A 16-seat restaurant on a Himalayan cliffside has been named India's best. NAAR in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, tops the seventh Condé Nast Traveler x District Top Restaurant Awards, unveiled at a ceremony at the Grand Hyatt in Bambolim, Goa. Chef Prateek Sadhu, who left Kashmir as a child in 1990, cooks over a juniper-smoked hearth in wood-and-slate huts, with six menus that follow the Himalayas' six seasons. Getting there means a two-and-a-half hour drive from Chandigarh, but the list makes clear that off-the-beaten-path dining is now central to India's food story.
The 2026 rankings were compiled from a shortlist of more than 1,000 restaurants, whittled down by a 105-member jury of critics, chefs, writers and other food-obsessed tastemakers across two voting phases, with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India as process advisors.
The big geographical headline: Goa has drawn level with Mumbai for the first time, each city claiming 13 of the 50 spots. Goa's maturing scene now spans Izumi Assagao, a Japanese restaurant inside a boutique guesthouse where the nigiri uses rice from Himachal, and Bomras in Anjuna, where Myanmar-born chef Bawmra Jap has spent 16 years serving tea leaf salad and a Sunday khowsuey ritual.
Bengaluru has six entries, led by FarmLore at number four, an 18-seat dining room set in 37 acres of mango and coconut groves where mango wood from the property fuels the kitchen's stoves. Chennai and Kolkata each hold four, with Kolkata's Sienna Calcutta, which grew out of a Shantiniketan pottery store, at number five. New Delhi takes three, including Indian Accent at The Lodhi, still famed for its blue cheese naan, while Shillong now has two entries and single spots go to Kasauli, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Gurugram and Karaikudi.
The rest of the top ten rewards insider knowledge. Papa's in Bandra, Mumbai, seats just 12 and releases bookings monthly, serving a playful 12-course menu that has included a Kashmiri Wellington and, yes, ants. The Table in Colaba offers an unprinted early-evening tasting of six small plates for Rs.4,200 per person if you arrive between 6:30 and 7 p.m. Avartana in Chennai turns South Indian cuisine into seven- to thirteen-course tasting menus, and The Bombay Canteen hands out a map of the city's old-guard eateries if you ask nicely.
For travellers, this list doubles as an itinerary. It now stretches well beyond the big metros, pulling diners to hill stations, coastal villages and regional capitals, and pairing restaurants worth planning a trip around with guesthouses and neighbourhoods worth a slow stay. Book early — the smallest rooms sell out fastest.
