Travel Category

New Delhi is fast turning into a gourmet travelers paradise, with excellent restaurants and eateries. Of course Delhi is home to well known Indian Restaurants like the Bukhara and the Warq, but, in addition, Delhi offers a multitude of fine dining and casual restaurants with other global cuisines as well. For special occasions, there is the Orient Express fine dining French Restaurant, and for casual Bistro style Italian cuisine, there is the Diva Café. The list below has our selection of the Best Dining experiences that the city has to offer.

Indian Cuisine

1. Bukhara: Located at the ITC Maurya Hotel, is perhaps Delhi's (or rather India's) best known Indian restaurant. World-famous for its North-West Frontier cuisine, Bukhara brings alive the rustic flavours of North-West Frontier cuisine traditionally prepared in a clay oven (tandoor). The ambiance is decidedly rugged and you can even watch your meal being prepared through the open display kitchen, visual treat not to be missed. Rated amongst the top 50 restaurants in the world and the finest restaurant in Asia by "Restaurants" magazine. Expensive, but not to be missed.

2. Masala Art: Located at the Taj Palace Hotel, is a modern, contemporary Indian restaurant. For all those who think that light, healthy Indian food is an oxymoron, Masala Art is the answer. A show kitchen, contemporary décor, and a superb menu is the recipe that makes Masala Art a one-of-a-kind dining experience.

North India Restaurant

3. Punjabi by Nature: Located in the Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj, this is an excellent choice for authentic North Indian cuisine. Good value for money.

4. Veda: Located in Connaught Place, right in the heart of town, is a recent addition to Delhi's list of fine dining Indian restaurants. Designed by the famous fashion designer, Rohit Bal, this stylish bar and restaurant, serves excellent north Indian food, and has interesting tasting menu options.

5. Varq: Located at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Varq is the capital’s newest restaurant offering a modern Indian gourmet dining experience with the authenticity of taste and artistic presentation created by celebrity Chef Hemant Oberoi. Varq retains the Indian traditional way of cooking while using exotic ingredients like sea bass, diver’s scallops, goose liver, halibut, sand crab and Karachi prawns.

6. The Great Kabab Factory: With 2 convenient locations, one of which is at the Radisson Marina hotel in Connaught Circus, and the second at the DLF Mall, Saket, the Great Kabab Factory offers a unique and fun-filled dining experience. They have a fixed menu dinner, comprising of over half a dozen kebabs, followed by Biryani's, lentils, etc, culminating with at least four different Indian desserts, all served to you at your table.

7. Swagat: Located in the Defence Colony Market in South Delhi, Swagat is an informal family dining Restaurant. Swagat serves authentic Mangalorean seafood specialties and Chettinad cuisine, both cuisine styles from Southern India, known for their rather spicy dishes. Good value for money.

8. Dhaba: Located at the Claridges hotel in New Delhi, the name Dhaba stands for a roadside eatery popular amongst truckers travelling on highway routes. The restaurant has an authentic Indian Dhaba design and good Indian food.

Other cuisines

1. Diva (Italian): Located in the M Block, Greater Kailash (II) market in South Delhi, Diva is a fine dining Italian restaurant managed lovingly by owner cum chef Ritu Dalmia. Diva boasts of authentic Italian food and has a great wine list as well.

2. Orient Express (French): Located at the Taj Palace Hotel, the Orient Express is a posh replica of a Pullman Orient Express train carriage, and is regarded as the city's most stylish and expensive European restaurant, and has won the best European restaurant award for five years in succession. The four-course journey is inspired by the countries through which the Orient Express passes on its Paris-to-Istanbul run, and is likely to include items such as Camembert soufflé with paprika sauce, pan-seared reef cod with raw papaya salad, and the extremely popular oven-roasted New Zealand rack of lamb, encrusted with herbs and almonds and served with lamb jus. Well worth a visit.

3. Spice Route (Pan Asian): Located at the stylish Imperial Hotel in New Delhi, the Spice Route was voted one of the top 10 restaurants in the world by Condé Nast Traveler, and it certainly lives up to its promise with a vast menu that makes the mouth water at the variety of flavors and ingredients. The decor alone is worth a visit -- every nook and cranny is hand-painted by temple artists flown in from Kerala, and antique beams, pillars, and ceilings are all imbued with meaning. As indicated by the name, the menu takes you on a complex culinary journey, from the Malabar Coast to Sri Lanka, Malaysia to Indonesia, Thailand to Vietnam. Service is superb -- smart, discreet, and helpful.

4. House of Ming (Chinese): Located at the Taj Mahal hotel, is arguably the premier Chinese restaurant in Delhi. The House of Ming serves both, Schezuan and Cantonese style Chinese cuisine and enjoys the patronage of the hauté and happening in the city.

5. Flavours (Italian): Located in Defence Colony, just off the Ring Road in South Delhi, known for its genuine home-style Italian cooking. Very good value for money.

6. Setz: The latest addition to Delhi's list of chic, modern eateries, Setz is located in the DLF Emporio designer mall in Vasant Kunj, South Delhi. A huge restaurant with no less than 320 covers and seven different kitchens, Zest offers Indian, Arab, Italian, Thai, Chinese and Japanese cuisine.

7. Lodi-The Garden Restaurant: Set in the beautiful Lodhi Gardens in Central Delhi, the Lodi Restaurant, offers Mediterranean and European cuisine. A great place for alfresco dining,  both for Lunch or Dinner.

8. Olive at the Qutab (Italian): A fine dining Italian restaurant, very close to the Qutab Minar in South Delhi, Olive offers excellent Italian food in an Alfresco setting.

The author, Kapil Goswamy is the CEO of Trans India Holidays, New Delhi.

Over the last several years, I’ve been asked by several friends as well as clients for recommendations on restaurants in Goa, so I finally decided to put together my own little list of places that I can recommend, both in North as well as in South Goa. While South Goa has the better beaches, the North certainly seems to have the better restaurants most of Goa’s iconic bars and restaurants are located in North Goa, in the stretch from Baga / Calangute to Vagator beach. Many of them have now become so popular, that reservations need to be made well in advance.

North Goa

1. Thalassa: Stylish Greek and Mediterranean Restaurant on Vagator beach in North Goa, about a 20-minute drive north of the Taj Holiday Village. Get there just before sunset for the best views of the sun setting into the Arabian Sea.

2. Brittos: Multi-cuisine shack on Baga beach in North Goa. Great food, great desserts, moderate prices, live music & more.

3. La Plage: The La Plage is undoubtedly the most stylish beach shack serving the finest French cuisine in Goa. Located on Ashwem beach in North Goa, about a 40-minute drive north of the busy Baga and Calangute beaches, the La Plage serves great food in an excellent ambiance overlooking the beach.

4. Tito’s: One of the most well-known landmarks of North Goa, Tito’s is located right in the tourist belt of Baga and Calangute, and offers not one, but several eating options and bars. Tito’s also houses Goa’s best-known nightclub, as well as a sports bar.

5. Fiesta: Very well known Italian restaurant, again in the tourist belt of Baga and Calangute, offering excellent wood-fired Pizzas and other Italian food, in an excellent beachside ambience.

6. J & A’s Little Italy: Set in the lush tropical gardens of a charming colonial cottage close to the Baga river, J & A’s offers excellent alfresco fine dining Italian cuisine in an excellent setting. Lovingly managed by the husband-wife duo of Jamshed and Ayesha, this is a place for a quiet romantic evening in Goa.

South Goa

1. Fisherman’s Wharf: Set on the banks of the Sal river, very close to Cavelossim beach and across the road from the Leela hotel and the Holiday Inn in Goa, is the Fisherman’s Wharf. Excellent Goan cuisine, with live entertainment, and a bar that rakes up great cocktails.

2. Martins Corner: Located in the Majorda beach area, a short walk from the Alila Diwa hotel, and a less than 10 minute drive from the Park Hyatt as well as the Taj Exotica, Martins is a family-style Goan seafood Restaurant, that has been around for almost 30 years , and is a favourite with tourists and locals alike. Martin’s has a live band playing almost every evening.

3. Zeebop by the Sea: In a beautiful setting on Utorda beach, accessible with in a 10 – 15-minute drive from the Alila Diwa, Park Hyatt as well as the Taj Exotica, Zeebop by the Sea is one of South Goa’s most popular beach shacks. Excellent seafood, with crabs and lobsters being their specialty. Moderate prices, excellent food, and service.

4. Sun and Moon, Benaulim: A very nice beach shack on the sands of Benaulim beach, a 2-minute walk from the Taj Exotica, and within a 15 – 20-minute drive from the Leela and the Alila Diwa, Sun and Moon is a great place for sundowners, and also for casual seaside dining. Again, excellent seafood and very reasonable prices for both food, and drinks.

5. Da Tita’s: Truly Italian: A very basic, but, nice Italian Restaurant, located about a 5-minute drive inland from Majorda beach, Da Tita’s is run by Giovanni Battista, an Italian who made Goa his home a few years ago. Undoubtedly South Goa’s best wood-fired Pizza’s and excellent desserts too. Excellent value for money.

The author, Kapil Goswamy is the CEO of Trans India Holidays, New Delhi.

Thanks to almost all major travel and lifestyle channels doing a lot of food and cooking based shows, and Indian cuisine getting its rightful place as among the world's favorite cuisines, Culinary Tourism to India is on the increase. At Trans India Holidays we've been planning, organizing, booking and handling culinary holidays for gourmets from across the world. from booking tables at renowned restaurants like the Bukhara in New Delhi to Indigo in Mumbai, we've actually come a long way as far as culinary tourism is concerned.

We've now been involved with booking cooking classes and cooking demonstrations almost across the country... .Cooking classes with Jyoti of Gourmet Desire in Delhi, which is focused on North Indian cuisine, cooking classes with Shashi in Udaipur, focused on Rajasthani food, with Nimmy and Paul in Cochin, focused on South Indian Coastal cuisine. Some of these only involve the actual cooking, others even involve visits to the local market to pick up the produce and the ingredients. Cooking classes and demos are also available in several other cities.