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.

Bandra's beautiful people—Bollywood stars, expats, creative types—flock to this hip, casual café on tony Pali Hill. The laid-back style, plentiful outdoor seating, and excellent quality food more than make up for the fact that the bagels are just round bread, not the standard boiled-then-baked variety. Order a whole-wheat bagel with Goan-style chicken sausage and cream cheese, and one of the wonderful seasonal fruit smoothies, as you lounge on one of the rattan couches.

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.

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.

Once the exclusive domain of a members-only club, Kathiwada City House has opened a tiny corner of its space to the gawking public. Circle Sixty Nine, a small eatery by restaurateur Aditi Dugar (who also opened Masque), serves European-inspired fare to a view of the tiny terraced courtyard.

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.

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.

A genteel throwback to the continental dishes of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, Gaylord opened in the 1950s and has consistently fed the city's sense of nostalgia by eschewing faddish culinary crazes and sticking to old-fashioned Indian and European dishes like lobster thermidore; it also has a bakery that sells bread, pastries, and other dainties. There is an opulent air-conditioned section, but you want to sit outside on its pretty patio, fringed with a white-latticed boundary.

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.

At this airy cafe full of sunlight, you can find comforting breads and French baked goods, as well as an assortment of savory breakfast items. There are branches in Lower Parel and Bandra.

A short walk from the blue Knesset Eliyahoo synagogue is The Nutcracker, a tiny, pretty vegetarian restaurant with pink and white bougainvillea tumbling down its wooden windows, and mosaic tiled floors. Go for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner), and order any of the delicious egg concoctions.

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.

Under the same ownership as Woodside Inn, this restaurant dispenses with the pubby atmosphere to focus on simple, rustic cuisine using local ingredients. The food is excellent and reasonably priced considering how refined it is, and although it'd be nice if it had a wine license—the white interiors, open kitchen, and general atmosphere all scream "wine bar"—the excellent baked goods and mains more than make up for the lack of booze.

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.

Popular with rich Mumbai housewives—who pack the place for lunch during the week—this Italian restaurant helmed by Chef Ritu Dalmia serves gourmet food in a relaxed, tasteful setting. On the top-floor veranda of Good Earth (a designer furniture store), the Tasting Room shares its hosts' penchant for subtle Indian minimalism in bright jewel tones.