21 Best Restaurants in Mumbai, India

The extremely hip Americano is always full, but it is worth reserving a table for their excellent Americano pizza (salami, fior di latte, and tomato), the handmade pasta, and perhaps the best tiramisu in the city. Once there, be sure to cast an eye over the elegant décor and menu design, all done up in shades of cerulean, cornflower, and cream. Chef Alex Sanchez’s restaurant has also made its way to Asia’s 100 Best Restaurant award listings, so that’s yet another reason to go.

In spite of wincing prices, teatime at Taj Mahal hotel's Sea Lounge is an iconic Mumbai icon meal and a hop, skip, and jump from Colaba Causeway. For your money, you get a blithe gentleman or lady plunking away sprightly, old-fashioned airs on a piano, an unparalleled view of the Gateway of India, five-star service, and a pageant of teatime treats---think demure cucumber sandwiches, scones crowned with jam and clotted cream, along with a retinue of pastry. Or you could choose to go further afield with Sea Lounge's extended high tea, which includes a bacchanal of Indian, Western, and South East Asian dishes. 

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.

Indian food is often perceived to be a monolith of spicy curries and tandoori chicken, but for those looking to shatter these snap judgments, Bombay Canteen is the place to go. In a brilliant effort to champion the sort of ingredients that rarely make it into restaurant dishes, executive chef Hussain Shahzad and its late culinary director Floyd Cardoz (once chef of New York restaurant Bombay Bread Bar) have wended their way around the country, subsuming ingredients like rat tail radish and colocasia roots into a playful menu with a global edge.

Chef Niyati Rao builds Ekaa's menu around India's seasonal bounty, with each dish named after its primary ingredient like "Corn" or "Fried Chicken." The results are dishes that creatively expand on the primary ingredient with added flavors and textures, like fried chicken with soy pickle, egg yolk jam, and fermented cauliflower. Cocktails at Ekaa toe a similar line, thanks to the bar manager who comes up with delicious drinks like Petrichor, a monsoon-inspired melange of mezcal, coconut vermouth, gooseberry, and calcium stone.

This is the Mumbai outpost of Delhi’s award-winning Indian Accent, known for its contemporary twists to canonical Indian food. Chef Manish Malhotra refreshes the menu every season, offering vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and meat-based tasting menus, as well as a special brunch menu and one for "family feasts." The food is as theatrical and fun as ever.

In a somewhat dilapidated-looking store whose homemade ice creams hark all the way back to 1953, the pick of the menu is the ice-cream sandwich (slabs of ice cream slapped between two gossamer-thin wafer biscuits). A huge chunk of the menu is available year-round, but be sure to sample the seasonal flavors (such as mango and guava).

Among the most beloved lunch spots for South Mumbai's workaday crowd, this quaint little café is the ideal spot to grab a soy latte and a quick bite while resting your feet. The fresh juices and salads are cheap but clean and safe for foreigners, the Wi-Fi is free, and the interior, while a bit cramped, is bright and pleasant---and best of all, the sandwiches, like the KGC Special (arugula, vegetarian mayo, and Padano cheese on grilled flat bread), are light but extremely tasty when snuggled up to a hot (or more preferably iced) cup of joe. It's in a popular neighborhood, just a stone's throw from Jehangir Art Gallery and Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue.

Though they don't come cheap, the succulent kebabs at this hotel restaurant are perfect for those who don't want to indulge their stomachs on Muhammad Ali Road (the inexpensive, street-side haven for meat eaters). Elegant and subdued, the restaurant's drawback is the minimum 25-minute wait for your food—but good things take time, and the chicken seekh kebabs (ground chicken and spices) and the biryanis are worth the wait.

Step in for a moment of quietude at this stylish coffee shop (named for its location in the century-old building, Kitab Mahal) that doubles as a co-working space. Don’t miss the community nights here---they include anything from wine tastings to movie screenings.

Veering off from Colaba's arterial thoroughfare, Colaba Causeway, is Ling's Pavilion, a venerable Cantonese-style restaurant and Mumbai icon run by Baba Ling and Nini Ling, its third-generation owners. The décor is a sort of gracious 1970s time warp---pagoda-style roof and a likeness of a Chinese terra-cotta warrior at the entrance.

Owner Aditi Dugar and chef Prateek Sadhu, alumni of the Culinary Institute of America and a rapidly rising star in the Indian culinary landscape, comb the country for intriguing indigenous ingredients and make them the heroes in prix-fixe progressive menus that change every fortnight. Chef Sadhu's stints at Alinea, Noma, Le Bernardin, and French Laundry may have been the seed for his degustation menus, but the bedrock of all his dishes is staunchly Indian, albeit in a clean, pared-down way.

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.

Serving a whimsical, excellently executed menu of dishes inspired by the Catholic-dominated state of Goa, O'Pedro simultaneously pays homage to its Portuguese antecedents. Go at dinnertime to avoid the clatter of the patrons who descend upon the restaurant for their lunch break from the nearby offices and to enjoy seeing the wood-fired oven lit up.

Chef Alex Sanchez’s Latin American restaurant Otra, a hat-tip to his Puerto Rican roots, is chic, very loud, and always packed to the rafters. And with good reason: the staff make their own masa (corn dough), which finds its way into a rainbow of dishes like chochoyotes, tacos, and tostadas.

This Bandra West restaurant offers an intriguing tryst with regional pan-Indian flavors, the kind that rarely feature on restaurant menus in the city. Nurse a drink at the bar downstairs and then make your way upstairs to the romantic mezzanine floor; it sits chockablock with vintage photographs, wooden furniture, and candelabras on each table.

This extremely popular vegetarian 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---the spinach and cheese samosas are especially delicious.

A kilometer or two from Colaba Causeway lies Swati Snacks, a Mumbai stalwart and a great place to try the city's street food in clean, air-conditioned, somewhat canteen-style environs. Most popular are its chaat dishes (a smorgasbord of crunchy, creamy, spicy, sweet dishes), but you can venture further afield by ordering homely Gujarati fare from under the traditional specialities section of the menu.

If you find the time, try the original Swati Snacks in Tardeo.

Launched by a pair of Indian restaurateurs and a young American chef from San Francisco, The Table offers American fare 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.

Ideal for long, lazy, tea-inspired meals, the Teahouse has a boggling variety of teas for the connoisseur. Go for the languorous lunches and stay for the charming, old-fashioned décor. Coffee drinkers aren't ignored either, and have the arduous task of choosing between a South Indian-style filter coffee or a French press coffee. A few doors down, Sancha Tea Boutique sells pretty tea-related things that make excellent gifts.

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 tenderloin burgers, the pizzas—the four cheese is excellent, and the margarita’s no slouch—or an old-fashioned plate of beer-battered fish-and-chips.