Great Local Restaurants In Pune, India

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Offering pan-Asian cuisine, Baan Tao in the Hyatt Hotel is particularly loved for Chinese and Thai food, cooked to perfection by one of the best Thai chefs in town. Particularly recommended are the crunchy papaya salad and the sweet tamarind-cooked fish. The dining areas are also themed into a peaceful tea lounge with a gentle waterfall, Thai pavilions around tranquil oases, and intimate Chinese pavilions for romantic hideaways.Every Thursday the restaurant transforms into an Asian street food festival, where guests can sample delights such as dim sum parcels and shabu shabu Japanese hot pots.

Sizzlers are a breed of restaurant unique to Pune, offering beef, fish and vegetables cooked on hot iron griddles and served with various sauces and spices. Of all the sizzlers in town, the small family-owned Parsi community restaurants are favorites and, among these, Bounty’s is the best-loved. Service is brisk but efficient and décor is best described as functional. The food, however, more than redeems the joint. While their versions of beef sizzlers (cordon bleu and steak) are the specialities, the chicken options come particularly recommended.

One of the most celebrated dining destinations in the city, Malaka Spice is bursting with innovation and creativity. Many of the fresh and unusual menu options are stamped with one of two distinctions: ‘A Chef Cheeru Original’, a unique fusion dish designed by celebrity Chef Cheeru; and ‘Inspired not Imitated’, a traditional dish that has been modernised with Chef Cheeru’s signature twist. The range on offer is equally as exciting, with a ‘street food’ area serving favorites such as vegetable and meat satay. More intricate Asian-fusion dishes from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Burma are served in the expansive dining room and al fresco areas. The complex also houses an art gallery that has represented over 200 artists, and hosts a caricature artist who sketches portraits as guests enjoy their meal.

It’s easy to understand why Sen5es is so popular with the expat community, since it specializes in high quality world cuisine, served up in a comfortable and modern setting. Open kitchens overlook the wide dining room, gleaming wooden floors and glass panels reflect the decorative fires lit as evening descends. Among the favourite dishes are the hearty rustic tomato and basil soup, the deliciously fresh caesar salad (a rarity anywhere in India), lightly battered fish and chips, and the juicy American T-bone steak. The patrons are smartly dressed and the atmosphere elegant and indulgent, with an array of over 100 alcoholic beverages, including top quality wine and cocktails.

Fish Curry Rice does exactly what the name implies, and then some. Relatively new on the scene, it quickly gained a reputation for its variety and quality of perfectly fresh, Maharasha style seafood. Unsurprisingly then, the restaurant is almost always packed out, with guests delighting in such traditional coastal dishes as tisrey (baby clams), bangda (mackerel), and an exhaustive range of masala fish curries and fries. All the passion and heart here has gone straight into the food; the setting and atmosphere is clean and simple but you won’t find the experience lacking by any means, as the regular guests will testify.

Paasha is worth mention for its rooftop views alone, which are nothing short of spectacular. While the balcony dining area provides panoramas of the city, the interior décor has magnificent chandeliers and an abundance of glass and mirrors creating a sparkling reflective ambience. Visitors have been known to spend long evenings here enjoying cocktails against a background of easy-listening live music. And this is all of course, without mentioning the food, which includes some of the best northern Indian kebabs, daals and curries in Pune.

Proud to have realised the first ‘interactive open kitchen’, Harajuku Japanese restaurant in the O Hotel offers guests sushi, sashimi and teppenyaki counters. The food is outstanding, from the sushi rolls to the lunchtime bento boxes, containing an aromatic cooked main accompanied by tempura, Japanese salad, six sushi rolls, and a sweet dessert. The only exclusively Japanese restaurant in Pune, the restaurant is decked out to provide the most elegant and unique experience, with bold red walls, plush upholstery, and chandeliers, all complimenting food that competes with any sushi bar around the world.
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