Ordering meals in a restaurant anywhere in India is an art you can easily learn in a couple of days. Vegan restaurants always have – Vegetarian or Pure Vegetarian - mentioned under the name, so they’re easy to spot.
Most serve the famous Indian thali, and the menu can vary depending on your location. A north Indian thali is a little different from a south Indian thali, though many good south Indian restaurants will offer you a north Indian thali, and vice versa. If you order lunch, it automatically translates into a thali.
A typical south Indian thali (platter) consists of at least two vegetables, a curry or two, a pepper and tamarind curry (a good digestive), buttermilk, curds, pickles, a papadam and a sweet neatly arranged on your thali. Served with the thali are also chapattis/ pooris or roti (Indian breads), followed by a bowl of rice.
You can opt for more chapattis, pooris or rotis instead of rice. Extra rice, rotis, poories, papadam and chapattis are charged a little extra. Nothing else is charged more. The cost of the thali can vary depending on the restaurant but is very reasonable.
A north Indian thali may contain some other variety like pulao, kulcha instead of chapatti, chola batura (popular in the north) etc. It costs a little more than a south Indian thali.
At other restaurants, vegan meals can range from a thali to other Indian and Indo Chinese cuisine. Also available is veg pulao (pilaf).
Other recommended popular vegan dishes include:
Veg makkhanwala – vegetables and cottage cheese cooked with butter in a rich sauce
Aloo gobi masala - cauliflower and potato in spicy sauce
Channa masala - chickpeas cooked with spices
Gobi Manchurian – a popular Indo Chinese cauliflower dish
Hara Pulao - rice with vegetables flavored with spices and coriander leaves
Mutter paneer - green peas with cottage cheese and spices
Navratan korma - nine vegetable cooked in a rich gravy with cheese
Paneer korma - cottage cheese cooked in curds
Paneer palak – a popular dish made from spinach and cottage cheese
Vegetable Biryani - rice cooked with spices and many vegetables
Dal and masala dal (lentil soup) - is a specialty at restaurants in north India, especially Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana and goes well with rotis
Recommended non vegan cuisine would include:
Butter chicken - very popular and best with naan and rotis
Chili chicken – boneless chicken pieces subtly flavored with pepper, spices and herbs
Ginger garlic chicken – a little pungent but tastes good
Chicken tikka masala – chicken marinated in spices, herbs and yoghurt
Kadhai chicken – chicken gravy cooked in the traditional kadhai
Murg mussulam – another kind of onion and tomato based chicken gravy
Palak chicken - chicken and spinach gravy
Rogan josh – Kashmir delicacy of select lamb chops richly cooked with cashews, almonds and yoghurt. Best tasted at exclusive restaurants
Muton/ chicken biryani - lamb cooked with long grain basmati rice and exotic spices
Mutton curry – lamb cooked Indian style
The above list is intended to help you order your meal in a restaurant. However, this list is very small and many good restaurants will present you a menu that could run into several pages. Exclusive places and restaurants at five star hotels are a gourmet’s delight.
All of the above dishes go best with naan, rotis, kulchas (Indian breads) or even parathas, except meat based rice dishes like pulao and biryani, where you don’t need them.
While ordering rotis,naan, kulchas etc always order one first. If left on your plate for some time, they tend to become hard (especially rotis) and crumble. Order the second one when you’re nearly through with the first. Restaurants serve them hot, and that’s the way they should be eaten.
The quantity served in restaurants may, many a time, suffice for two. Ask for half plate (its also half price). If you’re still hungry, you can order something again. If you’re two, order a full meal and share it. In any case, always order one meal first, and check the quantity
Many restaurants serve Paav Bhaji (mashed vegetables in a tasty gravy, with a dollop of butter on the top) served with small Indian buns (paav) that can easily replace an afternoon meal. Paav bhaji, which is very popular in India, started off much like the American burger, as a poor man’s meal in roadside eateries, but is now served in most places across India and also at Indian restaurants in the west.
Just thought of linking a menu from an online food order website so you get a good idea of items on a typical Indian restaurant menu with prices. Remember these are prices for good mid-range places.
Click here - Typical restaurant menu in India
Aloo gobi masala - cauliflower and potato in spicy sauce
Channa masala - chickpeas cooked with spices
Gobi Manchurian – a popular Indo Chinese cauliflower dish
Hara Pulao - rice with vegetables flavored with spices and coriander leaves
Mutter paneer - green peas with cottage cheese and spices
Navratan korma - nine vegetable cooked in a rich gravy with cheese
Paneer korma - cottage cheese cooked in curds
Paneer palak – a popular dish made from spinach and cottage cheese
Vegetable Biryani - rice cooked with spices and many vegetables
Dal and masala dal (lentil soup) - is a specialty at restaurants in north India, especially Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana and goes well with rotis
Recommended non vegan cuisine would include:
Butter chicken - very popular and best with naan and rotis
Chili chicken – boneless chicken pieces subtly flavored with pepper, spices and herbs
Ginger garlic chicken – a little pungent but tastes good
Chicken tikka masala – chicken marinated in spices, herbs and yoghurt
Kadhai chicken – chicken gravy cooked in the traditional kadhai
Murg mussulam – another kind of onion and tomato based chicken gravy
Palak chicken - chicken and spinach gravy
Rogan josh – Kashmir delicacy of select lamb chops richly cooked with cashews, almonds and yoghurt. Best tasted at exclusive restaurants
Muton/ chicken biryani - lamb cooked with long grain basmati rice and exotic spices
Mutton curry – lamb cooked Indian style
The above list is intended to help you order your meal in a restaurant. However, this list is very small and many good restaurants will present you a menu that could run into several pages. Exclusive places and restaurants at five star hotels are a gourmet’s delight.
All of the above dishes go best with naan, rotis, kulchas (Indian breads) or even parathas, except meat based rice dishes like pulao and biryani, where you don’t need them.
While ordering rotis,naan, kulchas etc always order one first. If left on your plate for some time, they tend to become hard (especially rotis) and crumble. Order the second one when you’re nearly through with the first. Restaurants serve them hot, and that’s the way they should be eaten.
The quantity served in restaurants may, many a time, suffice for two. Ask for half plate (its also half price). If you’re still hungry, you can order something again. If you’re two, order a full meal and share it. In any case, always order one meal first, and check the quantity
Many restaurants serve Paav Bhaji (mashed vegetables in a tasty gravy, with a dollop of butter on the top) served with small Indian buns (paav) that can easily replace an afternoon meal. Paav bhaji, which is very popular in India, started off much like the American burger, as a poor man’s meal in roadside eateries, but is now served in most places across India and also at Indian restaurants in the west.
Just thought of linking a menu from an online food order website so you get a good idea of items on a typical Indian restaurant menu with prices. Remember these are prices for good mid-range places.
Click here - Typical restaurant menu in India
Note - Beef is now banned in most states in India for religious reasons and you are advised not to ask for or mention it. Restaurants in Goa and the North East serve beef
Avoid fish in small restaurants unless its prawns. Lobsters, king prawns and exotic sea food is available at expensive restaurants and five stars only.
Please note that mutton is the term used for lamb everywhere in India. Veg and Non Veg are terms used for vegan and non vegan respectively.
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