Restaurant Week India Is Back After a Decade and Your Wallet Will Thank You

Fifty five restaurants, three cities, ten days, and prix-fixe menus starting at just Rs 1,500, bas. Restaurant Week India is back after a decade in the wilderness, and if you have ever wanted to eat at The Bombay Canteen or Adrift Kaya without your bank account catching fire, this is the moment. April 24 to May 3, across Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru.

For the newer crowd who does not know the backstory, Restaurant Week India used to be the country's biggest dining festival. It launched over a decade ago, built a proper cult following among serious foodies and casual weekend diners alike, and then just vanished, no farewell post, no explanation, gone.

Ab wapas aa gaya hai, back with co-founders Aatish Nath and Gauri Vij at the wheel, and Nachiket Shetye, the original architect, mentoring from the side. Dekha jayega if this run hits the same high, but the early signs, honestly, are solid.

The 2026 edition is not playing safe. Over 55 of India's top restaurants have signed up, each building a three-course menu just for this. Lunch is Rs 1,500 plus taxes, dinner Rs 1,800 plus taxes, and for this lineup, ekdum steal hai.

These are the kind of places that usually have you double-checking your UPI balance before you even order starters. Not this time, apparently.

Restaurant Week India 2026: The Full City-Wise Lineup

Mumbai's roster alone is worth a flight. The Bombay Canteen, La Loca Maria, Sobo20, Bar Paradox, and Americano are all in. Bengaluru brings Bar Sama, Comal, Kopitiam Lah, and Tijouri. Delhi NCR has Adrift Kaya, Ikk Punjab, Inja, and Nisaba, Chef Manish Mehrotra's new project already buzzing at Sunder Nursery.

That is over 45 restaurants across three cities, with more names expected before bookings open. Full paisa vasool territory if you play it smart and stagger your reservations across the ten days instead of cramming everything into one weekend. For more scoops like this on where else to eat this season, DesiDodo has that covered too.

India's dining scene has moved a lot since the last Restaurant Week. The country now runs a genuinely world-class restaurant culture, recognized in a National Geographic feature on why India has one of the world's most creative restaurant scenes. Chennai's filter coffee, Kerala's banana leaf sadhyas, Mumbai's street food glow-up, sab kuch is a destination experience now, not a backup plan for when the good places are full.

How to Actually Get a Table Before They Vanish

Here is the part that actually matters. Kotak Solitaire cardholders get early access from April 15, two days ahead of everyone else. General bookings open April 17. Every seat is prepaid and mandatory, so no walk-ins, book ahead or miss out, simple.

Set an alarm, yaar. Not optional.

With 55 plus restaurants splitting lunch and dinner seatings, good slots vanish before your chai gets cold. April also means wedding season winding down and everyone hunting a reason to step out with friends over real food instead of another home-delivery order.

That restaurant you have been saving on Instagram for six months finally has an excuse attached to it. Keep the run going after, bhai, Spiti Valley just opening for the season and Indian regional food becoming the world's next big flavor obsession prove this hunger for new food is not slowing down anytime soon.

Between reservations, Old Delhi's best-kept food secrets are still worth the detour, and Mumbai's secret eating spots nobody posts about deserve a visit too, especially if you are already out and about across the city.

Fixed price, fixed menu, low risk for anyone scared to splurge at fine dining, and last time round a chunk of first-timers turned into regulars. That is the number this industry actually tracks, not the discount headline everyone quotes.

Eating out less often but spending more per outing when we do, so this run has better odds than the original one, decade ago wala, simply because the appetite for it has already been proven once.

Just do not sleep on tier-2 cities, yaar. Pune, Kochi, Chandigarh deserve a seat too, not only the usual three metros hogging the spotlight every single time this kind of festival rolls around.

Wallet-friendly, haan. Cheap, nahi, not even close. Go for the discovery anyway, bhai, so which city are you booking first?