Discover the Best Place to Eat in Dehradun for Every Craving

Dehradun doesn't make a noise about its food. The city sits at the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayas, gateway to Mussoorie and Rishikesh and the Char Dham circuit, and most visitors treat it as a transit stop rather than a destination with a food culture worth slowing down for. That's a mistake.

The best place to eat in Dehradun covers everything from the Tibetan kitchen that arrived with the refugee community in the 1960s to the Garhwali dal preparations that the hill cuisine doesn't get enough credit for, to the bakeries and cafes that the boarding school culture of the city has been sustaining for a century. Dehradun feeds well. Most people leave without finding out.

Paltan Bazaar and the Old City

The dense commercial stretch of Paltan Bazaar is where the Dehradun food culture concentrates at its most direct. The chaat stalls that have been in the same spots for decades, the samosa counters, the jalebi from the shops that fry them fresh through the morning. The crowd at the best stalls before noon is the indicator, the regulars know.

The aloo puri that North India does differently in every city it appears in, the Dehradun version, slightly spiced, the puri with the right degree of puff, available at the stalls around Paltan Bazaar and the Clock Tower area from 7am. The city wakes up to this and it's the right version to wake up to.

Tibetan Food in Clement Town

The Tibetan refugee settlement in Clement Town, established in 1959, brought a food culture to Dehradun that the city has absorbed without losing its specificity. The momos here are not the pan-Indian momo of the mall food court, the wrappers are thicker, the filling different, the accompanying soup the specific broth that the Tibetan kitchen uses rather than the chili sauce the tourist version serves alongside. The thukpa, the thenthuk, the Tibetan bread, this is the best place to eat in Dehradun for anyone whose food interest extends beyond the North Indian comfort zone.

Clement Town has enough Tibetan restaurants and bakeries in the settlement area that a full meal circuit is possible without repeating a kitchen. The butter tea is divisive in exactly the same way it is in Leh and McLeod Ganj, try it once.

Rajpur Road: The Cafe and Restaurant Belt

The Rajpur Road stretch has developed the Dehradun version of the cafe culture that the resident population of students, defence families, and professionals has sustained for decades. The bakeries that have been running since the British left the cantonment. The cafes with outdoor seating that work through the afternoon when Dehradun's mild climate makes sitting outside more pleasant than most Indian hill cities allow.

The best place to eat in Dehradun for a long lunch or a slow coffee is consistently on this stretch. The lunch menus at the better Rajpur Road establishments cover multi-cuisine without losing specificity, the local preparations alongside the continental options that the school-town food culture has normalised.

Garhwali Food

The regional cuisine of the Garhwal hills doesn't appear on menus as prominently as it should. The chainsoo, a black dal preparation specific to the hills, the kafuli, the mandua ki roti, the aloo ke gutke that appears at the right dhabas near the bus stand. The Garhwali thali at the establishments that maintain the regional menu rather than defaulting to the North Indian standard is the meal most visitors to Dehradun leave without having eaten.

Ask specifically. It is available and worth the asking.

Street Food Circuit

The evening food circuit around the Clock Tower and the Ghanta Ghar area handles the casual dinner without requiring a restaurant. The rolls, the Chinese from the counters that have made their own Dehradun adaptation of the cuisine, the chole bhature from the stalls that run until 10pm.

The city's street food evening is the version of Dehradun that the hotel restaurant menu doesn't replicate.

Clarks Inn Express and Clarks Inn Dehradun

For anyone staying in Dehradun and wanting a proper meal without going out, the Sky High restaurant at Clarks Inn Dehradun and the dining at Clarks Inn Express cover the multi-cuisine brief, North Indian, Chinese, Continental, the reliable kitchen that handles the early breakfast before a Mussoorie drive and the late dinner after a long day in the hills.

Both properties understand that Dehradun is a food city worth taking seriously. The stay is comfortable and functional, clean rooms, reliable Wi-Fi, good location, but the best place to eat in Dehradun starts right on the property before the city's food circuit begins.