stove

When I met my boyfriend a year and a half ago, the first meal we shared was Malabar Chicken Curry with Porotta. The first thing he ever cooked for me was Anda Bhurji and bread, the ketchup squeezed into a smiley face like it was the most natural thing in the world. Since then, Kerala food and Anda Bhurji have been our constants. But more than that, I began noticing something quiet and beautiful — how love slips into the way someone remembers what you like to eat.

It is knowing your exact order from that one restaurant without having to ask. It is remembering you like your eggs slightly runny, but your toast a little burnt at the edges. It is leaving out the tomatoes because you cannot stand them, or adding extra chilli flakes because you secretly love the kick. It is cooking something you do not particularly enjoy yourself, simply because the other person lights up when they eat it.

Food becomes more than food. It becomes a shorthand for care, for knowing, for showing up. Think of Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt making pasta on holiday, or Beyoncé and Jay-Z sharing vegan pizza in Brooklyn — proof that some love stories are best told over a plate. To all the meals we’ve loved before, here are eight couples whose plates hold as much love as their hearts do.

Butter Chicken, Brownies, and the Birthday Omelette

Before there were wedding rings and vegetarian switches, Shweta Tripathi and Chaitnya Sharma, aka Slow Cheeta, bonded over chilli chicken, cheese naan, and gooey brownies topped with ice cream, their early Sundays were sacred in their simplicity — South Indian food from Dakshinayan in Juhu, filter coffee, a movie playing in the background, and no need for fancy table settings. “You say a lot of things to each other without really saying them. If you share a good meal, I think no bonding compares to that,” Chaitnya says.

While they both joke about being terrible in the kitchen,  their rituals say otherwise. Every year, Chaitnya makes Shweta a masala cheese omelette on her birthday. “He claims it’s amazing. I’m not sure if I say that because I love him or if it’s actually true,” she laughs. Cooking disasters aside, what stayed was the comfort of shared cravings. “Food is emotion. It’s what sets my mood,” Shweta says. “Even if we’re not eating together, just knowing that the person you love has eaten something good feels important.” In their home, love is often delivered in dabbas, but it always tastes like care.

Khichdi on the Ceiling, Popcorn on the Couch

Komal Pandey and Siddharth Batra may not agree on cuisines, but they agree on this: messy food is the best food. Their shared plate looks less like a fancy meal and more like home: jowar rotis, wraps, and the occasional kitchen disaster. Once, Komal tried to make khichdi while Siddharth was unwell. The pressure cooker burst, splattering the ceiling and turning the kitchen yellow. He spent hours cleaning it up. “Maybe this was our unofficial haldi ceremony,” he jokes. But it’s also his favourite memory — not because of the food, but because she tried.

They’ve been together for years, long enough to remember each other’s Zomato customisations and comfort foods. Siddharth once recreated an early date night at home with all of Komal’s favourite dishes, complete with wine and candlelight. He once brought him a cinnamon roll during her period. Their bond isn’t built on five-star meals, but the kind of love that lives in burnt khichdi and shared thalis. “You might spill things while eating,” Siddharth says. “But that’s how our relationship is — not the cleanest or smoothest, but stronger because of it.”

Ramen Nights and Retro Delights

For Sejal Kumar and Bharat Subramaniam, love looks like a bowl of Top Ramen curry — made by him, with an extra packet of seasoning, just how she likes it. It’s not just her comfort food, it’s a quiet ritual of care. Bharat knows to make it when she’s feeling low, and every bite brings back the same childhood memory for both of them — school bags dumped, television on, noodles in hand. Cooking together started during the lockdown. He took over the kitchen, she handled the prep. “I discovered my love for cooking because of Joy,” says Bharat. “She discovered her love for eating my food.”

Their relationship is a mix of familiar comforts and new favourites. He introduced her to Big Chill’s piri piri pasta — a nostalgic Delhi staple from his growing-up years — and now it’s their go-to indulgence. Evenings together often mean music, a drink, vegetables being chopped, and conversations that stretch until the movie starts. For them, cooking is less about the food and more about showing up — one bowl, one bite, one evening at a time.

A Pasta Plate with a Side of Aloo

Somewhere between Chipotle mishaps and homemade pasta, Aaliyah Kashyap and Shane Gregoire found their rhythm. Their first meal together was a sad pile of fajita meat and veggies — Shane forgot to add rice. But that moment sparked a realisation: he’d probably be finishing her food for the rest of their lives. Now, years in, their shared plates say a lot more. Their go-to lazy-day meal is a comforting Mediterranean chicken and brown rice bowl that Aaliyah often whips up, while Shane’s ultimate soft spot is her version of his mother’s Italian tomato sauce  —a recipe passed down during their engagement.

Their relationship is a food-forward romantic story, told in tastes and textures: ordering aloo like it’s a food group, going all-in on tasting menus when they travel, or playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to pick the starter, drink, or dessert. For Shane, who grew up on his mom’s home-cooked dinners, it means the world when Aaliyah recreates those recipes. “It reminds me of home,” he says. “It feels like I’m eating the food I was meant to make.” Aaliyah, meanwhile, jokes that if she didn’t cook, Shane would eat like a caveman. So she cooks for him even when she’s not hungry — because sometimes love looks like pasta, aalo, and someone making sure you eat like a normal human being.

Tanjore Tiffin Room and the Taste of Home

Radhika Kolgaonkar and Adarsh Gourav’s go-to meal is always at Tanjore Tiffin Room. They order the tasting platter every single time — appam and stew if it’s good that day, or another curry that’s hit the mark. “The curries taste different every day,” Radhika explains. “So we decide based on what’s working that day.” For Adarsh, it’s a quiet comfort they both return to, a shared favourite that doesn’t need much thought.

Their food memories go back to early dates at Hakkasan and improvised lockdown meals. Radhika was once surprised to find Adarsh experimenting with pasta, soy sauce, and peri-peri mix. “I didn’t know what was happening,” she laughs, “but it turned out unbelievably good.” Adarsh still remembers the burgers she made during the pandemic — “the best I’ve had.” He says he’s always amazed by her cooking, especially how thoughtful she is. Like the time she replaced his chilli paneer with chilli tofu while he was dieting, because she knew he missed the flavours.

They both describe food as a quiet way of caring. Radhika makes ragi soup when Adarsh is sick, and Adarsh treasures moments like eating her homemade carbonara on the terrace of their new home. If their relationship had to be summed up on a plate, Radhika would pick an Andhra veg meal — her all-time favourite. Adarsh would go with pani puri — “flavourful, unpredictable, and something you can’t get enough of.”

Muesli, Shakshuka, and a Side of Soul-Talk

Anoushka Maskey and Lauren Robinson bonded first over buffet tables and vanity lunches on the sets of Mismatched — a soft launch that soon turned into long breakfast conversations, Robin’s packed tiffins, and a mutual obsession with feeding each other. Their relationship has a taste for the small things: late-night chocolate muesli with cold milk, Robin’s famous chip dip, and eggs in every possible form. “It would be an egg platter if someone had to understand our love,” says Anoushka, “because I’d have loved Robin in any role — a best friend, a parent, a rooster that croaks us awake.”

Food is care. Sometimes it’s a lazy Aloo-jeera-dal dinner, sometimes it’s shakshuka wiped clean in minutes. Often, it’s Robin sending her little tiffins like she’s being packed off to school. Their routines are full of expressive joy — Robin starts 21 Questions games, Anoushka rolls her eyes, and then they both end up talking about love and life for hours. “We’re partners in the business of life,” she says. And when everything is shared — the cooking, the yapping, the cleanup, the growing up — even a simple breakfast feels like a love letter. 

Biryani, Burnt Omelettes, and Everything In Between

For Ayush Mehra and Aashna Vijay, food is less about one signature dish and more about a whole menu of moods. Lazy Sundays mean healthy pancakes or crispy hash browns, late nights are for Quadratinis or BC Nutty Tuxedo Popcorn, and special days call for Pain Au Chocolat at Masa or Soho. Their story runs through the pav bhaji dosas of NM Canteen, vada pav at Dheeraj, and rooftop splurges at ITC Dome — broke college dates that felt rich in carbs and conversation. “Snacks are our love language,” Ayush laughs, and Aashna agrees, calling their relationship “food chapters.” 

They’ve had their playful disasters — like Aashna’s “extra crispy” omelette that Ayush swears was charcoal — but also perfect surprises, like the biryani she made for his birthday. Food is how they care for each other: a surprise croissant, a mystery cafe plan, a quiet delivery of someone’s favourite meal on a bad day. “It’s not loud or dramatic, but it means everything,” Aashna says. For them, love isn’t a single flavour; it’s biryani and popcorn, pav bhaji and chocolate croissants, healthy one day and indulgent the next. Whatever’s on the table, it’s always shared — and that’s what makes it theirs.

Paratha Meets Pasta

For Manisha Malik and Karl Rock, Sundays often begin with an early trip to Gopal Ji’s in Rohini for chole bhature before they sell out — a ritual Manisha has followed since childhood and one Karl now swears by. Their dating days were filled with Peri Peri Chicken at Hudson Lane and Karl’s go-to Mutton Berry Biryani at SodaBottleOpenerWala. Their first meal together was birthday cake at a friend’s home in Malviya Nagar, but food quickly became part of their story, from strolls in Lodhi Garden to Karl introducing Manisha to Kiwi staples like pavlova, avocado toast, and even his self-made chai masala after a deep dive into Khari Baoli spices.

They share a belief that the best meals aren’t always the fanciest. In New Zealand, summer days mean savoury pies and pastries from a family-run bakery, eaten on the grass by the beach. In Rajasthan, it’s chai and gulgule made on a chula in the fields. Manisha says Karl remembers her likes and dislikes better than she does, calling his habit of bringing back her favourites “quietly romantic.” If their relationship could be a single dish, it would be a butter chicken pie — his Kiwi-style crust wrapped around her classic Indian comfort.