282 Best Restaurants in India

Located inside the Malabar House, this elegant alfresco restaurant with red and white walls spreads out to the patio near the swimming pool. The menu is comprised of a mix of regional specialties and Mediterranean plates. The seafood is always fresh and perfectly cooked, and if you’re craving Italian, the pastas are quite good as well.

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.

This Japanese restaurant at The Leela Palace offers excellent fish and impeccable service in a luxe ambience. Look for its signature Crystal Buddha elevated over a pool of rose-petal water, with a beautiful 800-pound Japanese Bonsho bell suspended from the ceiling.

Smack-dab in the middle of Panjim, this Goan institution is indisputably the best place in town for homestyle Goan food—and as most of the regulars are locals, the kitchen doesn't hold back on the spice. The menu is vast and enticing, so either visit as part of a large group, or when absolutely ravenous (but yet able to wait for a table; the service is brisk so the wait shouldn't be too long).

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.

Modeled and decorated after its namesake luxury train, this small restaurant at the Taj Palace offers elevated modern European cuisine in a plush, lamp-lit interior. The service is immaculate, and live piano recitals add to the charm. Both prix-fixe and a la carte menus are available.

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.

Considered one of the city's best (and most expensive) restaurants, Peshwari entices with melt-in-your-mouth, exquisitely spiced and marinated kebabs and other North-West Frontier foods; menu highlights include paneer tikka, chicken makhani, and the dal bukhara, served with an assortment of rotis and naans. The dining area has an outdoorsy, dhaba look—wood beams, shining copper platters, and pots hanging on the walls, with seating at log tables matched with stools. Part of ITC, a luxury hotel chain known for its excellent cuisine, Peshawri has branches in other cities in India.

Rustic wood tabletops resting on tree-trunk bases, plush, bright-orange seat cushions, and hammered copper plates and goblets create a dark, romantic mood, complemented by the simple, delicious barbecue cuisine of the North West Frontier area in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. All kinds of meats are freshly prepared over open flames and served with rich, aromatic sauces, with plenty for vegetarians, and guests are encouraged to eat with their hands.

You can feel Goa's energy in full swing at this three-story gastropub, where patrons jam to live music, belt out their favorite songs at karaoke, or enjoy the occasional screen games. The creative menu features both small and large plates inspired by Goan classics, while the bar does a good line in cocktails---a feni (traditional Indian liquor) Manhattan and grapefruit G&T are house specials.

This air-conditioned restaurant invites you in with warm interiors and sumptuous multi-cuisine food. The muraled walls are inspired by Bundelkhandi art and add a localized touch to the space. While the dim lighting lends a rustic ambiance to the 60-cover seating, the bustling chatter from guests keeps things lively. Small details such as ceramic crockery and friendly service complement the lip-smacking food for an all-rounder experience.

This easygoing, inexpensive outdoor eatery with tables looking out on Assi Ghat serves excellent thin-crust vegetarian pizza made in a wood-fire oven with real mozzarella, as well as homemade pasta dishes, bona fide espresso, and fresh homemade apple pie. For a quieter, more laid-back experience, head to their other outlet in the cantonment area.

This charming, two-story restaurant just across the road from the Western Temples (there are stunning views from the terrace) serves a mix of Indian and continental fare. It has a distinctly European aesthetic, with an open courtyard, where marble-top tables are shaded by an enormous neem tree and overhanging branches of bougainvillea, and a small indoor section that is air-conditioned (the summer heat can be quite punishing).

At this popular fine-dining restaurant, dishes are "re-visited, re-interpreted, and re-invented" with infused flavors, and all the food is beautifully plated. As the name suggests, A Reverie has a dreamlike, elegant ambience: the space is painted in warm earthy tones, but there are stylish overtones of bling; it's accented by dimmed lounge areas and wrought-iron decorative furniture.

This plush restaurant, which has windows on three sides, is long and shaped like a traditional wooden boat and is a favorite among Kochi's well-to-do crowd. The menu stresses seafood, as you might expect, with much of it often caught just a few hours before meal time in the Chinese fishing nets or in boats nearby. Kerala specialties are made with saltwater, and the local freshwater fish are grilled and cooked in traditional curries.

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 tribute to ancient bazaars of the Middle East, Souk serves contemporary Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. You can dine on an assortment of dips like muhammara (roasted red pepper dip), as well as falafel, kebabs, and more, in a sleek, contemporary setting.

Once the maharaja's throne room in the original palace, this grand hall within the Taj's Rambagh Palace Hotel---easily one of India's most elegant restaurants---has a soaring, frescoed ceiling, tapestry-covered walls, gold-plated silverware, and a staff eager to serve. It serves dishes from royal kitchens across India, from Punjab to Rajasthan, including both meat and vegetarian entrées; alcohol is available.

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.

Rugged Vagator Beach is the seductive backdrop for Mariketty Grana's popular whitewashed Greek restaurant, which is on top of a low cliff overlooking the rocky shores of Little Vagator. Thalassa's vibrant chef re-creates authentic food from her native Corfu, often served against a backdrop of live music and beautiful sunset views. 

This former 18th-century Dutch mansion with its lush garden courtyard, classical architecture, and ancient art and relics dotting the grounds, once served as an arumana ammaveedu or home of the consorts of the king of Travancore. Regarded as Trivandrum’s finest restaurant, this oasis in the heart of the city features an eclectic collection of dishes from Kerala, as well as Morocco, Mexico, and Italy. It serves beer and wine.

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.

Named after the year when Udaipur was founded, 1559 occupies an elegant colonial bungalow, with indoor dining as well as alfresco dining in the large garden. Specialties include Rajasthani game birds (farmed, not hunted), prepared in traditional Indian and European styles, as well as salmon or rack of lamb; the menu also features pasta, pizza, and vegetarian specials such as malai kofta and paneer dishes. There's a café with an authentic espresso machine and a bar with a decent selection of wines.

Situated in the plush Clarks Hotel, this upmarket restaurant that's decorated in tones of white and dark wood is best for its Indian food, though there are plenty of fusion and multicuisine choices on the menu. The chef cooks up innovative items in the lively kitchen, with vegetarian and meat-based dishes available.

Kolkata's first upscale Bengali restaurant still draws a crowd. Traditional Bengali delicacies, such as macher sorse paturi (fish cooked with mustard paste) and chingri malai curry (with prawns and coconut milk) are served in an intimate terra-cotta dining room.

Like the rest of the resort, the Ambadi's multi-cuisine restaurant has a rustic feel and is decorated with lots of wood. Head here for well-executed North Indian staples like butter chicken, as well as Indo-Chinese options, Kerala specials, and Western dishes, including fish-and-chips and some pastas.