27 Best Restaurants in Mumbai, India

Badshah does one thing and one thing very well: the falooda, a felicitous coupling of silky vermicelli noodles with ice cream and black basil seeds, all of which is steeped in a colorful bath of rose and khus syrup. The décor is nothing to write home about, but if you can, make a beeline for the air-conditioned section upstairs.

Folding in an ensemble cast of underrated Indian dishes like Manipuri black rice and kharonda fruit into its menu, Bawri prides itself on wood and charcoal cooking that fumes the food with dark, sweet, earthen flavors. Among their most popular dishes are the stuffed gucchi mushrooms, the smoked mutton chops, and the jackfruit biryani.

The charming former owner of this old, dingy, and terribly atmospheric Irani restaurant had an obsession with the British royal family and thus pictures of royalty grace the restaurant's peeling walls. Unfortunately, the old gentleman has since passed away, but the restaurant has retained its charm as well as its fantastic chicken or mutton berry pulao, with rice, gravy, and dried fruit.

You'll have to drive a bit to reach Buddi Galli (a lane selling a bunch of local, meat-forward street food), but once you reach it, your taste buds will thank you. Try the naankhaliya, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar's slow-cooked beef or mutton curry, fried tikki kebabs, and if you come during Ramzan, the harees (a hearty meat and lentil stew). If you can, go after sunset, when the lane truly comes alive.

This very popular vegetarian restaurant, begun in 1958 and now part of a chain, is a convenient address in the city for delicious chana bhatura: the piping-hot, football-size puris made from white flour and yeast are served with spicy chickpeas and raw onions and lemons. The cheesy nachos and deep-fried corn cheese balls are good snack options, especially when washed down with their popular ice cream soda. It's so popular on weekends that the staff have initiated curbside pickup for the hungry hordes left waiting on the road for a seat in the restaurant.

Classic no-frills North Indian food draws many Middle Eastern vacationers to this eatery; it also has outlets throughout the United Arab Emirates, though this one's the flagship. It's loud and bustling—not the place for a romantic dinner—but the real reason to come is the top-quality chicken and mutton.

For decades the food stalls in front of Elco Market have been serving some of the best—and cleanest—vegetarian street food Mumbai has to offer, and they were doing so well that the owners were able to open this two-floor restaurant inside the market, offering essentially the same food. One of Mumbai's most iconic experiences is standing by the pani puri vendor, as he stuffs boiled potato, sprouts, mint-fresh water, and sweet chutney into an eggshell-thin sphere of fried flour and hands it to you in a plate woven together with leaves.

A convenient place to stop for a cold drink and a hot samosa. The outdoor patio has fruit trees (home to many monkeys) and pink bougainvillea flowers. The restaurant closes before the caves do.

Set in the middle of the city’s racecourse, Gallops has a classic, consistent, North Indian and 1970s-style "continental" European menu. To book the alfresco section---a rarity in Mumbai---you'll have to call in advance; it's usually kept closed, and opened for special parties or receptions.

Inexpensive, shabby, and frankly a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, Hotel Deluxe (neither a hotel nor deluxe) has long been the default choice of eatery for homesick Keralites. The menu is vast, but tunnel your vision towards the special section; anything on there is bound to be excellent.

Walk straight out of Kailasa Cave (number 16), past the umpteen souvenir stalls on your right, and you'll see the Hotel Kailas with its attached restaurant, Kailas: it's a simple cafeteria-style restaurant serving basic vegetarian Indian food until 9:30 pm. The food isn't great, but it's a hygienic spot, and a bit nicer than the Ellora Restaurant.

Once bustling Lalbaug was the beating heart of Mumbai's mill lands and center of its radical leftist political culture. The mills have since folded, but the area is still home to a clot of eateries serving excellent Maharashtrian cooking, and among the best is Ladu Samrat, an unfussy, eminently affordable, but rather threadbare restaurant serving homey vegetarian Maharashtrian snacks.

Located at ITC's Rama International, this restaurant has plenty of North Indian as well as local Maharashtrian dishes on offer. Get the chef to make you the local special, the meaty naan khaliya, a throwback to the Mughal era. The decor is elegant but unremarkable.

Rarely packed even on Saturday night, 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.

This no-frills eating establishment used to sit across a tank (Gibbet’s Pond) which was once the stage for the city’s grisliest public hangings. The fifth-generation owners believe it to be one of Mumbai’s earliest eating establishments, but whether it is or isn’t, their trademark dish---puri bhaji (spiced vegetables scooped up with fried bread)---has certainly stayed consistently tasty over the decades. Its clientele includes everyone from Uber drivers to powerful city politicians.

With its whitewashed walls and bright blue decorative highlights, Parsi Dairy Farm is eminently Instagramable and influencer-friendly, but you should go for its creamy kulfis, its candy floss–esque sutarfeni, and its adorable milk mithai, fashioned into the shape of fish. It’s also more than a century old, and run by four generations of the same family—in short, it’s a Mumbai icon.

Opened in 2010, Ziya quickly shot to the very forefront of Indian cuisine, and although other modern Indian restaurants have taken its place at the top of the heap, it still serves really tasty food. Here, traditional Indian flavors receive nouvelle cuisine treatment from chef Vineet Bhatia, the first Indian chef to win Michelin stars.