Best Restaurants in Dehradun: Where to Eat, From Local Thalis to Rooftops

Dehradun eats well. Between the cafés and the street-food carts sits a full-blown restaurant scene — decades-old institutions in the bazaar, glossy rooftops on Rajpur Road, craft breweries, and quiet spots doing proper Garhwali food. Rather than a rankings list that goes stale, here's how to eat your way through the Doon valley by mood and craving — and we'll always send you the current favourite on WhatsApp.

For a proper local thali

The most satisfying, best-value meal in Dehradun is a home-style North Indian thali — dal, a seasonal sabzi, rajma or chole, rice, hot rotis and a sweet, all on one steel plate. You'll find these in the lanes around Paltan Bazaar and near the Clock Tower, where old-school dhabas and family restaurants have been feeding Doon for generations. Cheap, filling, and the truest taste of the city.

For Garhwali & Pahari flavours

Don't leave without trying the hills' own cooking: Garhwali specialities like kafuli (a green spinach-and-fenugreek curry), phaanu, chainsoo (roasted black-gram dal), jhangora (barnyard millet) and bhang-ki-chutney. A handful of restaurants around town now do a dedicated Pahari thali — ask us who's doing it best the week you visit, because these menus rotate with the season.

For rooftops, multi-cuisine & a night out

For a proper dinner out, Rajpur Road is the strip: rooftop restaurants, multi-cuisine dining, North Indian and Mughlai, plus Chinese, continental and pan-Asian. This is also Dehradun's brewpub belt — a growing clutch of microbreweries pour fresh craft beer alongside sizzlers, pizzas and live music at weekends. It's where the city goes to celebrate. Pair it with our nightlife guide for bars and lounges nearby.

For bakeries, sweets & old institutions

Dehradun has a serious sweet tooth and a British-era bakery culture. Track down the city's legendary bakeries and sweet shops for fresh bread, plum cake, bal mithai, singori (mithai wrapped in a leaf) and Dehradun's famous chocolates and cashew fudge. They make perfect gifts to carry home — and a mid-afternoon sugar hit between sightseeing.

Eat in, some nights

One of the quiet joys of a homestay over a hotel is that some evenings you'll want to cook — grab vegetables and hill fruit from the local market and eat in on your own balcony. Every Starfish home has a full kitchen for exactly that. Between the markets, the thalis and the rooftops, you'll never eat the same meal twice in Dehradun.