Your college friend moved to Bangalore. They love it there — the weather, the startups, the vibe. Good for them.

But every time they come back to Delhi for a wedding or a long weekend, they spend the entire time eating. Not because Delhi food is convenient. Because Delhi food is genuinely something else. And when they go back, they carry that specific sadness of knowing that what they just ate doesn't exist where they live now.

These are the ten restaurants causing that sadness.

1. Indian Accent, The Lodhi

Indian Accent showcases inventive Indian cuisine by complementing the flavours and traditions of India with global ingredients and techniques, and has been on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list for 10 years. This is the restaurant Delhi people bring international guests to when they want to make a point. The meetha achar spare ribs, the blue cheese naan, the sheermal french toast — it's Indian food that rewards people who thought they already knew Indian food.

Best for: blowing someone's mind, special occasions, the moment you want to win an argument about Delhi food.

2. Bukhara, ITC Maurya

Over forty years old. Bill Clinton has eaten here. The dal has been on the same slow simmer since 1978. Bukhara is known for its warm and rustic interiors alongside its famous Dal Bukhara and Tandoori Naan, keeping traditional recipes and an open-kitchen concept central to the experience. The thing about Bukhara is that it doesn't need to be innovative. It needs to be exactly what it is — and it always is.

Best for: the kind of dinner that requires no explanation, parents visiting, people who think they've had good dal before.

3. Dum Pukht, ITC Maurya

Dum Pukht at ITC Maurya specialises in the traditional dum style of slow cooking, renowned for its rich flavours and opulent Awadhi ambience — the Kakori Kebab, the Dum Pukht Biryani, and the Koh-E-Awadh lamb shank are the standout dishes. There is something about food that has been perfected over centuries being served to you in a room that looks like a Mughal court.

Best for: celebrating something, impressing someone, understanding what slow cooking actually means.

4. Loya, Taj Palace

Loya champions Northern Indian cuisine reimagined using traditional techniques like dhungar, baghar, and dum cooking — highlights include the Dal Ki Chaat finished tableside from a trolley, the Chukh Paneer with Himachal's aromatic chilli paste, and Bhunnu Murg with a rich caramelised masala. The tableside trolley service alone is worth the trip. The space is North Indian character made physical — arched entryways, hanging lanterns, carved décor, and the sound of flowing water.

Best for: a dinner that's also a performance, anyone who thinks North Indian food peaked at butter chicken.

5. Inja, The Manor, Friends Colony

Inja is an experimental fine-dining restaurant that fuses Indian and Japanese cuisine — the brainchild of Chef Adwait Anantwar, each dish has a perfect balance of flavours that surprisingly makes sense, from the Udon Khasi Curry to the Shiso Leaf Banarasi Chaat. The Alaskan crab kachori stuffed in a thin crisp shell with avocado espuma, mango touches, furikake chutney, and salmon roe is one of those dishes that transports you entirely.

Best for: food people, people who think they've seen it all, anyone who wants to have a conversation they'll still be having the next day.

6. Pendulo, Mehrauli

Pendulo brought something truly unique to Delhi's dining scene — a bold fusion of Mexican and Indian cuisine by Chef Megha Kohli and Chef Noah Barnes, offering a 12-course tasting menu that takes you on a journey across regions of India and Mexico, with traditional techniques and ingredients from both cuisines coming together seamlessly. The smoked lobster course stays with you. The setting in Ambawatta One Complex in Mehrauli, with the Qutub Minar nearby, is the kind of place that makes you feel like you're living in the right city.

Best for: the most interesting meal you've had in months, anyone who thought Indian-Mexican fusion was a gimmick.

7. Jamun, Lodhi Colony

Regional Indian food done with restraint and real knowledge. The Bharwan Gucchi, the Malabar tenderloin pepper fry, the Jamun kulfi — everything here comes from somewhere specific in India and tastes like it. The bougainvillea-covered verandah, the purple interiors, the copper details — it's beautiful in a way that doesn't feel designed for Instagram.

Best for: someone who wants to understand India through food, long lunches, the friend who keeps saying Bangalore has better food.

8. Karim's, Old Delhi

Open since 1913. No ambience. No decor strategy. No Instagram lighting. Just arguably the best Mughlai food in India served by people who have been doing this for over a century. You cannot possibly live in Delhi and never have visited Karim's — and you certainly cannot replicate it anywhere else in India. The mutton burra, the seekh kebabs, the nihari.

Best for: making a point about what Delhi really is, anyone visiting from outside Delhi for the first time.

9. The Grammar Room, Mehrauli

Housed adjacent to Olive Bar and Kitchen in Mehrauli, The Grammar Room has multiple personalities — an artisanal coffee shop, a fun brunch place, and the ideal venue for a first date — with the avocado toast a must, the pancakes exceptional, and the forest views from the deck unlike anywhere else in the city.

Best for: long brunches, someone who needs to be reminded why living in Delhi is worth it.

10. Olive Bar and Kitchen, Mehrauli

An iconic Delhi restaurant combining whitewashed Mediterranean styling, a vast banyan canopy shading a charming pebble courtyard — and still, after all these years, one of the best Sunday afternoons you can have in this city. Wood-fired pizza, good pasta, fairy lights, the Qutub Minar visible just beyond.

Best for: Sundays, long lunches that become long evenings, the kind of meal that doesn't need a reason.

Your Bangalore friends can visit. Your points, however, are yours to keep.