Nashik India – Best Places to Eat and Dishes to Try

Nashik, a city in Northern Maharashtra is famous for being surrounded by some of India’s premier vineyards but is also known for the delicious authentic Maharashtrian food available across the city.

Local food

Perhaps because it is a significant religious destination for many Hindus, the vegetarian food in Nashik is particularly delectable. A typical Maharashtrian vegetarian meal includes flatbreads, vegetable curries made with fresh seasonal vegetables, dal (stewed lentils) and a sweet dish. A vegetarian curry one must sample is bharli vangi which stuffs eggplants with roasted peanuts and spices. For the dal dish, one try amti, a tangy hearty preparation tempered with a special Maharashtrian spice mixture called goda. Follow up your dal dish, typically had with rice, with puran polis, which are flatbreads stuffed with jaggery sweetened lentils and roasted in ghee (clarified butter).

If you’re after non vegetarian fare, popular Maharashtrian dishes you’ll find in Nashik include chicken kalimirchi, Kanduri mutton, which is delicately spiced and mutton sukka, which is a dry mutton dish that tastes great with flatbreads.

When wandering through Nashik, you’ll come across several street stalls and eateries serving all kinds of snack foods which are perfect for eating on the go. Snack foods are an integral part of the Maharashtrian cuisine. A particularly popular dish in Nashik is Misal Pav which is a spicy, sprouts and chick pea based curry topped with crispy rice flakes and served with pav, a soft fluffy bread bun. Other dishes one should definitely try are sabudana vadas (sago pearl fritters), batata vadas (potato fritters) and bonda made with gram flour and spiced potato mash.

As well as their snacks, Maharashtrians love their sweets. Nashik is no exception; there are mithai (sweet) shops across the city which sell fresh jalebis (deep fried batter coated in sweet syrup), ladus (made with semolina), basundi and shrikhand, which are delicious milk based desserts. As Nashik has several temples, one will also find modaks at almost every sweet shop. Modak is a sweet dumpling, made with rice flour and stuffed with coconut and jaggery, and is used in temples as offerings.

Thanks to its climate and terrain, the Nashik region is also perfect for growing wine grape varieties. Some of these include Chardonnay, Shiraz, Merlot, Riesling and Chenin Blanc. The larger vineyards like Sula Vineyards, York Winery and Grover Zampa invite visitors for wine tours and to enjoy their delectable, velvety wines.

Street Food

If you want to take yourself on an extravagant food trail through Nashik, the best place to start would be its street stalls. There are street stalls across the city but many of the city's best street eats can be found on College Road.

Stop at Goli Vada Pao No.1 which has a range of vada pavs (potato fritters stuffed in bread) from the plain one to the cheese vada pav to the mayonnaise vada pav (try at your own risk!). The prices at this stall are very pocket friendly - each dish is approximately INR50.

Viju Dalebi is another popular street joint on College Road which serves dabelis - spiced potatoes in buns and sandwiches for up to INR 150. One can also find stalls serving Nashik's famous Misal Pav and batata vadas in the same locality for up to INR 100.

While they don't serve Maharashtrian dishes, Vicky's Rolls and Momos (just off College Road) are also worth stopping by.

While College Road is the best place to get a range of street foods within one radius, there are small street food stalls across Nashik. Be sure to look out for stalls selling pav vadas (deep fried buns) and pineapple juice which is served with pineapple ice cream.

Local Eateries

Sometimes, however, travellers are a little wary of street food. There are plenty of sit-down restaurants where one can enjoy a taste of the local cuisine.

Sandhana Restaurant near Motivwala College is one of the best sit down eateries to enjoy Misal Pav and other Maharashtrian dishes; try the buttermilk, jalebi and the paan. It also has a lovely ambience as it’s designed like a village courtyard, puppet shows and even camel rides! A meal here is between INR100-200 for one.

One should also visit Hotel Sanskruti on Trimbak Road; ‘sankruti’ is a Marathi word which translates to ‘culture’ and Hotel Sanskruti takes its commitment to culture very seriously. It serves Maharashtrian thalis - large plates with small servings of at least ten dishes - with flatbreads, puran poli, vegetable curries, rice preparations and desserts. A meal for one will cost around INR300.

One of the best places for authentic non-vegetarian Maharashtrian food is Divtya Restaurant which serves thalis featuring dishes like mutton kheema (mutton mince), chicken curry and mutton masala. One should also try their sol kadhi, a yogurt based cooling drink. A meal for one will cost INR200.

Western and International Food

If your tastebuds tire of Maharashtrian fare then have a meal at one of the restaurants which serve international food. Many small restaurants serve Chinese dishes and their own localised version of ‘pizza’, but it’s best to go to established restuarants.

Enter the Dragon on College Road is a rooftop restaurant has a beautiful view of the city and serves - as its name suggests - Chinese and Pan-Asian dishes. We loved the soups, clay pot rice, Mongolian chicken and the Thai green curry. A meal for one is around INR400.

For Continental fare, head to House Of Flavours in Satpur which has Continental, Chinese and North Indian cuisines. For a delicious Continental meal, have the crumb fried chicken, risotto and pasta; a full meal will cost you INR700.

Cafes

If you’re after a light meal then head to a cafe, which Nashik has many of. Head to Le Cafetino in the Mumbai Naka Tidke Colony which is a favourite amongst locals for its rich coffee and delectable desserts. Try the filter coffee (INR 120) which is a classic Indian preparation of coffee and the banana split sundae (INR 200).

Cafe Bliss is another lovely cafe with outdoor seating on College Road. Enjoy the coffee, the fries and the tea. A cup of coffee and a snack will cost about INR300.

Have A Drink!

Along with coffee houses, Nashik has plenty of bars, some which are attached to hotels and some which are parts of restaurants. Cowboy Cafe in the Meuse Jupiter Hotel is great for its ambience with quirky decor and a DJ. It’s fairly pocket friendly; INR 160 for a pint of beers and patrons are welcome to spend hours on end unwinding and enjoying the music.

If you’re more of a wine connoisseur then visit one of the many vineyards surrounding Nashik. Sula Vineyards, one of the best producers of wine in the country, is an hour’s drive from the city. One can enjoy a wine tour (which takes place every hour from 12 pm to 6pm) and then while away the hours at the open air bar which overlooks the lush vineyard.

Grover Zampa is another large vineyard known for producing exquisite wines which have won several awards. It has three vineyard tours a day and tends to be more exclusive than Sula as one has to make a prior booking. After the tour, enjoy a few glasses of wine in its charming courtyard; we loved the Chenin Blanc and Sparkling Rose wine.