India’s back on The 50 Best Restaurants list with Masque and Naar

Twenty-two years is a long wait for a table. The last India-based restaurant on the The 50 Best Restaurants list was Bukhara at ITC Maurya, back in 2004. At the ceremony in Lima on November 4, 2026, that gap closed: Mumbai’s Masque came in at No 26 and Prateek Sadhu’s Naar, in the Kasauli foothills, at No 49.

For anyone new to it, The 50 Best Restaurants is an annual global ranking, and it’s decided by a panel of more than 1,000 food writers, critics, chefs and other culinary experts across 27 regions. Voting is confidential, and voters must have dined at a restaurant within the previous 18 months to vote for it. The extended 51-100 list is released a couple of weeks before the top 50 is announced.

Indian cooking did well abroad too. Gaggan in Bangkok came in at No 2 and was named Best Restaurant in Asia, and Dubai’s Trèsind Studio placed 28th. Spain’s Asador Etxebarri took the top spot. Masque and Naar, by the way, had made it to Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants earlier this year.

Recommended: Want to sample Gaggan Anand’s cooking at home? Check out his latest, Raga, right here in Delhi’s Janpath

Masque, No. 26

Masque sits in a former textile mill in Mahalaxmi. Aditi Dugar opened it in 2016 as a ten-course, tasting-menu-only restaurant, at a time when that format barely existed in India. Chef Varun Totlani now leads the kitchen, which keeps perfecting the textures of modern Indian food. It was No 68 on last year’s extended list, so this is a jump of 42 places. It was also named Best Restaurant in India for the fifth time earlier this year, and it picked up the Art of Hospitality Award at Asia’s 50 Best, a first for an Indian brand.

There’s no single regional cuisine on the menu. The kitchen sources ingredients from across the country, from the forests of Kashmir to the coast of Tamil Nadu, and the menu changes with the season. There are vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions, and dishes on past menus have included prickly pear with nagphani and coconut malai. Another is Kashmiri morels with patra, stuffed with fresh peas or barbecued pork, a Masque signature. Others have included idiyappam and coconut stew with duck floss, and smoked spiced pork ribs.

Book: Call or WhatsApp +91 98190 69222 (noon–8pm), or email [email protected]

Timings: Dinner at 7pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Lunch is 12.30–2.30pm on Sundays only

Address: Unit G3, Laxmi Woollen Mills, Shakti Mills Lane, off Dr E Moses Road, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai 400011. Valet parking is available

Time Out tip: Right next to Masque is Paradoxa bar by the same team, one that has a well-oiled spot on Time Out’s guide to the best cocktail bars in Mumbai.

TO, No 49

NAAR has a wild story. It’s in a  small hill town between Chandigarh and Shimla, and this is its debut on the global top 50, a year after it sat at No 66 on the Asia list.

The food is Himalayan, cooked over fire (the name means fire in Kashmiri) and drawing on Himachal, Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand. The menu follows the Himalayan region’s six seasons. Snacks might include askalu, Himachal’s little batter puffs, filled with smoked yak cheese or duck. Other dishes have been chicken livers on pine skewers, inspired by Kashmir’s street kebab, and sunderkala, a hand-pulled noodle from Uttarakhand, in a burnt-vegetable and lamb broth. The cheese course pairs Himalayan cheeses with Himachal apples and pine honey. There’s also a vegetarian tasting menu.

Book: Use the website, which routes you to a WhatsApp bot, or call +91 88004 22053, or email [email protected]

Timings: Timings are confirmed with the restaurant within 48 hours of your enquiry

Address: Amaya Resort, VPO Darwa, Sub Tehsil Kishangarh, Kasauli, District Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173206. It’s about a 90-minute drive from Chandigarh Airport.

The complete list of the 50 Best Restaurants 2026

1. Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
2. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand
3. Alchemist, Copenhagen, Denmark
4. Quintonil, Mexico City, Mexico
5. Wing, Hong Kong
6. The Chairman, Hong Kong
7. Kjolle, Lima, Peru
8. Kadeau, Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Diverxo, Madrid, Spain
10. Plenitude, Paris, France
11. Atomix, New York, USA
12. Sorn, Bangkok, Thailand
13. Merit, Lima, Peru
14. Sühring, Bangkok, Thailand
15. Odette, Singapore
16. Tuju, São Paulo, Brazil
17. Mingles, Seoul, South Korea
18. Nusara, Bangkok, Thailand
19. Jan, Munich, Germany
20. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy
21. Meet the Bund, Shanghai, China
22. Boragó, Santiago, Chile
23. The view, Skillinge, Sweden
24. Al Gatto Verde, Modena, Italy
25. Relax, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
26. Masque, Mumbai, India
27. Reale, Castel di Sangro, Italy
28. Tresind Studio, Dubai, UAE
29. Enigma, Barcelona, Spain
30. Steirereck, Vienna, Austria
31. Celele, Cartagena, Colombia
32. Cut, Bangkok, Thailand
33. Elkano, Getaria, Spain
34. Le Coquillage, Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes, France
35. La Colombe, Cape Town, South Africa
36. Ru Yuan, Hangzhou, China
37. Nuema, Quito, Ecuador
38. Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler, Brunico, Italy
39. Schaustein Castle, Fürstenau, Switzerland
40. Jordnær, Copenhagen, Denmark
41. Onjium, Seoul, South Korea
42. Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
43. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy
44. Don Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina
45. Mayta, Lima, Peru
46. El Chato, Bogotá, Colombia
47. The Louis XV – Alain Ducasse, Monte Carlo, Monaco
48. Ikoyi, London, UK
49. TO, Kasauli, India
50. Saint Peter, Sydney, Australia