At #45 on the top 50 list is Dali & Gala. Walk up the stairs at The Museum and you know you’re not in for a regular night out. At Dali & Gala, the world tilts off-kilter the moment you enter: copper walls blink back at you with dozens of hand-beaten eyes, while six enormous heads rotate lazily against a darkened backdrop. In another corner, the Mirror Room reflects you endlessly, your image caught alongside portraits of bartenders, electricians, even the men who built the place. The rooms shift and surprise, with seven in all—part gallery, part fever dream, part cocktail lounge. Theatrics aside, this isn’t style without substance. The bar team, led by Arnold Hou, turns out some of the city’s sharpest cocktails: a chocolate-bitters Gala Negroni, a grapefruit-lifted Bomb Fuckn Sour, a gin-and-strawberry Phone Sex that tips its hat to Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. Drinks arrive in striking glassware, but the balance is always there, the playfulness anchored by precision. Plates lean Burmese, think beef skewers, raw mango rice crackers, tuna sashimi with ponzu, dishes built for sharing as much as for soaking up the booze. It’s bold, a little strange, and undeniably fun—the kind of bar where you come for a drink and end up wandering through a surrealist set-piece, wondering what might be around the next corner.
Comal, Bengaluru
At #47 on the top 50 list is Comal, the kind of cantina you’d stumble upon on a Mexico City side street, only this one sits on Bengaluru’s MG Road. Chef Varun Pereira and co-founder Pratheek Reddy opened it after a month-long eating trip through Mexico, and the menu reflects that immersion: tacos loaded with al pastor pork and pineapple, aguachile tostadas cured in lemon and aji amarillo, birria ramen with lamb neck, and chicharrón pork belly with grilled plantains. Small plates dominate, encouraging diners to mix and match, shrimp laced with smoky Goan chorizo, guacamole made the proper Mexican way with tomatillos and Haas avocados, fried chicken tossed in salsa macha and banana hot sauce. The 41-seater room carries the same casual warmth. Exposed brick, hand-painted tiles, Frida Kahlo references, and a mural splashed across the entrance channel Mexico City’s bohemian energy, while the kitchen counter doubles as a chef’s stage. Drinks are playful but non-alcoholic for now: horchata with charred pineapple compote, hibiscus agua fresca, and soda floats topped with soft-serve custard. Named for the humble flat pan every Mexican home relies on, Comal steps into a space long left empty, despite the kinship between Indian and Mexican cuisines, with their shared love of chillies, masalas, slow braises, and breads off a hot griddle.
How are the top 50 restaurants in India selected?
Condé Nast Traveller curates an extensive shortlist of 1000+ restaurants from across the country. Restaurants may nominate themselves to the list by filling up a form. 100 jury members, comprising India’s foremost tastemakers, undergo two phases of voting to come up with the 50 best restaurants in the country.
Who decides the rankings?
A 100-member jury privately voted for India’s best restaurants through a rigorous, two-phase process, with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP as the process advisors. Jurors are screened for conflicts of interest, and regional diversity is built into the jury to ensure a balanced national view. Jurors include food critics, writers, chefs, fashion designers, artists, curators, and others who know and love their food.
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