The best restaurants in India, ranked 1–50

The Condé Nast Traveller x District Top Restaurant Awards just wrapped, and the list of the best restaurants in India for 2026 is now out. The seventh edition of the awards was powered by VISA, and this year's list captures both continuity and change.

The Condé Nast Traveller x District Top Restaurant Awards 2026 were revealed at a fabulous ceremony in Goa at The Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, where India's best restaurants, and the people behind them, were celebrated in style. The ranking of the top 50 restaurants in India has become a definitive barometer of the country's dining scene, tracking how chefs, bartenders, and restaurateurs are shaping the way India eats and drinks today.

This year, Mumbai and Goa share the top spot, each placing 13 restaurants among the top fifty. Bengaluru follows with six, while Chennai and Kolkata hold four apiece. New Delhi takes three, and Shillong doubles its presence with two. The remaining five spots belong to Kasauli, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Gurugram and Karaikudi, each claiming one. Together, the spread marks a shift from past years. Goa has pulled level with Mumbai for the first time, a sign of just how much the state's dining scene has matured beyond its reputation as a holiday detour.

1. NAAR, Kasauli

Prateek Sadhu left the Kashmir Valley as a five-year-old in 1990, and NAAR, which means fire in Kashmiri, is where his search for home has landed, on the edge of a cliff near Darwa village in Himachal Pradesh. It seats just 16 in a cluster of wood and slate huts, and its six menus follow the Himalayas' six seasons, cooked by Sadhu and chef Kamlesh Negi over a juniper-smoked hearth. Getting here takes effort, about two and a half hours by road from Chandigarh, so plan a stop on the way. Ishar Sweets on the Kalka-Shimla Road is known for its kulfi and kalakand, and a box of either will earn you a warm welcome from the team. Sadhu once called opening NAAR "jumping without a parachute." This year, it landed at number one.

Address: Amaya, VPO, Darwa, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh 173236, India
Website: restaurantnaar.com

2. The Table, Mumbai

The Table has been a Mumbai landmark since 2011, and head chef Louis Gomes, who started here as a line cook over 15 years ago, now anchors a kitchen that balances institutions like the SoBo Salad and smoked goose-fat pâté with riskier dishes like lamb brain and morel vol-au-vent. Chef Will Aghajanian led its boldest reset in 2023. There's also a tasting menu that isn't printed anywhere. Ask for Chef's Picks if you arrive for an early dinner between 6:30 and 7pm, and the kitchen will put together six courses of snacks and small plates for Rs.4,200 a person, available for tables of two to four.

Address: Kalapesi Trust Building, opposite Dhanraj Mahal, Apollo Bandar, Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001, India
Website: foodmatters.in/the-table

3. Papa's, Mumbai

Papa's seats only 12 people, and those seats are gone within a minute of being released each month. Up a narrow staircase above a Bandra sandwich shop, chef Hussain Shahzad runs a 12-course menu that plays by no fine-dining rules, with a Kashmiri Wellington, char siu pork in a modak and the Bugs Bunny dish, ants included. The tables come with built-in fidget spinners, and general manager Madhusudhan Kashyap sometimes pulls off card tricks between courses. The drinks are just as playful. The Papa's Classical Mix lists riffs on classic cocktails, and the Picante isn't on it, so ask for it anyway. It is a clear drink made with lemon and an in-house jalapeño marmalade, with a cleaner and brighter kick than the cloudy, coriander-heavy versions found elsewhere.

Address: Waroda Road, Ranwar, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India
Website: papasbombay.com

4. FarmLore, Bengaluru

FarmLore sits at the end of the road out of Bengaluru, on 37 acres of mango and coconut groves that supply most of what ends up on the plate. The dining room seats just 18 and is lit by two wood stoves, Kannagi and Anjaneya, which burn mango wood cut from the property itself. Chef Johnson Ebenezer's tasting menu follows the farm's seasons, from charred lettuce with smoked ghee to lamb cooked for 18 hours with horsegram, and a few bolder dishes use the farm's own fire ants and Rameshwaram lobster. If you want to see where the experimenting happens, ask about Omnisense, the private dining room that connects directly to the R&D kitchen, where the team tests dishes that haven't reached the main menu yet.

Address: Survey No. 67, Mohan Raju Layout, Sathanur Village, Bagalur Post, Bengaluru North Taluk, Karnataka 562149, India
Website: farmlore.in

5. Sienna Calcutta, Kolkata

Sienna began in 2010 as a Shantiniketan pottery store and has grown into one of Kolkata's most compelling cultural projects, built around Bengal's maati and manush, its land and its people. The café's menu draws on the city's markets and kitchens, with dishes like bhetki à la Kiev made with radhuni butter and choto maach bhaja served with a fish egg aioli. It debuted on this list at number five in 2023. If you are dining alone, ask for the omakase experience. It isn't on the menu, but the kitchen will send out smaller portions so you can try more of the à la carte menu without filling up on rice.

Address: 49/1, Golpark, Hindustan Park, Gariahat, Kolkata, West Bengal 700029, India
Website: siennastore.com

6. Izumi Assagao, Goa

Izumi's Goa outpost sits inside Botanique, a lush boutique guesthouse in Assagao, and brings the Mumbai original's attention to technique to an indoor-outdoor setting. That rigour comes from chef Nooresha Kably, who trained at the Tokyo Sushi Academy and a ramen school in Yokohama before building Izumi. It shows most clearly in the sushi, where the nigiri is made with Japanese rice sourced from Himachal and is meant to be eaten by hand. A separate yakitori bar sits alongside the main menu. For something off it, ask chef Raffael Kably to make his spicy prawn yaki udon. If there is hamachi collar in the kitchen that day, ask him to grill it for you.

Address: 45, Mapusa, Anjuna, Chapora Road, Assagao, Bardez, Goa 403507, India

7. Indian Accent, The Lodhi, New Delhi

Indian Accent opened in 2009 and changed how India thinks about its own cuisine, moving dining out well beyond butter chicken and Mughlai staples with dishes like the blue cheese naan, pork ribs glazed in meetha achaar and a kala khatta sorbet served in a miniature pressure cooker. It has since moved from The Manor to The Lodhi, and chef Shantanu Mehrotra, who has been with the restaurant since day one, now leads the kitchen. The tasting menu shows the kitchen at its most inventive. Ask for tables 26 or 27, which overlook the glass room and are favourites with celebrities and VIPs, as much for the play of sun or moonlight on the water as for the people-watching. If there's a dish from an older menu you've always wanted to try, call at least 24 hours ahead and the team can recreate it from their archive.

Address: The Lodhi, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India
Website: indianaccent.com

8. Bomras, Goa

Chef-owner Bawmra Jap, a Kachin from Myanmar, has run Bomras in Anjuna for 16 years, building a following on tea leaf salad, tiger prawn ceviche sharpened with local lime, and a smoked pork fried rice regulars won't share. The restaurant shut briefly during the pandemic and reopened in 2020 at a new Anjuna address with a small herb garden feeding the kitchen, and the loyal crowd came right back, Ed Sheeran included. What doesn't make the printed menu is worth asking about. Jap often cooks for friends off-menu, dishes like spicy chicken feet salad, slow-roasted pig's cheek, or bamboo shoots with wood ear mushrooms, and it's worth checking what he's made that day rather than assuming it's not on offer. Sundays bring a different kind of experiment, with the chef running through vegetable, chicken and prawn khowsuey variations. The tender coconut panna cotta with passion fruit remains the constant, and one of Goa's most reliable desserts.

Address: 1152, opp. Our Lady Of Health Chapel, Mazal Waddo, Anjuna, Goa 403509, India

9. Avartana, ITC Grand Chola, Chennai

Avartana opened in 2017 and has spent the years since turning South Indian food into a tasting menu experience without losing what makes it South Indian in the first place. The name is Sanskrit for rhythm and repetition, and that logic runs through four menus of increasing length. The seven-course Maya, nine-course Bela, eleven-course Jiaa and thirteen-course Anika. Bottle gourd is served as marinated spirals with plum chutney and rice crisps, parotta is compressed into a single bite with coconut chicken and a toffee made from Uthukuli butter, and the double-distilled rasam alone has diners asking if they can take a bottle home. All menus can be adjusted for dietary restrictions and preferences, and for a special occasion the kitchen will also put together personalised menu cards, complete with your name and an illustration based on your photo.

Address: ITC Grand Chola, Little Mount, Guindy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600032, India
Website: itchotels.com/in/en/itcgrandchola-chennai

10. The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

At The Bombay Canteen, servers read the room and start guiding your order before you have even opened the menu, and the whole floor works in a kind of unspoken choreography. Chef Gaurav Yadav now leads the kitchen, and he has kept a decade of signatures alive, including eggs Kejriwal and the gulab nut doughnut, while adding newer dishes like chicken jhol momos. If you are dining solo or visiting for the first time, sit at the bar. It is easy to walk up to, and the bartenders are happy to recommend their own favourite spots around the city. If you cannot decide what to order, ask for the Canteen Experience, a tasting menu of six to eight courses that samples the kitchen's range in smaller portions. Time a washroom trip for a loop of 70s and 80s Bollywood hits playing against the art-deco tiling. Before you leave, ask for the restaurant's Mumbai checklist map, a list of old-guard eateries across the city that includes Ling's Pavilion and Trishna.

Address: Unit-1, Process House, S.B. Road, Kamala Mills, Near Radio Mirchi Office Lower, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400013, India
Website: thebombaycanteen.com

11. Masque, Mumbai

Masque has become the country's most visible face of modern Indian fine dining, led by chef Varun Totlani, who joined as a commis and rose to head chef in 2022. After a decade in its original Shakti Mills warehouse, the restaurant has been completely rejigged, and walking in now feels like stepping into a new place altogether. The new room looks like Gotham City meets art deco, and the kitchen, once hidden, is now visible from the dining room. The 10-course tasting menu still draws on ingredients foraged across the country, from Himachal ferns to Ladakh apricots, and mid-meal, guests step into the kitchen for a counter course. The menu is less fixed than it looks, too. If there's a dish from a past menu you're craving, mention it when you book, and the kitchen will often work it back in. One regular arranged an entire baby shower meal built around his wife's favourite dishes from old menus, and another guest bought out Masque Lab to cook alongside Totlani himself. For more privacy, ask about the table in the newly refurbished wine cellar, though like the old table at the pass, it isn't something you can simply book. It comes down to a conversation with the team.

Address: Unit G3, Shakti Mills, Off Dr E Moses Road, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400011, India
Website: masquerestaurant.com

12. Americano, Mumbai

Chef Alexander Lee Sanchez opened Americano in Kala Ghoda in 2019 with partner Mallyeka Watsa, and by 9pm most nights the place runs like a sold-out concert, with Sanchez himself working the pass at the centre of the room. The cooking is modern Italian with no gimmicks, built on ingredients tested until they earn their place on the plate. Pizza is the obsession here. The dough has been perfected over years and the toppings are balanced with real precision, resulting in what is arguably the best slice in the city, crisp at the edges and just charred enough. The roast chicken is simple and often overlooked, and the tiramisu has its own following, scooped fresh at the table over a layer of tempered chocolate. If you're celebrating something, give the team advance notice and they'll turn that same tiramisu into a full birthday cake, made and served the same way.

Address: 121/123 Radha Bhavan, Nagindas Master Road, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001, India
Website: americanobombay.com

13. INJA, New Delhi

INJA, tucked into The Manor, is chef Adwait Anantwar's Indian-Japanese experiment, and it has split Delhi between those who call it genius and those who call it sacrilege. Anantwar spent three and a half years testing the pairings, which produced a chawanmushi spiked with rasam masala, gobi 65 rolled as a maki, and gajar ka halwa tucked inside a steamed bun, all without any soy sauce in the kitchen. The Japanese bhel is a favourite with regulars, who ask for it by name because it is on the menu but not always available. The bar is worth the same attention. Mixologist Supradeep makes off-menu cocktails, including a Gondhoraj Margarita with blanco tequila, yuzu bitters and Gondhoraj lemons sourced from Bengal. Design lovers should also ask to see the PDR, where the dining table is a single six-foot slab of pink marble.

Address: The Manor, 77 Friends Colony West, New Delhi 110065, India
Website: injarestaurant.com

14. Amar Khamar, Kolkata

Amar Khamar's Lunch Room grew out of the founders' earlier venture, Annaja, and now serves home-style Bengali food across a 20-seat space in Ballygunge. Founded in 2019 by Sujoy Chatterjee to support small farmers, the restaurant sources heirloom rice, lentils and spices from growers across West Bengal, and its signature Chhuti-r Bhat, a four-course holiday meal on a banana leaf, is built around lesser-known heirloom rice rather than the usual Gobindobhog. The mutton dish, Chui Jhal Mangsho, gets its heat the old way, from the stems of the chui jhal vine rather than chillies. Fish those stems out and chew them between bites of meat for a slow, smoky burn instead of an upfront one.

Address: 21B, Hindustan Rd, Ballygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal 700029, India
Website: amar-khamar.com

15. NĀVU, Bengaluru

NĀVU is a small, chef-led restaurant where Pallavi Mithika Menon and Kanishka Sharma run short, seasonal menus that play with the classics. Their chicken liver pâté comes donburi-style over miso butter rice and lap cheong, a pairing that shouldn't work but does. Recent menus have included mustard ice cream with pickled cherry tomatoes and beef tartare with sunchoke purée, while the cauliflower crème brûlée has survived every change. Look for the cranes, a motif borrowed from Japanese mythology and reworked into NĀVU's own emblem. They appear on the menu, in the décor and sometimes on the table, and the dishes marked with a crane icon are the way in. If you want to know the story behind them, ask for Chef Kanishka, and you might leave with a crane of your own.

Address: IndiQube Symphony, Shankarnarayan Building, MG Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025, India
Website: navu.in

16. The Second House, Goa

The Second House sits in a 108-year-old Indo-Portuguese bungalow in Saligao, designed by architect Ayaz Basrai to feel like a home crossed with a contemporary art gallery. Chef Jyoti Singh, previously of O Pedro, runs a menu shaped by his time in Egypt and Indonesia, including a house bread that merges Goan poee with Egyptian baladi bread and a riff on balchao with Indonesian flavours. One dish stays off the menu entirely. The Midnight Noodle, a beef and mushroom noodle with a satisfying chew, is a nostalgic late-night dish that Jyoti only makes for people he knows.

Address: Muddavaddi, Saligao, Goa 403511, India

17. Theta Theta Telugu, Hyderabad

Theta Theta Telugu comes from Sampath Tummala, whose family runs the Hyderabad institution The Spicy Venue, and chef Vignesh Ramachandran, previously of Indian Accent, and it reworks Telugu classics through techniques borrowed from Spain, France, Italy, West Asia and Burma. The tur dal and mango pickle of everyday Telugu meals becomes Mudapappu Hummus, topped with a kalamata olive pickle flavoured like avakai, and ghee prawns arrive in a tamarind sauce alongside a curry leaf brioche. There is a table that regulars ask for by name. Table 21, tucked into a corner, is chef Vignesh's own table, and it is where you want to be if you'd rather eat with your hands away from the rest of the room. Dining solo or as a pair, ask for the community table instead, since it's the easiest way to see what everyone around you has ordered. Don't skip the mutton chops seena roast, which regulars stretch into a bigger plate by sharing it with bread, and pick up a few extra paan bonbons on your way out.

Address: Road No. 10A, Gayatri Hills, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500045

18. Praça Prazares, Goa

Praça Prazeres is chef Ralph Prazeres and Stacy Gracias's restaurant in Panjim's Fontainhas quarter, set in a restored heritage home and built by the couple behind Padaria Prazeres. The menu draws on Ralph's years in kitchens from London to Copenhagen, with dishes like Scotch eggs, crisped pork belly with apple sauce and pan-roasted fish with beurre blanc. Much of the furniture came from his grandfather's home, and a live kitchen on the ground floor keeps the room intimate. Head upstairs to the attic bar for a cocktail or the in-house limoncello alongside a charcuterie board. If you go to the washroom, scan the QR code there, for a small Easter egg that captures the restaurant's playful side.

Address: Off, Rua de Ourém, behind Hotel Sona Building, Altinho, Goa, Panaji, Goa 403001, India
Website: praca-prazeres.localo.site

19. The Johri, Jaipur

The Johri sits inside a 19th-century haveli in Jaipur's Johri Bazaar, its pink walls, latticed windows and hand-painted cranes making it one of the city's most striking dining rooms. Chef Sonu Kumar, building on frameworks laid down by chef Vikram Arora, runs a seasonal vegetarian menu rooted in Rajasthan's kitchens, from a paan-patta chaat with real heat to a truffle aloo tikki finished under a parmesan "papad" and a gold-leafed mirchi ka halwa that works for Jain diners too. The restaurant doubles as the dining room for a five-suite hotel, so the pace stays unhurried. The soundtrack is worth asking about. The playlist swings from Bappi Lahiri to Lifafa, and the team will share it on Spotify if you ask.

Address: 3950, MSB Ka Rasta, Johri Bazar, Ghat Darwaza, Jaipur, Jaipur Nagar Nigam Area, Rajasthan 302003, India
Website: thejohrijaipur.com

20. Comorin, Gurugram

Chef Dhiraj Dargan built his reputation at Comorin by nudging familiar dishes sideways rather than reinventing them outright, slipping bakarwadi into kadhi, crisping gatte like polenta, and plating beetroot raita as a radial of pickled vegetables. A few old favourites have technically been discontinued but never really left the kitchen. The mutton tawa pulao can be made on request with no advance notice, while the meat-choley, a holdover from an old Ramzan menu, needs two days' notice to pull off. Regulars who miss a classic makhni on this otherwise unconventional menu can also ask for it, and there's a barley-quinoa salad the chef will build with chicken if you ask ahead. The bar, led by Varun Sharma, matches the kitchen's precision with clarified cocktails, sous-vide infusions and in-house bitters, while the zero-proof list, carrot shrub Bloody Marys and khus-and-basil sodas, holds its own rather than feeling like an afterthought. The space also runs as a small retail counter, so it's worth browsing the teas, ceramics and serveware on your way out.

Address: 101, First Floor, Two Horizon Center, DLF Phase 5, Sector 43, Gurugram, Haryana 122009, India
Website: comorin.in

21. Kopitiam Lah, Bengaluru

Kopitiam Lah in Indiranagar recreates the Malaysian coffee shop that anchors daily life in the country. It comes from pastry artist Joonie Tan, of Lavonne, and chef David D'Souza. Mornings here follow the old ritual of thick kopi with condensed milk, half-boiled eggs with soy and white pepper, and kaya toast with salted butter, alongside nasi lemak and laksa. Key ingredients like belacan and gula melaka are flown in to keep the flavours faithful. The egg tart is the one thing worth racing for. It arrives with a light pastry and a well-browned top, but the kitchen sends out only one batch a day and it is mostly gone by noon. Come early and order yours as soon as you sit down.

Address: Ground Floor, 1088, 12th Main Rd, Doopanahalli, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560008, India
Website: kopitiamlah.com

22. Naru Noodle Bar, Bengaluru

Chef Kavan Kuttappa's Naru began with DIY ramen kits during lockdown, moved through pop-ups and now runs as a 20-seat noodle bar inside The Courtyard in Shanti Nagar. The menu is short, with six ramens, a few sides and some sake, including a shoyu ramen with chashu pork, a creamy tori paitan and a Goan chorizo tantanmen. Getting a seat is the hard part. There are no walk-ins, and bookings open online every Monday at 8pm. Open the booking page in Google Chrome at 7.55pm with autofill switched on, decide your day in advance, and when the clock hits 8, move quickly through the pages, scan the QR code and pay.

Address: 105, Kengal Hanumanthaiah Rd, Raja Ram Mohanroy Extension, Shanti Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560027, India
Website: narunoodlebar.com

23. Cavatina by Avinash Martins, Goa

Chef Avinash Martins builds his menu at Cavatina in Benaulim out of memory as much as training, drawing on his grandmother's negotiations with fish vendors and childhood afternoons spent waiting at the jetty for crabs. The food changes with the season, from valchi bhaji with mushrooms and morels to tongue in temperado masala reworked as tartare, and nothing on the plate is anonymous. Bamboo mats are woven by local artisans, masalas are ground by hand, and the bread comes from a village poder, all part of Martins's effort to keep Goa's small economies alive alongside its traditions. Sachin Tendulkar is a regular, and Coldplay has stopped by too. Ask for the chef's table and you'll be seated at a corner spot near the kitchen with a direct view of the pass, along with a couple of extras, including Avinash's favourite cocktail, which isn't on the menu but can be requested from Shubham at the bar. Visit at lunch and you might also get to try the staff meal of the day.

Address: Taj Hotel Road, near Joecons Beach Resort, Benaulim, Goa 403716, India

24. Kaspers, Mumbai

Kaspers is chef Will Aghajanian's Bandra bistro, and it's where he lets his freak flag fly. Aghajanian, culinary director at The Table, cooks classic bistro fare with a Bengali streak, using kasundi as a dijonnaise in dishes like the mud crab gratin with lamb brain. Artist Kacper Abolik painted the walls with cherubs, and the tables are covered in paper, so pick up a crayon. If your doodle inspires the team, they may frame it and hang it on the wall. Ask for the specials board before you open the menu, since the veal chop Cordon Bleu, the tandoori crab donostiarra and the chocolate chip cookie dough soufflé, which takes 25 minutes to make, tend to sell out. The zero-proof cocktails are all off-menu, so ask for those too.

Address: Classic Corner, 7/8, St Andrews Rd, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India
Website: kaspersbombay.com

25. Larder & Folk, Goa

Larder & Folk began in 2021 as a delivery and production kitchen in Mala, started by Priyanka Sardessai and her husband, Siddharth Sumitran, and has since grown into a full cafe in São Tomé. The space is filled with cat figurines, recipe books and potted plants. The menu covers hearty sandwiches, including a hot honey doughnut with fried chicken, stuffed bombolinis and Sardessai's cookies. Sundays are the best day to visit, because the display case fills with specials and the cakes, puffs and desserts change every week. Look out for the soft shell crab burger, which sells out quickly. If you bring a dog, they get a free recycled fabric tug toy from Maka Naka.

Address: HO, 1/61, Vivenda Aleluia, Rua São Tomé, behind GPO, Panaji, Goa 403001, India

26. Padaria Prazeres, Goa

Padaria Prazeres opened in Panjim in April 2021, when chef Ralph Prazeres and his wife, Stacy Gracias, returned to Goa from London. Ralph trained at Le Cordon Bleu and worked in kitchens including St John and Bao, with a stint at noma, while Stacy came from a career in finance. Their artisanal bakery and café is built on European traditions, and its pastel de nata, with flaky pastry and a rich egg custard, is what first made it famous. Seats fill up fast, so Ralph suggests arriving at 9am, when everything is freshly laid out and the room is calm. Come late in the day and the broken or slightly burnt palmiers are discounted.

Address: Celeste Plaza, Ground floor, opposite Models Celebrity, Caranzalem, Panaji, Goa 403002, India

27. Hosa, Goa

Hosa occupies one of Siolim's prettiest Indo-Portuguese bungalows, with a powder-blue façade, a leafy patio and a bar lined with tinctures and infusions. Chef Harish Rao runs a 38-dish menu that moves across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, from curry leaf-cured snapper in kokum rasa to almonds dressed up like chicken 65. Beverage director Varun Sharma, who also runs the bars at Comorin and Indian Accent, keeps the drinks just as inventive, including a shandy dispensed from a contraption on the table and a full section of zero-proof cocktails. Dosas are worth treating as more than a side for chutneys here. Ask your server what they would pair with them, since the friendly service team is happy to suggest curries, and pineapple gojju is a hot favourite.

Address: House no.60/1, Irada Home, Vaddy, near St. Anthony’s Church, Siolim, Bardez, Goa 403517, India
Website: hosarestaurant.com

28. Grumps, Goa

Grumps sits at the end of a winding path in Sangolda that seems to lead nowhere until the sign appears. It was founded by Kartik Vasudeva, formerly of The Bombay Canteen, and his partner Agrini Satyarthi, and it has become one of North Goa's most dependable neighbourhood bars. Drinks and food arrive fast, the staff remember faces, and solo diners are as welcome as groups. The menu is compact, with dishes like beef croquettes in star anise jus and Sichuan fried chicken, and the cocktails include a whiskey drink built on sweet bun syrup and oloroso sherry. Every guest leaves with a card of the team's favourite places to eat and drink across Goa, but the real value is in the follow-up. Ask Kartik or Agrini what to order at each spot on it, and they'll help you turn the card into a proper itinerary.

Address: House No, 58 B, Grumps St, behind Chogm Road, Sangolda, Bardez, Goa 403511, India
Website: grumpsgoa.com

29. Bandra Born, Mumbai

Chef Manoj Shetty runs the kitchen at Bandra Born day to day, while founder Gresham Fernandes, who also DJs, sets the wider direction and occasionally takes over the console himself on a good night. The food riffs on the suburb's mixed heritage rather than replicating it straight, so beets get cooked like steak and the East Indian crab curry turns up with croissant pav instead of the usual bread. Regulars have an advantage here. Call ahead and the kitchen will go off-menu or build around dietary needs, and the bar keeps a rotating set of seasonal cocktail specials that never make it onto the printed list, so it's worth asking what's currently pouring rather than sticking to the menu.

Address: Rose Minar, 87, Chapel Rd, Annexe, Reclamation, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India
Website: impresario.in

30. Rannaghor by Sienna, Kolkata

Rannaghor is the tasting room on the second floor of Sienna's century-old house in Hindustan Park, where chefs Avinandan Kundu and Koyel Roy Nandy serve a 13-course modern Bengali menu at a chef's table for eight. The team cooks, plates and explains every course, from a "Snacks-Jam" board of katla belly bacon and sting ray salami to a mutton rizala risotto finished with bone marrow butter. The plates are made at the restaurant's Shantiniketan studio. Many of the ingredients will be unfamiliar to non-Bengali diners, so ask about them. If you ask with a smile, the team will bring out samples to taste raw, including whole ants before they become chutney, monkey fruit, whey jaggery, dried mahua and radhuni seeds.

Address: 49/1, Hindustan Park Rd, Golpark, Hindustan Park, Gariahat, Kolkata, West Bengal 700029, India
Website: siennastore.com

31. Petisco Kitchen & Bar, Goa

Petisco is a three-storey gastrobar in Panjim, opened in 2020 by chefs Halton D'Souza and Pranav Dhuri, and each floor has its own mood. The middle level suits groups sharing plates, the top floor is better for dates, and the basement is where the night gets loud, with live gigs and karaoke. It is also the best place to sit. The basement has its own menu, and it is where you are most likely to find mixologist Dev Narvekar, whose cocktail list changes with the season. Pair the drinks with the seafood specials, since any special fish the kitchen finds in the market that day ends up on that menu.

Address: Dr RS Rd, Opposite Municipal Garden, Altinho, Panaji, Goa 403001, India

32. Rynsan, Shillong

Rynsan is set in a restored Assam-style bungalow on the edge of Shillong, where musician Hammarsing Kharhmar and his wife, Riyaki Jana, cook from Garo, Khasi and Jaintia traditions, with nods to Nagaland, Mizoram, Burma and Thailand. The menu treats these as a conversation rather than a fusion, so wild fern salad sits beside smoked pork with perilla, and steamed rice cakes turn into sliders. The best way in is to ask questions. Ask what ingredient is in season and request an off-menu salad built around it, then try lesser-known produce like wild perilla, jaïur and kholar beans. Also ask for a taster of the local spirits, since many are made for Rynsan by Meghalaya's best brewers and aren't sold elsewhere in the city.

Address: Boyce Road, 36, College, near Shillong, Laitumkhrah, Shillong, Meghalaya 793003, India
Website: www.rynsan.com

33. The Bangala, Karaikudi

The Bangala serves Chettinad food the way it has always been eaten, on banana-leaf plates at communal teak tables, in a heritage hotel dining hall in the heart of Karaikudi. The masalas are still hand-pounded, and dishes like uppu kari, made with mutton, shallots and gundu milagai chillies, show the cuisine's range beyond just heat. First-timers can find the customs a little confusing, so it helps to follow someone at the table who clearly knows the ritual, sprinkling water on the banana leaf and wiping it away before service starts. For a full breakdown, ask for F&B manager Arul Selvam or senior staff Chandran and Selvakumar, who speak English, or Raja for Hindi. At the end of the meal, fold the leaf back toward you, with the middle stem facing in, a small gesture that makes cleanup easier.

Address: Devakottai Rd, Senjai, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu 630001, India
Website: thebangala.com

34. Ekaa, Mumbai

Ekaa's menu is cuisine-agnostic, built so that a single ingredient anchors each dish, which is what the name, meaning "the one," refers to. Chef Niyati Rao, who trained briefly at noma, and restaurateur Sagar Neve source locally and ferment in-house, and the cocktails draw on ingredients foraged from seven of India's ecosystems, including its mountains, oceans and the desert. The tasting menu, which leaves the evening entirely to the chef, is designed to surprise.. Ask for the Magic Cake and the team will take it from there, though it's best left unspoiled until it lands at your table.

Address: 1st Floor, Kitab Mahal, D Sukhadwala Rd, Azad Maidan, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001, India
Website: ekaamumbai.com

35. Trishna, Mumbai

Trishna has been serving Konkani and Mangalorean seafood in Kala Ghoda since 1965, run by a family from Mangalore, and its butter pepper garlic crab has become something of a benchmark for the city. The room is small and the décor hasn't changed much over the decades, but that hasn't stopped it from drawing everyone from regulars to first-time visitors and the occasional celebrity. Beyond the crab, the rawas Hyderabadi, coated in black pepper and pan-seared until crisp outside and tender within, and the Koliwada prawns are worth ordering. It's the kind of place people plan their next visit to before dessert arrives at the first one.

Address: 7, Sai Baba Mandir Marg, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai 400053

36. Aeseo, Chennai

Aeseo is the first Korean restaurant to make this list. Chennai's Korean food scene dates back to the 1990s, when Hyundai set up a plant outside the city and a tight-knit Korean community built a dining culture that has stayed largely under the radar. Aeseo is part of that story. The kitchen is run entirely by a Korean team, the vegetables are grown locally. Every table has its own charcoal grill and a bell you can ring to call for more soju, beer or food without waiting to flag anyone down. The barbecue duck, grilled until the skin crisps and the meat nearly drips, is worth the trip to Chennai alone. For the full spread, order the makchang and dakgalbi gui off the grill, along with gimbap and saeu tuigim on the side.

Address: 15, East Ave, Kesavaperumalpuram, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600028, India
Website: aeseo.in

37. Megu, The Leela Palace, New Delhi

Megu has been one of Delhi's most polished addresses for Japanese dining since 2012, and head chef Shubham Thakur now keeps its balance of restraint and luxury intact. Fish is flown in from Tokyo twice a week and served as nigiri, sashimi or carpaccio, alongside long-standing signatures like the crispy asparagus and tuna tataki with ponzu.The omakase room is lined with silk-clad red and pink walls, and one corner table looks out over a hidden zen garden. At the centre of the restaurant sits a crystal Buddha in a pool of water. Legend has it that if you pour water on the part of the Buddha that matches your ailment, you will be cured.

Address: The Leela Palace New Delhi, Africa Ave, Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, Delhi 110023, India
Website: theleela.com

38. La Loca María, Mumbai

La Loca María in Bandra is chef Manuel Olveira's tribute to his mother, who first put him to work in a kitchen in Toledo. The name means "the crazy Maria." Olveira trained in Michelin-starred dining rooms in Madrid before cooking in Dubai and Mumbai, and the restaurant brings that background together with a loud, generous energy. The menu runs from gambas al ajillo and charred octopus to lobster paella, with tacos that have become a favourite. There is also a dish you will only get if you ask for it. Olveira first made it for his nephew Shiv, layering the restaurant's carpaccio between two slices of Pan de Ajo, its garlic bread, and it has since become a family snack for the team. Ask for the Carpaccio a la Loca María in a Pan de Ajo.

Address: Fatima villa, 29th Rd, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India
Website: lalocamaria.in

39. Kappa Chakka Kandhari, Chennai

Kappa Chakka Kandhari has been on this list since it opened in 2018, and its menu still reads like a map of Kerala's toddy shops, home kitchens and temples. Chef Regi Mathew spent about three years travelling the state, speaking to more than 250 home cooks and 70 toddy shop owners, some of whom now cook in his kitchen. The result is dishes like prawn kizhi steamed in banana leaf, kudampuliyitta fish curry served with mashed tapioca, and mutton chaps with pathiri. The Cloud Pudding, a light tender coconut dessert, is the restaurant's best-known dish and often sells out before diners finish their meal. Reserve it as soon as you sit down, before you place the rest of your order.

Address: 10, Haddows Rd, opp. Shastri Bhavan, Thousand Lights West, Nungambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600006, India
Website: kappachakkakandhari.com

40. Baan PhadThai, Bengaluru

Baan PhadThai started in Bangkok in 2016, built around an 18-ingredient secret sauce for phad thai that earned it a spot on Bangkok's first Michelin Bib Gourmand list, a recognition it held for six years. The Bengaluru outpost, on Indiranagar's 12th Main, keeps the menu tight and the room spare, just 30 seats, green and brown tones, and a few vintage Thai posters. The food is curated for the Indian palate without losing its balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy, from a raw papaya salad with roasted peanuts to a crabmeat omelette finished with a tom yum and kaffir lime reduction. The signature phad thai arrives on a banana leaf in an enamel bowl and gets tossed tableside, with a box of condiments on the side so you can adjust the sauce to taste. Once you book, the restaurant sends a Spotify playlist to the number on your reservation, ninety minutes of Thai disco, rock and molam curated by co-founder Sid Mewara, meant to get you in the mood for the meal on your way over.

Address: Sai Suraksha, 1090, 12th Main Rd, Doopanahalli, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560008, India

41. Jamun, Goa

Jamun in Assagao is the Goa outpost of a Delhi restaurant from Lodhi Colony, built around regional Indian cooking. Chef Rahul Gomes Pereira, known as Picu, runs a menu that pairs tandoor dishes like stuffed morels and beetroot and amaranth galouti with Goan plates such as crab kalchi kodi and pork assado. The cocktails lean on local ingredients, including the signature Jamun Sour and a Bombay Spritz made with bael flower. The restaurant is set in a 200-year-old Goan villa that works almost like a museum, so it pays to wander and ask questions. Ask your server to walk you through the house and the stories behind its objects, especially the chandelier made from old garrafões, the traditional feni bottles. The ceiling had to be reinforced to carry their weight.

Address: 190, Mazal Vado, Assagao, Goa 403507, India

42. LUPA, Bengaluru

Chef Manu Chandra's return to Bengaluru in 2023 is LUPA, an 11,000sqft Italian-villa fantasy on MG Road with a salumeria, a gelato lab and a wine cellar 12 feet underground. The kitchen leans on generosity and rigour, from Parma ham with warm tigelle buns to a steak tartare mixed tableside and oxtail ravioli that breaks open into bone marrow broth. A new menu launched in June, but the service is what sets the restaurant apart. Repeat guests are matched with their favourite servers and given personalised recommendations. First-timers should ask for operations manager Tanmoy, bar lead Mo, or seniors Suman, Dhruv and Monsoon, all of whom Chandra encourages to read the room and take ownership of the table.

Address: Ground Floor, NO.86, SPENCER'S TOWERS, Mahatma Gandhi Rd, Haridevpur, Shanthala Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001, India
Website: lupa.co.in

43. Trèsind, Mumbai

Trèsind arrived in BKC in 2018 as the Mumbai outpost of the Dubai-born group behind Trèsind Studio, the first Indian restaurant in the world to hold three Michelin stars. Chef Sarfaraz Ahmed leads the kitchen here, building on techniques developed under group corporate chef Himanshu Saini, and the tasting menu moves through the country's regional flavours with dishes like Khichdi of India, a dish so central to the brand that taking it off the menu would reportedly start a fight among regulars. Guests are welcomed with hot towels and a calming aroma pot before eating much of the meal with their hands. The team pays close attention to regulars, not just their names but where they're from, and will sometimes call out a mix-in for the khichdi tied to a diner's home state. There's a quieter gesture too. Come in wearing black, and your white napkin will quietly be swapped for one that matches.

Address: Ground Floor Inspire BKC E, G Block BKC, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051, India
Website: tresind.com/mumbai

44. Nonna Mei, Shillong

Chef Niyati Rao's Nonna Mei, on the first floor of The Shillong Address, is built on the idea that an Italian nonna and a Khasi mei cook in much the same way, with great produce, inherited technique and plenty of love. Rao spent nearly two years on research, finding local ingredients like the tomatoes she calls "magic soil" produce, building a supply chain of Meghalaya farmers and working with the town's only cheesemaker. The sourdough, which is the base for the bread and pizzas, is fed by Shuruwat, the starter carried over from Ekaa. Behind the menu sits a rotating collection of ferments, pickles and dry-aged meats, from lacto-fermented Khasi tomatoes to house-cured lardo and pickled jyllang, or garlic chives. Ask about what is on hand that month and taste a little of what the kitchen builds its dishes from.

Address: 1st Floor, The Shillong Address, Police Bazar, Shillong, Meghalaya 793001, India

45. Mister Merchant's, Goa

Mister Merchant's is a Pune import that has settled in Mapusa, built around the story of an imagined, well-travelled Parsi merchant whose journeys through Persia and the Levant shaped the menu. The interiors follow the same idea, filled with maps and lamps. Chef Rahul Pereira's food traces the Silk Route with an Indian accent, from saffron chicken cigars and mushroom and truffle baklava to a thecha and curry leaf hummus. Goan touches appear too, including a slow-cooked pork vindaloo and the richly spiced Merchant's Mutton Curry. Zero-waste cocktails infused with walnut and curry leaf round things out. Regulars also know to ask about the slow-cooked bone broth, which the team serves in a warm cup every now and then.

Address: 501, Calizor, Alto De Lourdis, House No, Moide, Mapusa, Goa 403508, India

46. O Pedro, Mumbai

O Pedro in BKC feels like a Goan living room dropped into the middle of Mumbai's business district, with a bar that holds its own. The menu is best treated as a starting point. Ask for Pedro's Favourites, a tasting menu the team builds around your preferences, running from Goa's lesser-known vegetarian dishes to fresh seafood. Then ask what has just come out of the wood-fire oven that day and choose how it is cooked, whether Recheado, Cafreal or Portuguese-style chilli-garlic. The same oven bakes the poees and the pastéis de nata, so save room for both. The restaurant also hosts guest shifts from Goan kitchens like Hosa and Grumps, which keeps the programme changing.

Address: Jet Airways, Laxmi Tower, Godrej BKC, Plot No C-68, G Block BKC, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051, India
Website: opedromumbai.com

47. Seefah, Mumbai

Seefah is a Thai and Japanese restaurant on Bandra's Hill Road, run by chefs and co-owners Seefah Ketchaiyo and Karan Bane, who bring about 30 years of kitchen experience between them. The two menus are entirely separate, so it works like two restaurants under one roof. Try the raw papaya salad and Khao Kluk Ka-Pi, a stir-fried rice with shrimp, pork and raw mango, then come back for the Japanese side, or ask the team what they recommend that day and build a meal across both. The cocktail menu is excellent, with a Som Tam-infused gin drink named after the restaurant. Scan the QR code on it for a small guide to Bangkok and Tokyo.

Address: 2 Floor, Khan House, 201, Hill Rd, above McDonald's, Ranwar, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India

48. The Farm, Chennai

The Farm began as a family farm started in 1974 by Arul Futnani's father, and in 2009, Arul and his business partner Shalini Phillips opened a restaurant and food store on the land in Semmancheri. Almost everything on the menu is grown, raised or made on-site, from the cheeses to the sausages and ketchup, and what isn't comes from local fishermen or small producers nearby. The setting feels more like a picnic than a restaurant, with tables under a roofed area facing the wood-fired oven, or out in the garden among the farm's own animals. Start with the Dalle-Chhurpi-Toast and smoked pork, and order the Masala Fish Fry with Chatti Choru if you want something more comforting. The wood-fired pizzas can be made with two different toppings, one on each half, if you ask. Finish with the Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake.

Address: 1-277, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Semmancheri, Egattur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600119, India
Website: thefarmchennai.com

49. For the Record-Vinyl Bar, Goa

For the Record, known to locals as FTR, feels less like a bar than the home of a friend who collects vinyl, bakes sourdough and builds his own speakers. That friend is Buland Shukla, an architect, audio engineer and musician, and his Panjim bar folds cocktails, food and music into one experience. The drinks are short in number and built on local spirits, including agave with bimli fruit poached in toddy vinegar, and most nights bring a vinyl listening session, a swing evening or a set by his Banjara Quartet. Stay long enough and you may find your way to Off The Record, an extension of the bar tucked between the counter and the backstage, where after-hours guests can make a drink of their own, draw, put on a record or simply hang out with the team.

Address: Jukebox, H no 49, Next to Audiophile Goa, nr. मारूती मंदिर, Fontainhas (quarter), Mala, Panaji, Goa 403001, India

50. Nutcase Etc., Kolkata

Nutcase Etc. is a 35-seat bar that Rituparna and Avinandan Banerjee opened on the ground floor of a 109-year-old building in South Kolkata, and it sits well outside the city's usual nightlife map. The cocktails blur the line between drink and dish. Tangra Town mixes tequila with chicken broth, bell pepper and soy in a nod to chilli chicken, and a drink simply called Beer imitates the real thing in a bar that doesn't serve it. Sit at the bar and ask for seats B18 or B19, which have the best vantage point in the room. You can watch the bartenders at work and see who walks in, and since everyone in Kolkata seems to know everyone, you can also duck if you'd rather avoid small talk.

Address: Ground Floor, 91, Manohar Pukur Rd, Manoharpukur, Kalighat, Kolkata, West Bengal 700029, India
Website: barnutcase.com

This article originally featured on cntraveller.in