Bukhara

Verdict: Book It for the Tandoor, Not the Wine List

Bukhara earns its place on the La Liste Leading Restaurants ranking (76 points in 2026, 77.5 in 2025) and on Tatler Asia's Leading Restaurants Asia-Pacific 2025 list for one reason: the tandoor cooking here is a benchmark against which other North West Frontier restaurants in India get measured. If you are in New Delhi and want to understand what serious Indian fire cooking looks like at the top of the market, this is the right room. Book it. Just don't come for the wine program.

The Room and the Atmosphere

Bukhara sits inside ITC Maurya in Chanakyapuri's Diplomatic Enclave, a five-star hotel address that sets the expectations clearly: this is a formal, occasion-ready room, not a casual drop-in. The atmosphere runs warm and enveloping rather than loud. At dinner service the energy builds steadily, with the open tandoor hearth providing the dominant sensory cue — woodsmoke, heat, the rhythmic activity of the kitchen visible to diners. Noise levels stay manageable through the lunch window (12:30–3:00 pm), making that the better sitting if you want to talk without raising your voice. Evening service, especially Friday and Saturday, fills quickly and takes on a more celebratory register.

The room is low-lit in the evenings, with a décor that has remained deliberately consistent for decades. That consistency is a feature, not a flaw: Bukhara is one of the few restaurants in India where the physical space itself signals institutional confidence rather than trend-chasing.

The Food

Chef J.P. Singh oversees a menu rooted in North West Frontier cuisine — the cuisine of what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan's borderlands, cooked primarily over charcoal and in the tandoor. Expect slow-cooked lentils, marinated meats and bread from the clay oven. The cooking is direct and confident rather than fussy. There is no modernist plating here, no foam or microgreen garnish. The food makes its case through technique and ingredient quality.

Bukhara's Dal, a slow-cooked black lentil preparation that reportedly takes 18 hours, has a documented public reputation as one of the most referenced dishes in Indian fine dining, cited in coverage ranging from Tatler Asia to Opinionated About Dining (where Bukhara ranked #350 in Asia in 2024 and carried a Recommended citation in 2023). For food-focused travellers comparing this kitchen against peers like Dum Pukht or Indian Accent, the differentiation is real: Bukhara is the pure-tradition route, not the contemporary-reinterpretation route.

The Wine Program

This is where the editorial angle requires honesty. Bukhara's identity is built entirely around the tandoor and the fire, the beverage program is secondary. The wine offering at a five-star hotel restaurant in New Delhi at this price tier will be present and serviceable, but Indian wine infrastructure remains limited relative to comparable restaurants in, say, Mumbai or Bangalore, there is no evidence in the public record that Bukhara's wine list is a reason to choose it. If wine program depth is your primary criterion, The Table in Mumbai or Farmlore in Bangalore are stronger options. At Bukhara, the drink pairing story is better told through lassi, nimbu pani, or a well-chosen whisky from the bar than through the wine list.

Practical Details

How It Compares

For context on the broader New Delhi dining scene, see our full New Delhi restaurants guide. You can also explore hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences across the city.

Beyond New Delhi

If you are travelling across India and want to benchmark Bukhara against other serious kitchens, the reference points are strong: Adaa at Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad offers a comparable grand-hotel Indian dining experience; Naar in Kasauli takes a more contemporary mountain-cuisine approach; Chandni in Udaipur adds a lakeside setting; Bomras in Anjuna covers the Goa end of the spectrum; and Baan Thai in Kolkata shows what hotel dining looks like in a different register. For international comparison, Badmaash in Los Angeles handles modern Indian in a very different city context, Le Bernardin in New York City is the reference point for what a landmark restaurant with sustained awards recognition looks like in a Western fine-dining frame.