Nainital Food

What to Eat in Nainital — Best Food & Restaurants

Where to eat in Nainital, and what to order once you're there.

Gaurav Joshi
Your Nainital Insider
Gaurav Joshi
Updated July 29, 2026
The short version

Come to Nainital hungry, and aim your appetite at the Kumaoni food, not the everyday tourist menus. The good stuff hides in the Bada Bazaar lanes: a proper thali, thick jalebi with curd, and bal mithai to take home. Eat local first, café pizza second.

What to eat

Dishes you can't leave without

The short list, with where a local would send you.

    Where to eat

    Where Gaurav actually eats

    Tried-and-tested counters and kitchens.

      Eat with a local · via GetYourGuide

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        Honest notes

        A few things to skip

          Good to know

          Eating in Nainital, answered

          Where to stay · via Booking.com

          Staying over in Nainital?

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            Keep exploring Nainital

            More Nainital guides

            Gaurav Joshi
            Your Nainital Insider

            Gaurav Joshi

            Gaurav knows Nainital from moving through it every day - he runs deliveries across town, up every slope and down every lane most visitors never find. So he'll tell you the useful things: which "lake-view" room actually faces a wall, what's overrated, and what the booking sites leave out. Every stay guide here crosses his desk before it goes live - if it carries his name, a local has vouched for it.

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