Best restaurants in Lucknow – The city of Nawabs, kebabs, monuments, and a rich history. Lucknow has a rich culture, with a prominent dominance from the Nawabi culture. The kebabs, meat curries, and biryanis, are naturally more popular and dominant in Old Lucknow. But that’s not all. There are plenty of vegetarian options as well. From chai, to chaat, choley bhature and kachoris. And there is a growing fine-dine culture as well. You will find the likes of Farzi Cafe and Mamagoto. And some homegrown brands are making their mark and uplifting the food scene on the other side of the town!
Best Restaurants in Lucknow
Some of the best restaurants in Lucknow are also the ones standing tall for years now. Kebab corners, curries, chaat spots, and even tea stalls.
Awadhi food is cooked much slower, the spice flavours are subtle. The menus are much smaller, they do limited items and ace them! The restaurants also don’t step on each other’s toes. The flavors of Awadh are quite different. The same khasta kachori you have with aloo ki sabzi takes a completely different twist here. The same goes for chaat. The kebabs of course are the highlights. The flavours are subtle, the food is cooked on dum, and the spices have more underlying tones than being on your nose.
Check out some of the best street food places in Haridwar.
sakhawat
One of the best restaurants in Lucknow is this slightly underrated, but a favourite of the locals. Follow the Google location to reach this hole-in-the-wall place. This also happens to be the few places serving Shami kebabs. And boy, have they aced it! Coarsely pound mutton, perfectly balanced spices, chopped onion, ginger, and garlic. The Shami takes you by surprise, and how!
Devour it with the Mughlai parantha, which you will find at many places but only here is it crispy hot and garnished with kalaunji.
Also try the bhuna gosht, another specialty – the caramelized onions make the gravy slightly sweet, but it is still plenty spicy, and just a little chunky.
Tunday kebabi
Lucknow is probably synonymous with Tunday – the restaurant that made Galauti kebab as popular as they are even outside Lucknow. There are many outlets across the city, but visit the original one in Chowk. The menu is simple, all they are going to offer you is kebab and parantha. And the meat paste if you want to take it home by the kilo.
The hype is real, and the mutton kebabs fare slightly lower in front of the real deal!
mubeen’s
Located at Chowk again, you will spot kebabs being cooked on coal and sheermal after sheermal being added on the already high pile. Go here for the Nihari and Stew. The mutton nihari is not something you would have had in Delhi. The curry is slightly chunkier, and there are more sweet undertones (which I happened to really enjoy)
The stew, on the other hand, is a thinner curry, slow-cooked with mellow flavours.
The kulcha is a must-have – the bread is almost like a puff pastry patty, super flaky and buttery and of course, heavy!
The biryani is also worth mentioning – the Awadhi biryani is miles different from the much spicier Hyderabadi one. The flavour lies in the rice, long grain, cooked on dum and the mutton is more like the supporting act.
Raheem’s kulcha nihari
Right next to Mubeen’s is Raheem’s. They also are famous for their Nihari and the flavours of this one wer far more familiar than Mubeen’s. The curry is thick, and spicy and topped with some more chopped green chillies and ginger juliennes. The mutton of this nihari though was the most tender and fell off the bone!
We also tried the chicken pasanda, which was probably the only Chicken kebab worth mentioning. Morsels of chicken, marinated with yogurt and masalas were tender and creamy, and spicy all at once.
idrees biryani
Huge ‘degh’ on chulhas, curries being cooked on an open fire and queues to get their biryani parcelled or grabbing a plate! The biryani is of course all about the rice, they also have a gravy to go with.
Idrees has a cult following and you either love it or don’t. I was in the latter club, but the legendary restaurant is still worth a shot!
durga khasta kachori
Lucknow is not just about kebabs and curries and the insane variety of non-vegetarian food. Breakfasts in the city often include khasta kachori. And this is unlike anything you have ever had. The kachori or as the locals call it, the “khasta” is deep fried to a golden, flaky, crunchy goodness and served with almost a white pea/ matar paste. The slightly liquidy matar comes with chilke wale aloo, masala, mint leaves, sliced raw onions, and freshly pickled green chilies.
prakash kulfi
Kesar badam kulfi falooda at Prakash is another iconic piece. Almond pieces, saffron flavours in a matka kulfi, then sliced and added on with faluda. The flavours are creamy, dense, and very pronounced. The saffron is not just a namesake; you wouldn’t have to fish for almond pieces. The creaminess is what sets it apart from anything you get in Delhi.
naushijaan
Continue the kebab galore – with another iconic place! The kakori for the less informed was created in a place called Kakori and the texture is just the same as Galauti, but in the form of a seekh. The kakori is slightly less greasy as it is finished off in a tandoor and just as delicious.
The other one to try here is kind of a Majlisi kebab.
Served in an earthen plate – the almost pasty kebab has a lot of masala and the meat is almost ground into it. Unlike anything you would have ever tasted. Order a Mughlai parantha to go with it!
royal cafe
Basket chaat at Royal Cafe is not just legendary, it is celebrity-certified iconic. From Shah Rukh Khan to Priyanka Gandhi, you will find pictures of everyone at the cafe. A super crispy fried basket, with an equally crunchy tikki, soft bhalla, papdi, and masala laden chole with chopped boiled potatoes topped with dahi, chutney, bhujia, and pomegranate seeds. It is definitely extravagant, but the explosion of flavours and textures makes it worth a try. Many locals claim that Royal Cafe is not as it used to be in its golden days. But it still whips up in one of the best
sharma chai
Chai, bun maska and samosa. Sweet bun with a thick layer of white butter, dipped in kadak chai makes it perfect for breakfast or even shaam ki chai. The round samosa are also quite iconic at Sharma Chai – and they are extra spicy and masaledaar.
shukla chaat
Shukla Chaat is another legendary restaurant in Lucknow! And Matar ki chaat is another unique preparation, local to the area. Green peas, fried crispy and ground to a coarse mix, topped with lots of onion, ginger, coriander, mint, and tamarind chutney, and broken gol gappas.
dastarkhwan
They have multiple outlets in the city, and the first one is opposite Naushijaan in Kaiserbagh. The boti kebab is what you should go for here – a thick, spicy curry with small pieces of mutton.
Another popular dish is the Lagan Chicken – the celebratory dish made during weddings in Lucknow.
Bonus!
There are many more restaurants in Lucknow. But you can find some insane Baklava at Danbro by Mr Brown. The upper-scale cafe version of the bakery – Mr Brown. And besides Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, this is one of the best baklava you can get your hands on.
Another legend that goes around the city is the Sheermal roll at La Martinere College canteen. And if you can plan your trip on the last Sunday of the month, it is an open house. Or get hold of an alumnus to help you with entry!
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