Best Restaurants in Howrah (2026)

TL;DR 🍽

• 🍽 Howrah's restaurant scene balances Bengali character with robust North Indian and Chinese menus
• 🌆 The Salkia stretch of Grand Trunk Road is the city's busiest dining corridor
• 🔥 From Punjabi tandoor to Calcutta-Chinese chilli chicken, the variety is wider than most visitors expect
• 🏙 Howrah sits across the river from Kolkata but has developed its own distinct food culture
• 🌐 Explore the full Howrah food directory at desi.net/howrah

The Howrah Dining Scene

Howrah is not Kolkata — and its residents are the first to say so. West Bengal's second city sits on the west bank of the Hooghly River, connected to Kolkata by the Howrah Bridge, and it has developed a food culture that is neither a pale copy of its more famous neighbour nor entirely independent from it. The city's industrial and working-class character — dense, river-connected, built on trade — has shaped a restaurant landscape that prizes volume, value, and directness over presentation.

What Howrah does well, it does without apology. The biryani is rich and spiced, the Chinese food is Calcutta-Chinese and proud of it, and the Punjabi cooking has found an audience far from Punjab.

The Grand Trunk Road Corridor

The Salkia neighbourhood, running along Grand Trunk Road, is where Howrah's restaurant density peaks. The road carries bridge traffic and neighbourhood traffic in equal measure, and the restaurants along it serve both — the commuter wanting a quick meal and the family coming out for the evening.

Khana Khazana at 400 Grand Trunk Road, Salkia, is a Salkia institution. The menu covers North Indian and Chinese cooking — a combination that reads as a contradiction until you understand how thoroughly Chinese food has been woven into West Bengali dining habits over a century of Hakka immigration into Tangra. Mutton curries, chicken preparations, and chilli-fired stir-fries share the menu without tension, and the kitchen handles the volume that comes with a busy arterial location.

At 53 Dr Abani Dutta Road in Salkia, Royal Bengal Restaurant takes a broader approach, placing North Indian, Chinese, and Continental dishes alongside one another in a menu that trades focus for range. It is the kind of restaurant a large group chooses when the table cannot agree on one cuisine — which is, in West Bengal, a reliable circumstance.

Insider Tip: The Chinese food at Howrah restaurants is Calcutta-Chinese, not Sichuan or Cantonese. It is a fusion that Bengal developed over a century of Hakka-community presence in Kolkata's Tangra neighbourhood: chilli chicken, Manchurian preparations, and chow mein made with techniques and flavours that belong specifically to this city. Order it on its own terms.

Bijoy Kumar Mukherjee Road

Away from the Salkia river-end stretch, THE DELHI DURBAR RESTAURANT at 51 Bijoy Kumar Mukherjee Road stakes out a more focused North Indian position. The name is a clear statement of intent — Delhi-style food in a Howrah setting — and the menu follows through with the biryani, kebabs, and rich curries that the North Indian repertoire is built around. The restaurant maintains its own website at thedelhidurbar.com, which signals a newer hospitality sensibility: a business building a brand rather than simply a dhabba serving regulars.

Punjabee Rasoi similarly commits to the North Indian tradition. Punjabi home cooking — the char of the tandoor, the tang of amchur in the chutneys, the body of sarson da saag in season — translates well to Howrah's climate and appetite. The kitchen does not soften the flavours for a crowd that prefers milder cooking; it cooks for an audience that knows the Punjabi repertoire and knows the difference between a shortcut and the real thing.

By the Water

OG By The Lake offers Howrah's most atmospheric dining setting. The lakeside location provides a contrast to the city's dense, industrial interior — a place where a meal becomes an occasion. The menu spans Chinese, Indian, and Italian, covering ground that a large dinner group or a family outing needs to negotiate across. For weekend evenings and family gatherings, the setting is the reason to go as much as the food.

FAQ

What kind of food is popular in Howrah? Howrah's restaurant scene is built around North Indian curries, Calcutta-Chinese preparations, and biryani. The Chinese food is the distinctive Calcutta-Chinese fusion style. Continental options are available at the larger restaurants.

What is the best area for restaurants in Howrah? The Salkia neighbourhood along Grand Trunk Road has the highest concentration of restaurants. Bijoy Kumar Mukherjee Road and the areas around Howrah Station also have well-regarded options.

Is the food in Howrah different from Kolkata? The menus overlap significantly — similar categories, similar ingredients, overlapping cuisines. Howrah's dining scene is generally more working-class in atmosphere and price point than Kolkata's better-known restaurant strips, and the Salkia corridor has a volume and directness that is its own.

Are there vegetarian options in Howrah restaurants? Yes. Most restaurants carry a substantial vegetarian section — paneer preparations, dal, vegetable biryani — reflecting the Hindu Bengali vegetarian tradition. Ask the staff about the day's availability when visiting.

Does Howrah have a biryani culture? Yes. Biryani is a staple of the Howrah restaurant scene, influenced by both Kolkata's Awadhi-style biryani (with potato, a distinctly Kolkata addition) and the North Indian styles brought by the large Bihari and UP-origin population in the city.

Bottom Line

Howrah is a city that eats seriously and without pretension. Khana Khazana, Royal Bengal Restaurant, THE DELHI DURBAR RESTAURANT, OG By The Lake, and Punjabee Rasoi represent the range — from road-side dhaba volume to lakeside dining to focused Punjabi and North Indian cooking. For the full Howrah food directory, visit desi.net/howrah.