The Food Lover’s Circuit: India’s Most Delicious Cities, One Flight Away

In India, weekend travel often starts with a craving. A particular biryani, a childhood sweet, a thali that lives on in family stories. The country’s great food cities have become destinations in their own right, linked not by highways or railway lines in the imagination, but by the memory of what was on the plate.

This circuit is for travellers who build itineraries around meals rather than monuments. It moves from the slow charm of Kolkata to the midnight markets of Indore, taking in temple kitchens, royal recipes and neighbourhood stalls that have been feeding locals for generations. It is not a complete list of India’s culinary capitals, but it is a very persuasive place to start.

Kolkata: Sweetness, Memory and Time

Kolkata wakes at its own pace. In the early morning, long before the sun has fully cleared the Hooghly, tram bells sound on College Street and tea stalls begin to line their clay cups on metal trays. A sweet, smoky smell drifts from the old mishti shops that have seen empires come and go and carried on boiling milk.

The city’s relationship with dessert runs deep. At century-old institutions in north Kolkata, mithai makers still shape sandesh by hand, pressing patterns into each piece with simple wooden tools. In winter, palm jaggery gives the sweets a warm, caramel note that locals will cross town for. These are places where you hear whispered debates about which shop uses better milk, or who has the lighter rosogolla, as if the sweets were football teams.

Lunch is often biryani. Kolkata’s version is fragrant rather than fiery, gently spiced and topped with the famous potato that arrived with the exiled Nawab of Awadh and never left. A plate at a busy restaurant off Park Circus is a complete afternoon plan: rice, meat, potato, salad and the quiet satisfaction of having found the city at its most characteristic.

As evening comes on, Park Street and its surrounding lanes fill with office workers and families stepping out for a roll. At long-running stalls, parathas are rolled and flipped on hot iron plates, eggs cracked in a practised rhythm, onions and chillies added without a glance. The Kathi roll was born here and it still tastes best eaten standing up, leaning against a shopfront with the paper wrapper catching the drip of sauce.

• When to go: October to February for cool evenings, long walks and the best palm-jaggery sweets.
• How to get there: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) is around 35 to 50 minutes by taxi from central areas like Park Street.
• Value tip: Sunday evening returns can be significantly cheaper than Saturday nights on popular domestic routes.

Hyderabad: Late Nights and Layered Spice

Hyderabad feels built for evenings. Around Charminar, the light lingers for a moment on the minarets before giving way to neon and the glow of food stalls. Families stroll between shops, bangles catch the last of the day, and behind it all the steady rhythm of chopping and stirring continues without fuss.

The day often begins in an Irani café, a legacy of migrants from Persia who brought strong tea and a habit of conversation to the city. Inside, marble-topped tables and bentwood chairs sit under high ceilings and slowly ticking fans. Tea arrives in small glasses, with biscuits that manage to be both crumbly and sturdy enough to dunk. The mix of languages, from Telugu and Urdu to English and Hindi, is as much a part of the experience as the chai.

Later, the side streets near Chowmahalla Palace fill with the smell of meat cooking on hot stone. Dishes like pathar ka gosht are seared on slabs heated over charcoal, giving them a depth that lingers long after the plate is cleared. Further north, in the more modern neighbourhoods, restaurants serve biryani that is as carefully assembled as any piece of architecture: rice, meat, herbs and fried onions layered and sealed until steam does the rest.

At night, the Old City comes into its own. During Ramzan, queues for haleem run around corners, and stalls work through the evening serving slow-cooked wheat and meat to people breaking their fast. Even outside festival periods, dinner at ten or eleven is perfectly normal. It is a city that does not hurry you away from the table.

• When to go: November to February for more comfortable evenings in the Old City.
• How to get there: Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) is roughly 40 to 55 minutes from Charminar by taxi, depending on traffic.
• Value tip: Early morning arrivals are often priced more competitively than late-evening flights on major domestic routes.

Lucknow: Patience in the Kitchen

There are cities where food is fuel and cities where food is conversation. Lucknow belongs firmly in the second group. Its kitchens are known for calm, measured cooking, the kind that relies on time and steady heat rather than flashes of drama.

In the lanes of Chowk, the day starts quietly. Cooks seal heavy pots with dough and leave them to sit on gentle fires, allowing meat and rice to soften together. The technique is old and unshowy, but the results are anything but. When the seal is finally cracked, the lid lifts on a cloud of scented steam and the room falls briefly silent.

Galouti kebabs are the city’s most famous export. At long-running establishments in the old quarter, the meat is minced to an almost smooth paste, seasoned with a closely guarded mix of spices and cooked on a flat griddle. The texture is so tender the kebab hardly needs chewing. A few pieces, wrapped in thin bread and eaten standing at a counter, are enough to understand why generations of travellers have detoured here.

Away from the food, Lucknow still carries hints of its Nawabi past in its architecture and leisurely pace. An afternoon walk from Rumi Darwaza to the gardens and mosques nearby not only builds an appetite but shows the city at its most graceful.

• When to go: November to March for cool, dry days and long evening walks.
• How to get there: Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport (LKO) is about 14 kilometres from Chowk by road.
• Value tip: Weekday flights often price lower than Friday or Sunday departures on many northern routes.

Amritsar: Temple Kitchens and Tandoor Heat

Amritsar is a city that builds appetite into the rhythm of the day. At the Golden Temple, one of the world’s largest community kitchens operates almost without pause. Volunteers chop vegetables, stir vast pots of dal and roll endless rounds of dough that become simple, hot rotis. Visitors sit together in long halls and share the same food, no reservations and no bill.

Outside the temple, the city turns up the volume. Around Hall Bazaar and the streets leading toward Lawrence Road, tandoors fire up for the day. Kulcha is the local speciality: crisp on the outside, soft inside, and filled with potatoes or paneer before being baked against the clay oven wall. Served with chole and a generous spoonful of butter, it makes for a very persuasive early lunch.

Later, as the light fades, the pavements fill with people heading for a second round of food. Lassi shops sell tall glasses of yoghurt so thick it is almost a dessert. Dhabas work through the evening, sending out smoky platters and breads brushed with ghee. There is a sense, wherever you eat, that portions are not something to be stingy about.

Visiting the Golden Temple with children or older relatives is entirely possible, but early mornings are quieter and more manageable. The slower pace allows time to appreciate the kitchens as much as the architecture.

• When to go: October, November and February for clear mornings and gentler temperatures.
• How to get there: Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport (ATQ) is around 20 to 25 minutes from the Golden Temple area by taxi.
• Value tip: Returning on a Monday morning can sometimes undercut Sunday fares on popular domestic routes.

Chennai: Tiffin and the Sound of the Sea

In Chennai, breakfast feels like the main event. Before the heat builds, the streets around Mylapore are already busy with people heading for their preferred tiffin spot. Inside small dining rooms, metal trays clink, idlis arrive stacked and steaming, and dosai are folded in quick, precise movements.

A classic plate might include two or three idlis, a small mound of pongal, coconut and tomato chutneys and a ladle of sambar. The appeal is not only in the flavours but in the rhythm: food appears quickly, is eaten without ceremony and is refreshed the moment the plate looks empty. It is everyday cooking at a very high level.

Later in the day, the city’s attention turns to the sea. In neighbourhoods like Triplicane, fish markets and small restaurants serve dishes built around the morning’s catch. Frying pans crackle with nethili and mackerel, while gravies rich with coconut and tamarind draw a steady crowd at lunchtime.

As the sun drops, families drift toward Besant Nagar beach. Children chase waves, couples walk the promenade and small carts appear selling roasted nuts, crispy snacks and cups of hot, sweet tea. It is an easy place to end a day that has revolved around food from the first coffee onwards.

• When to go: December to February for less humid days and more comfortable evenings by the sea.
• How to get there: Chennai International Airport (MAA) to Mylapore is usually 35 to 45 minutes by taxi, depending on traffic.
• Value tip: Early March can offer better prices than the peak winter season while keeping tolerable weather.

Kochi: Sea Air and Old Spice Warehouses

Kochi is a port city that still feels shaped by the sea. Along the waterfront at Fort Kochi, the silhouettes of Chinese fishing nets stretch out into the backwaters. In the early hours, small boats bring in fish that will appear on menus only a few hours later.

The fish sellers near the shore lay out prawns, pearlspot and larger reef fish on beds of ice, calling out prices as visitors and locals drift past. Many restaurants nearby will cook whatever you buy, simply prepared with chilli, lime and a little coconut oil. It is a straightforward arrangement that results in some of the freshest meals you can have on the circuit.

A short walk inland leads to Mattancherry, where long, low warehouses still store sacks of pepper, cloves and cardamom. Air flows through open windows, carrying a mix of spice and salt. Syrian Christian kitchens have influenced the local cooking here for generations, so expect to find beef fry, appam with stew and fish curries sharpened with kokum and tempered with coconut.

Kochi’s pace encourages lingering. Ferries criss-cross the water all day, and a simple return trip at sunset can feel like an outing in itself. The lights of the city slide past, conversations in Malayalam and English blur at the edge of hearing, and the breeze takes the edge off the heat.

• When to go: Late November to March for drier weather and calmer sea conditions.
• How to get there: Cochin International Airport (COK) is around 37 kilometres from Fort Kochi, usually about 75 minutes by taxi.
• Value tip: Morning arrivals allow you to avoid heavier evening traffic and some airport surcharge zones.

Ahmedabad: The Theatre of the Thali

Ahmedabad has a talent for abundance. In the city’s well-known thali restaurants, meals do not simply arrive; they appear in waves. The first plates set down suggest a normal lunch. Ten minutes later, you realise you are in the middle of a carefully choreographed performance.

Servers move quickly but never seem rushed, replenishing small bowls of vegetables, dals, farsan and dessert the moment they look low. The variety is wide and almost entirely vegetarian, yet nothing feels repetitive. One meal might include tangy kadhi, sweet-spiced shaak, fluffy dhokla and warm thepla, all balanced so that you leave full but not weighed down.

As evening falls, Manek Chowk in the old city changes character. By day it is a jewellery market; by night it becomes an open-air dining room. Stalls selling pav bhaji, hand-churned ice cream and toasted sandwiches spring up side by side, their lights reflecting off closed shop shutters. Families share tables with students and office workers, and the atmosphere is busy but good-natured.

• When to go: November to February for cooler nights and more comfortable visits to the old city.
• How to get there: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (AMD) is around 9 kilometres from central Ahmedabad.
• Value tip: Afternoon flights can be better value than early-morning departures favoured by business travellers.

Indore: The Night Market That Never Seems to Tire

Indore has built a reputation as one of India’s great snacking cities. People take food here seriously, but never solemnly. The day starts with poha and jalebi, an apparently unlikely combination that makes perfect sense when you taste it: light, savoury rice offset by crisp, hot spirals of sugar.

Rajwada and the surrounding streets are busy from early morning, with breakfast stalls, small shops and cycle rickshaws all competing gently for space. Eat quickly and you can still catch the quieter hours before the heat builds. Indore works at a good clip, but it never feels unfriendly.

After dark, the focus shifts to Sarafa Bazaar. Until late evening it is a jewellery district; then the shutters come down and the food carts roll in. Over the next hour or so, the smell of frying, roasting and caramelising fills the air. Plates of chaat, spiced potatoes, dahi vada and other snacks move almost continuously from stall to customer.

Prices stay modest, portions are built for sharing and the atmosphere is closer to a street festival than a simple market. It is easy to lose track of time as you move from one stall to the next, trying small plates and watching the cooks work.

• When to go: October to February for cooler evenings and longer, more comfortable walks through the market.
• How to get there: Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport (IDR) is roughly 30 minutes by taxi from the Sarafa area.
• Value tip: Booking flights 10 to 14 days in advance often strikes a good balance between flexibility and price on many domestic routes.