With neighbourhood restaurants bringing you piquant cuisines from all over the world, Mumbai is often recognised for offering you the best there is. And well, the World Culinary Awards has noticed that too. Handpicked among millions of others saturating the city, WCA finally announced its winners on the 2nd of October, 2024. And this restaurant in Parel, Mumbai has snagged the most prestigious award of all! The Bombay Canteen has been bestowed with the title of India’s Best Restaurant 2024!
A beloved restaurant that locals swear by, Bombay Canteen often accentuates its playful take on traditional Indian dishes. With gorgeous stained glasses lining the heritage bungalow, the restaurant splits its menu into 3 parts- Chintus (finger food), Chotas (small plates) and Badas (mains dishes). Their Chettinad Prawn Ali Olio complemented with a Ladi Pao to swab the pool of prawn head oil is simply divine.
If you go further along the menu, The Bombay Canteen offers cheeky cocktails, tantalizing main dishes (with plenty of options in both veg and non-veg) and delectable desserts all sprinkled with nostalgia often suited to Old Bombay. You can order a la carte or opt for the chef’s tasting menu.
World Culinary Awards Nominees (Mumbai):
With The Bombay Canteen bringing home the gold medal, we believe our silver medalists deserve a shoutout too. Offering amazing delicacies, we recommend you plan your next romantic dinner here, or add the following restaurants further nominated by the WCA to your list of restaurants in Mumbai to try before you die!
India’s Best Restaurant Nominees:
1. Hammer & Song
Warm wooden interiors and a lively atmosphere dot this elegant resto-bar situated in the heart of Cuffe Parade. Their delicious small plates brimming with cuisines from all over the world offer abundant choices to dig into. Try the Lotus Stem nachos here with its velvety textured sour cream winning hearts or the tender Lamb Galauti Kebabs melting in your mouth. You can further choose from their range of delicious artisanal cocktails. Trust us, you want to try a glass(es) of the Grapefruit Ginfizz.
📍Cuffe Parade, Colaba
2. Masala Library
Serving Indian cuisine in an otherworldly aesthetic charm, Masala Library offers sensational flavours and textures to the age-old fare. Presenting a clean and minimalistic decor, they offer an a la carte menu and a six-course chef’s tasting menu. The restaurant surely knows how to bring out the balance in its dishes. Take the humungous and flavourful marinated king prawns balanced with a creamy textured yoghurt sauce.
Further, endorsed by many, the creamy and delicious butter chicken here is worthy of many praises. Succulent chicken pieces, a rich buttery and spicy gravy, and crispy on the edges yet soft garlic naan! Yes, this is what we usually dream about in the office.
📍Bandra East
3. Plural Restaurant
Pacifying spring hues and mint green wallpapers, you will find Plural’s interiors mirroring its sustainable and ethical ethos. Offering a vegetarian diet influenced by the cuisines of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, Plural brings a twist to Asian flavours. From lemongrass soup, dumplings drizzled in chilli oil, summer rolls wrapped in rice papers to roasted cauliflowers, they sure know how to bring a healthy spin to dishes so that no guilt laces if you overindulge on those scrumptious rolls.
Being a Vietnamese joint, try its Vietnamese cold coffee or if you are looking for a kick, The Shroomsters! An amalgamation of Woodburn whiskey, mushroom dust and truffle oil among others, it is worth a delicious try.
📍Kala Ghoda
4. The Table
Here, the truffle fries and mini burgers with succulent lamb patties crowned with crunchy onion rings are enough to make you fall in love. Black and white interiors extend a simple casual look yet it does not quite justify the plethora of flavours and techniques that this restaurant offers. Sourcing ingredients from its own farm in Alibag, The Table prompts dishes like zucchini spaghetti, Norwegian Salmon, and pan-roasted prawns among others that will leave you wanting more. This San Fransico restaurant is also famous for its brunch, offering its famous and quite generous dessert options.
📍Colaba
India’s Best Hotel Restaurant Nominees:
6. Golden Dragon @ Taj Mahal Palace
Overlooking the coastline, the ivory and gold hues in this restaurant sets the tone for a dining experience to be remembered. With a live kitchen helping the onlookers catch a view of the culinary theatrics, the restaurant brings forth dishes speckled with subtle flavours. The best part however is the Sunday dim sum brunch. Yes, you heard that right! Serving an extensive selection of soft dim sums brimming with flavours, we promise your cravings will be well taken care of.
7. Ziya @ Oberoi
With gorgeous views of the Arabian Sea, Ziya at The Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai crafts delicious delicacies that take us on a tour of the Indian subcontinent. From charcoal prawns to chicken Kolhapuri, the dishes are not only packed with flavour but are gorgeously presented as well (it is true, eyes do eat first!). Further, if you are a wine lover, you are in for a treat. With 107 bottles of wine dotting the menu, they span from 2000 INR to a whopping 2,00,000 INR!