When in Pondicherry, eat your weight in food! Creole dishes, that fuse French and Tamil (sometimes Dutch, Portuguese, Anglo-Indian, and Bengali) ingredients, are at the heart of the local cuisine. Tamarind is replaced by vinegar à la française in Tamil preparations and Indian kitchen staples like coconut and turmeric become part of gratins and quiches in these recipes and a whole new repertoire of dishes like puyabaisse and fish koda curry is born. Also on the plate are French classics like ratatouille and crêpes and South Indian favourites like biriyanis and idlis. For our take on the best places to eat in Pondicherry, read on!


PONDICHERRY / INDIA


Some come to Pondicherry for a history lesson, others come seeking spirituality. And some, like us, come to eat. We spent 2 days in Pondicherry feasting on some of the tastiest food we’ve ever had! Pondicherry is one of the best weekend trip destinations from Bangalore and Chennai. Pondicherry’s best restaurants, some of them housed in historic villas, serve an eclectic fare: classic European dishes, traditional Tamil preparations, and the local Franco-Tamil mishmash. Fresh catch from the Bay of Bengal, chicken and goats raised on farms in the bountiful Tamil heartland, artisanal bread and chocolate made in the kitchens of Auroville, drumsticks and tamarind and curry leaves from someone’s backyard, local produce bought fresh from Goubert Market…every dish you eat in Pondicherry has a story. And tastes of love. Lots of love.

Booking your trip via the links on this page will earn us a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support – Mohana & Aninda.

Pondicherry Eats: Best Restaurants in Pondicherry

Baker Street

For a delectable breakfast of French, Indian, and Indo-French baked goodies, choose Baker Street. Doors open at 7:30 am; come early to beat the crowd and settle down with the flakiest croissant, sticky chocolate escargots, buttery pastries, filling sandwiches, burgers and pita pockets, sugary palmiers, cakes and mousses, and more. Coffee and tea are also available. They also sell freshly baked baguettes and loaves of bread. The servers, dressed in saris with gajras in their hair, are very friendly and speak both Tamil and English.  

Crêpe in Touch

One of the best places to eat in Pondicherry is this cute café located in the building that earlier housed Ma Pondichérie. Choose from savoury buckwheat crepes or sweet classics like crepes drenched in butter and dusted with sugar or filled with gooey chocolate spread and caramelized bananas. The buckwheat crepes are the specialities here: fillings include cherry tomatoes, pesto, fresh cream, eggs, bacon, ham, and more. We recommend the Crepe L’Orient with pesto and perhaps a fried egg. The ambience is homey and welcoming; we spend hours here, chatting and journaling, over cold coffee and hibiscus juice. Crepe in Touch also has a souvenir store where you can pick up magnets, vintage stickers, locally-made cloth bags, t-shirts, etc. and a zero-waste store where you can fill up your reusable jars with buckwheat flour, quinoa, nuts, locally-grown rice, and more.

Café des Arts

Café des Arts is one of the best restaurants in Pondicherry, especially if you are an Instagrammer; the cute murals that adorn the bright yellow walls of Café des Arts are some of the most photographed walls of Pondicherry. It seems to be always crowded with camera-totting youngsters and influencers, so be prepared to wait for a table. Vintage typewriters, dated furniture, gramophones, and an interesting selection of books fill the café. The food isn’t anything special but you can order a waffle and an iced tea to wheel away some time here. Remember that it gets busy and crowded and orders take time to arrive. If you’re planning to stay awhile, consider getting one of their coffee cards to get a free drink.

Coromandel Café

Formerly La Maison Rose, Coromandel Café lives up to its fame as one of India’s top 50 restaurants and one of the best places to eat in Pondicherry. The exterior of the French-era mansion is a soft, pastel pink; white fronds adorn the mossy green walls of the airy rooms inside the mansion. Colonial-era furniture, muted lighting, an eclectic but carefully curated menu, and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients make a meal here an experience. House specials include hot pink eggs Benedict, Posh N’ Pink Tagliatelle, and flatbread with pink hummus. The gorgeous Andaman Prawns and the refreshing Mango Pad Thai Salad are dishes we’ll remember for a long time! Their signature cocktails are worth a try; we highly recommend the Botanist. No time for a leisurely meal? Stop by the cake/dessert counter behind the mansion and pick up a treat to go! There’s also a boutique and a bookstore on the property. We picked up a copy of Nao Seito’s Travels through South Indian Kitchens (highly recommend for anyone interested in South Indian cuisine and kitchen life) here.

Les Saveurs

If you’ve come to Pondicherry in search of some French food (okay, the closest approximation to la cuisine française this side of the globe), head straight to Les Saveurs, one of the best places to eat in Pondicherry. A bright eatery with a counter full of decadent desserts and tables with unique bamboo placements, Les Saveurs is where you go to fill yourself up with Shrimp Cakes, Eggplant Galettes, Chermoula spiced Chicken Tenders, Ratatouilles, Salmon Wellingtons, Lobster Thermidor, and all that your heart pleases over a peg or two of classic Old Monk. Or, wine if that’s your desired poison. Don’t forget desserts! We love French pastries, don’t we? Remember when we found a French restaurant in Gokarna?

Chez Francis

If you, like us, can’t afford a night’s stay at Dune de L’Orient, a classic colonial-era hotel with rooms (think antique writing desks and four-poster beds) named after French trading posts in India (there’s a suite named Chandannagore, a town about an hour from Kolkata!), come for a beer here. The courtyard with its trees and sweet-smelling flowers, the corridors bathed in a soft orange glow, and quiet music all add to the mood. On the walls are old maps and photographs of Pondicherry; the ambience, redolent of nostalgia, is reminiscent of Pune’s Irani Cafes. Hours disappear over bottles of beer and conversation; the hustle and bustle of touristy Pondicherry, the sound of the waves lashing against the rocks cannot reach you here. It’s the perfect place to bond with your partner, to talk and talk and talk over Creole cuisine and more liquor.

Villa Shanti

One of the most highly-rated restaurants in Pondicherry, Villa Shanti serves an interesting mix of European fare and Indian classics. It is housed in a restored villa that is painted in muted shades of grey and beige; you can choose to eat alfresco in the courtyard or on the veranda that runs along the courtyard. We ordered the roasted fish with ratatouille and a prawn and pomelo salad and both the dishes were exceptional in taste and presentation. The fish came with half a lime tied in a neat cheesecloth parcel; squeeze the lime onto your dish and the seeds remain confined! Seating is limited and tends to get pretty full, pretty quickly for lunch and dinner. Therefore, reservations are highly recommended! Rooms are also available should you prefer to lodge here.

Bay of Buddha

Come for the view, stay for the dim sums! Bay of Buddha has happy hours between 4 and 7 pm, the perfect time to watch daylight turn purple, then into the inky night. It reminded us of our trip to Gokarna where we enjoyed long, leisurely hours at the beach enjoying the sunset. Enjoy dusk over chilled beer and order from a wide selection of pan-Asian dishes including Malaysian food.

Storytellers Bar

Located in the basement of the Promenade by Hidesign Hotel is Storyteller’s bar (we went for the name, really!), a dim-lit space serving interesting cocktails with interesting music. They often have events, so enquire ahead if there’s something you’re interested in. We tried the French Toast, a cognac-based cocktail, and the Chocolate Filter Kapi, a unique whisky-based concoction made with locally sourced chocolate and served in a traditional devara. The decorations on the wall change; on the day we visited there was a host of cute paintings by kids on the wall. This is indeed one of the best Pondicherry restaurants to enjoy a drink.

Maison Perumal

For the best Franco-Tamil cuisine, head to Maison Perumal, a CGH hotel housed in a traditional Tamil house. The restaurant is open for guests and serves delicious homestyle dishes like Muttai Kuzhambhu, Vada Curry, Sutta era, Milagu Kozhi, and more. If seafood is your thing, order the day’s special. We ordered the grilled pomfret and it was perfect! The bar serves cocktails named after well-known figures from the French era like Pedro Kanakaraya (chief interpreter and a broker for the French East Indian Company) and Dubash Ranga Pillai (chief dubash of French India under Joseph Francois Dupleix).  Undoubtedly, Maison Perumal is one of the best restaurants in Pondicherry.

Best Places to Eat in Pondicherry: Special Mentions

Richmond Bistro

Head to the Richmond Bistro for some of the cheapest pints (plus a standard serving size of 60 ml) in the French Quarters! The menu is a mix of South Indian and North Indian specialities but we did not try the food here.

Bread & Chocolate, Auroville

Hands down the best bread and chocolate in the region! Located right next to the Mason & Co. chocolatier and run by the same folks, this restaurant serves trendy Buddha bowls, sandwiches, and breakfast bowls studded with fresh fruit. We ordered the Miss Saigon Bowl which came with an amazing tangy + funky kimchi and a pressed sourdough sandwich called the Green Thumb. The bread, thick and rustic and perfectly grilled, was to die for! Plus it’s vegan-friendly!

Xtasi

Skip the overhyped pizza and order the pork chops. Slathered in barbecue sauce, these sticky morsels of porky goodness will win your heart. Alcohol is only served during certain hours over the weekend.

For pizza, head to Sicily instead. Imperfect and somewhat greasy but better than the one we tried at Xtasi. Plus, Sicily’s right on Goubert Avenue, facing the beach.

Le Café

Not for the food but for the view. Order a beer (only Budweiser was on the menu the day we visited) or a coffee and enjoy the sea breeze and the soft music of the waves from the rooftop.

Pondicherry Eats: #BucketList

So many fabulous restaurants in Pondicherry, so little time! These are the places in Pondicherry that we would like to visit next time.

Chez Pushpa

For a taste of authentic Creole dishes, head to one of Anita’s pop-ups where she and her mother, Pushpa, rustle up dishes like chaiyo and mutton sambar for guests. Delicious home-cooked food and conversations make for the perfect mealtime! To share a meal with Pushpa’s family is at the top of our things to do next time we are in Pondicherry. You can book a meal through their Facebook page.

La Villa

Couldn’t secure a table (or a room at La Villa) during the holiday season but the menu with dishes such as Candied Vegetables with Pesto and Ray Fish à la Grenobloise is enticing!

Le Dupleix

Tad expensive for us but a fixture on all lists featuring the best Pondicherry restaurants, Le Dupleix is where the rich and famous of Pondicherry gather over French and Indian dishes like Confit de Poulet and Fish Moilee.

Les Alizes

One of the in-house restaurants at Palais de Mahe, Les Alizes serves European and South Indian fare.

Villa Helena

Think candlelit tables in a tree-filled courtyard lit with fairy lights. That’s Villa Helena for you! We couldn’t get a reservation and thus couldn’t try their fried calamari or cheese platter. Sad much.   

Surguru

We hear that they serve the best dosas in town!

Like it? Pin it!

What did you think of our favourite Pondicherry restaurants? What are your best places to eat in Pondicherry?

Want to read more about our eating adventures? Subscribe to our blog below!


Categories: , , ,
Mohana & Aninda

Mohana and Aninda are travellers and advocates for car-free travel. Two-together is their travel blog where they document their travels to encourage and inspire readers to seek solace in new places, savour local cuisines, and relish both unique and everyday experiences. When they are not travelling, they are actively researching trip ideas and itineraries, obsessing over public transport timetables, reviewing travel budgets, and developing content for their blog. They are currently based in Edinburgh and exploring Scotland and beyond by public transport.

6 responses to “The 20 Best Places to Eat in Pondicherry”

  1. uoprincess Avatar
    uoprincess

    I knew nothing about Pondicherry. I would love to know more about the history and how these wonderful flavors come together.

  2. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    Oh my goodness! I think I just put on 5kg just reading this exhaustive article on the best places to eat in Pondicherry. You had me at “flakiest croissant’ at Baker Street, but then you kept going! I think Chez Francis sounds like a bit of me – away from the hustle and bustle.

    1. Mohana and Aninda Avatar
      Mohana and Aninda

      We would go to Pondicherry just to eat, tbh! Chez Francis is lovely…quaint and atmospheric. You can stay at the hotel, too. They have rooms named after former French colonies and will treat to you a good Franco-Tamil meal.

  3. Jing Avatar
    Jing

    Wow! So many food selections! I didn’t know there’s that part of India where French and Tamil cultures come together.

  4. Mei and Kerstin Avatar
    Mei and Kerstin

    We’ve never visites India and know nothing about Pondicherry. It really seems like having lots of French restaurants! All the food looks awesomely good. If we ever travel there, we’ll try out some of the restaurants you recommend here!

  5. Indrani Avatar
    Indrani

    Yes the French restaurants of Pondicherry are great places to have food.
    I loved how they maintained the ambiance so well there. Always wanted to go back for the food there.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.