Mumbai Restaurants

1. Apoorva

If you're searching for an authentic seafood "lunch home"—which implies unpretentious, tasty, and cheap—this old-school Kala Ghoda mainstay is spot on: slightly dingy, full of locals, with a too-cold a/c section that smells faintly of mothballs. Whichever main dish you choose, order an accompaniment of neer dosa---they are a little like rotis, but much lighter and fluffier, and made of rice; most Konkan restaurants have them, but none do them better than Apoorva.

2. Neel- Tote on the Turf

Hands down the best upscale North Indian food in town for meat eaters, this restaurant in a beautifully designed building at the track makes the journey to the city center utterly worthwhile. Portions are big—as are the prices—and the food is heavy but sophisticated.

3. Oh! Calcutta

Rarely packed, even on Saturday night, because it's in an infrequently visited part of town, Oh! Calcutta serves the city's best (mustard-heavy) Bengali food in upscale surroundings of dark wood set off by simple black-and-white archival photos from the British Raj. The seafood is exquisite, and if it's all too unfamiliar, defer to the waiters—some of the best in the city—to choose something, based on your specifications.

4. Soam

This extremely popular restaurant is always likely to be packed with chattering families and friends, but the service is brisk and you'll soon get a seat amid the pale yellow walls, wooden benches, and loud aunties. Although most of the menu here is traditional Gujarati and Kathiawadi food, some dishes offer a modern take on the classics.

5. The Table

One of Mumbai's best restaurants, The Table was launched by a pair of Indian restaurateurs and a young American chef from San Francisco; suitably enough, the food is American fare but is inflected with flavors from around the world. The lofted upper floor is perfect for romantic dinners; below is a more lively and sociable setting, with a large, eponymous, communal table extending from the bar. The delicious breads are made at The Table's sister space in central Mumbai, Mag Street Kitchen, and it also uses ingredients from its own organic farm.

6. Woodside Inn

The only real bar in town (in the American sense, at least) is modeled on an English pub, plays decent music (though sometimes too loud), has great snack food, and free Wi-Fi (that can sometimes be spotty), and some of the best-priced alcohol in town. Try the soy burgers, the pizzas—the four cheese is excellent, and the margarita’s no slouch—or Franco's meatballs (a lamb and pork mix in a tangy tomato sauce).

7. Burma Burma

A trip to India can represent an opportunity for travelers to test the ropes at living vegetarian for a while (veg options constitute literally half of every menu here), but few major restaurants in the city have mastered all the possibilities of vegetarian like the charming Burma Burma. Ankit Gupta, the owner, is half Burmese, and demands authenticity, so short of a separate flight to Myanmar itself, you're not likely to find dishes as skillful as these in many other places; the restaurant also serves excellent teas (but no alcohol).

8. Café Zoe

One of the city's most popular dining and drinking spots, the roomy, open, yet strangely utilitarian Café Zoe serves European and continental breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners, and drinks. Depending on what time you arrive at this converted industrial compound, the crowd may include young parents feeding their one-year-old daughter sweet bites of Belgian waffles, local journalists shoveling down hot minestrone soup while using the free Wi-Fi, dating couples sharing a romantic dinner of seafood and pasta, or young partygoers drinking cocktails in a dim but sensuous atmosphere after midnight.

9. Gajalee

10. Le Pain Quotidien

This Belgian bakery, a stone's throw from the Gateway of India, offers great breads, fresh ingredients, and a giant communal table. There's a wine selection, too, and evening specials might include grilled salmon or seared lamb chops. It's a good option when you're sweating it out in South Mumbai, or for those who need a break from Indian food and want to check email on the free Wi-Fi.

11. Madhuban

At one of Aurangabad's top restaurants, dark furniture, large paintings of Indian scenes, an abundance of green granite, crisp white tablecloths, and a chandelier composed of multiple diyas (traditional Indian lamps) set a regal tone, while a wall of windows opens onto a garden of lovely tropical trees and flowers. The menu might include butter chicken and dal makhani, a rich black lentil dish; tasty Indo-Chinese food—the chilli chicken, a spicy concoction, is recommended; and some Mexican and Italian food.

12. Mahesh Lunch Home

Somewhere between Apoorva and Trishna—geographically as well as atmospherically—Mahesh is a legendary Fort seafood restaurant (but can't compare with Ankur) that attracts the office-lunch crowd as well as packing them in during the evenings. Some of the character was stripped out of the place after it decided to go upscale, and the floor-to-ceiling marble might be a bit much, but the traditional Mangalorean seafood dishes are reliably good.

13. Salt Water Café

This unpretentious restaurant in Bandra Reclamation—a scenic, walkable section of Bandra—has a classic nouvelle cuisine menu and a simple rooftop terrace. It gets crowded on weekends, so be sure to make a reservation, preferably for the terrace, where the cover of giant palm trees somehow blocks out the cacophony from noisy Chapel Road below.

14. Tandoor

The hospitality manager Syed Liakhat Hussain is one good reason to visit this brightly lit, busy, and cheerful restaurant that stays open late; the other is the authentic and well-made tandoori food. Shoot for lunch instead of dinner if you're coming by auto-rickshaw, because in the evening it's difficult to find transportation (it's far from the main hotels).

15. Trishna

Although most of the items on Trishna's seafood menu are of respectable quality, you'd be remiss not to order the much-vaunted butter garlic crab---even if that was all this legendary Kala Ghoda restaurant served, it'd be full year-round. The succulent crab is available in myriad treatments—with Indian and Western spices, green hariyali masala, black (spicier) Hyderabadi masala—and Trishna maintains the quality that's made it a favorite with tourists for more than 30 years.