Restaurant in Chennai, India
Chennai's serious South Indian tasting restaurant.
Avartana at ITC Grand Chola is Chennai's most credentialled fine-dining address — 89 points on La Liste 2026, up from 76 in 2025, and on Tatler's Asia-Pacific Best Restaurants list. The format is a tasting menu built around South Indian cooking treated with haute cuisine precision. Book here for a special occasion or a serious food-focused evening; visit Southern Spice at the same hotel if you want traditional South Indian without the tasting menu commitment.
If you are planning a single serious dinner in Chennai, Avartana at ITC Grand Chola is the restaurant to book. It holds 89 points on La Liste's Leading Restaurants 2026 ranking — up from 76 points in 2025 — and appears on the Tatler Asia-Pacific Leading Restaurants 2025 list, making it one of the most credentialled fine-dining addresses in South India. The cuisine is South Indian cooking treated as haute cuisine: precision-plated, ingredient-focused, rooted in regional tradition. If that is not the format you want, Southern Spice at the same hotel delivers a more conventional, banquet-style South Indian experience at a lower price point. But for a structured, course-driven meal that takes the region's cooking seriously, Avartana is the right call.
Avartana rewards repeat visits because the kitchen works with South India's deep larder , different ingredients, preparations, and regional references surface across the menu. On a first visit, the focus should be on the tasting menu format. Avartana is built for it: the progressive structure lets the kitchen demonstrate range across Tamil, Kerala, and Andhra references in a single sitting. The room at ITC Grand Chola is formally styled, with an open kitchen that becomes the visual anchor of the meal. Watching the brigade work from your seat is part of the experience , the plating is deliberate and worth paying attention to as each course arrives.
On a second visit, the counter or kitchen-facing positions (subject to availability) are worth requesting if they are available, and a more exploratory approach to ordering makes sense once the broader structure of the menu is familiar. Avartana's La Liste score jumped 13 points between 2025 and 2026, which suggests the kitchen is in active development. That trajectory is a reason to return: what you ate 12 months ago is likely not what is on the menu today. For food-focused travellers passing through Chennai with two evenings to allocate, Avartana plus Kappa Chakka Kandhari covers the full spectrum , fine-dining precision on one night, regional home-style cooking on the other.
A third visit is justified if you are tracking how the restaurant's cooking evolves season to season. The Tatler Asia-Pacific listing describes the approach as transforming regional South Indian dishes into haute cuisine, which implies the menu changes with the kitchen's reference points rather than staying static.
Avartana is inside ITC Grand Chola, a five-star hotel at Little Mount, Guindy, in southern Chennai. Booking difficulty is rated easy, which is notable for a restaurant at this award level. Reservations via the hotel are the most reliable route. Hours and price range are not published in Pearl's data , contact ITC Grand Chola directly to confirm current tasting menu pricing and session times before planning your evening. Dress code is not formally specified in Pearl's data, but the hotel context and the prix-fixe format suggest smart casual at minimum. For guests staying at ITC Grand Chola, the walk from room to restaurant is the entirety of your logistics.
For context on how Avartana sits in India's broader fine-dining picture: it operates in the same tier as Farmlore in Bangalore and Adaa at Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad , hotel-anchored, regionally rooted, and designed for a full-evening commitment. It is a different register entirely from The Table in Mumbai or Dum Pukht in New Delhi.
| Venue | Format | Setting | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avartana | Modern South Indian, tasting menu | Hotel fine dining, ITC Grand Chola | Easy |
| Southern Spice | Traditional South Indian, à la carte | Hotel dining, ITC Grand Chola | Easy |
| Kappa Chakka Kandhari | Regional South Indian | Standalone restaurant | Easy |
| Taj Fisherman's Cove | Multi-cuisine, resort dining | Beachfront hotel | Easy |
See the full comparison section below.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avartana | South Indian | Easy | |
| Kappa Chakka Kandhari | Unknown | ||
| Southern Spice | Unknown | ||
| Taj Fisherman's Cove | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Avartana and alternatives.
Avartana sits inside ITC Grand Chola, a five-star hotel, which typically means private dining rooms are available for larger parties. For groups of six or more, check the venue's official channels to confirm private room options. The main restaurant floor suits smaller groups of two to four more comfortably for a focused tasting experience.
Southern Spice, also at ITC Grand Chola, covers traditional South Indian regional cooking without the tasting-menu format — a better fit if you want à la carte flexibility. Kappa Chakka Kandhari is the pick for Kerala-specific cuisine with a less formal setting. Taj Fisherman's Cove offers seafood-focused dining with a coastal backdrop if atmosphere is the priority.
Avartana's kitchen works within a South Indian regional framework presented as haute cuisine, so the tasting menu is the format the restaurant is built around. Arriving without booking the full menu misses the point. Specific dishes are not documented in available data, so confirm the current format with ITC Grand Chola when you book.
Yes. A hotel restaurant setting at this level typically supports solo diners without friction, and a tasting-menu format translates well to single covers. Booking difficulty is rated easy, so securing a solo seat is unlikely to be an issue. Avartana earned 89 points on La Liste 2026, which makes it a defensible choice for a solo dinner on a Chennai trip.
Yes — this is the primary use case. La Liste 89 points and Tatler Asia-Pacific Best Restaurants 2025 recognition give it the credibility to anchor a celebration dinner, and the ITC Grand Chola address adds logistical comfort for guests unfamiliar with Chennai. Book ahead; the setting and format are designed for occasions rather than casual drop-ins.
No bar-seating option is documented for Avartana. As a fine-dining restaurant inside a five-star hotel, the experience is structured around reserved table dining. For bar seating in the building, ITC Grand Chola has separate bar facilities — check directly when you call or book.
Specific dietary policy is not documented in the available data. At a hotel fine-dining restaurant of this standing — La Liste Top Restaurants 2026, Tatler Asia-Pacific listed — kitchen accommodation for dietary requirements is standard practice, but confirm your restrictions directly with ITC Grand Chola before arrival, especially for tasting-menu formats where substitutions require advance notice.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
