Dharamshala eats better than most hill towns in India, and for an unusual reason: three food cultures overlap here. There is the Tibetan cooking that arrived with the exile community sixty years ago, the traveller-facing Italian and continental food that grew up around McLeod Ganj, and underneath both of them the Kangri cooking of the valley itself, which almost nobody serves to visitors. This is a guide to the best restaurants in Dharamshala across all three, and how to plan a few days of eating without spending all of them in the same square.
Start with the one dish most visitors miss: Himachali Dham
Before the pizza and the momos, eat the food of the valley you are actually standing in. The in-house restaurant at The Divine Hima in Sidhpur serves a traditional Himachali Dham, the festive thali of the Kangra hills, slow-cooked the way local families make it. Dham is normally a wedding and festival meal, cooked by hereditary boti cooks and served on the floor in rows, which is exactly why so few restaurants in Dharamshala bother with it. Ours runs daily: teliya mah black lentils finished with ghee and mustard oil, khatta, rice, and meetha bhat to close.
The rest of the menu goes a long way from the valley too. Wood-fired pizza from our pizzeria, clay-oven kebabs, Tibetan thukpa, whole baked Kangra trout, dum biryanis from the clay oven and a pickle bar that guests write reviews about. It is all cooked from scratch, which is the reason the menu took years to write and still is not finished. Read it in full on the Divine Menu, and note that the cafe takes walk-ins daily from 8am to 10pm, so you do not need to be staying with us to eat.
The best restaurants in McLeod Ganj
McLeod Ganj is where most visitors do most of their eating, and it packs a lot into a few walkable streets above the Dalai Lama Temple. It is about twenty minutes uphill from Sidhpur.
For Italian and wood-fired pizza
Nick’s Italian Kitchen, near the main square, is the long-running vegetarian favourite, known for thin-crust pizza with a properly charred base, gnocchi and lasagne, and a terrace that catches the afternoon light. Jimmy’s Italian Kitchen is the other name people will give you, similar in spirit and equally busy. Both fill up in the evenings, particularly in season, so go early or expect to wait.
For Tibetan food
Eating well in Dharamshala is easier when the kitchen is downstairs. See rooms at The Divine Hima in quiet Sidhpur.
This is what McLeod Ganj does best. Tibet Kitchen is the reliable, central pick for thukpa, thentuk, momos, shabalay and gundruk. Snow Lion is another long-standing name for Tibetan home cooking. Common Ground Cafe sits a little off the main drag and pairs Tibetan and Chinese dishes with a quieter room. Several of these are run by or support the exile community, so eating here is a small part of the local economy rather than separate from it.
For something further afield
Jimmy’s Asian Kitchen has built a following for sushi and a wider East Asian menu, which is a genuine surprise this far into the hills. Cafe La Veda and the Clay Oven cover the rooftop-with-a-view end of things, where the Dhauladhar range does a lot of the work. For coffee and slow mornings rather than full meals, see our separate guide to the best cafes in McLeod Ganj and Dharamkot.
Eating in lower Dharamshala, Sidhpur and around Norbulingka
The lower valley is quieter, greener and much less written about, and it is where the two most interesting non-Tibetan food stops sit within a few hundred metres of each other. Norbulingka Institute has its own restaurant inside the gardens, which is a lovely lunch after walking the grounds and the Losel Doll Museum. Directly opposite it, The Divine Hima’s cafe and restaurant handle everything from the Dham to wood-fired pizza, with free parking and no crowds. If you are based near the HPCA cricket stadium or Dharamshala town, both are a ten to fifteen minute drive.
More on this pocket of the valley in our guide to where to eat in Sidhpur and near Norbulingka.
How to plan your eating in Dharamshala
- Book the Dham a day ahead. Several of the Kangri dishes are seasonal or need advance notice, so mention it when you reserve a table.
- McLeod Ganj restaurants fill up from about 7pm in season. Eat early or eat late.
- Carry cash. Card machines are common but not universal, and the network drops.
- Vegetarians have it easy here. Large parts of the Tibetan, Kangri, South Indian and Italian menus are vegetarian by default.
- Alcohol is patchy in McLeod Ganj. If you want a proper drink with dinner, plan for the lower valley.
- Pair a McLeod Ganj lunch with a lower-valley dinner. Driving up and down the hill twice in an evening wastes the best part of the day.
Related Dharamshala guides
- Himachali Dham: What It Is and Where to Eat It
- The Best Cafes in McLeod Ganj and Dharamkot
- Where to Eat in Sidhpur and Near Norbulingka
- Things to Do in Dharamshala
- Where to Stay in Dharamshala
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best restaurant in Dharamshala?
It depends what you want to eat. For the food of the valley itself, The Divine Hima in Sidhpur is the place to try a traditional Himachali Dham alongside a wide multi-cuisine menu, and it takes walk-ins daily. For Tibetan cooking, McLeod Ganj is unmatched, with Tibet Kitchen and Snow Lion among the long-standing names. For Italian and wood-fired pizza, Nick’s Italian Kitchen and Jimmy’s Italian Kitchen are the two most visitors are sent to.
Where can I eat authentic Himachali food in Dharamshala?
Authentic Kangri food is surprisingly hard to find in restaurants, because Dham is traditionally a wedding and festival meal cooked by hereditary boti cooks rather than a commercial dish. The Divine Hima’s restaurant in Sidhpur cooks it daily, along with the wider Kangri repertoire of khatta maura, sidoos, lungroo pakoras and chaa maas. Give a day’s notice for the seasonal dishes.
Do I need to book a table in Dharamshala restaurants?
For McLeod Ganj in peak season, yes, or arrive before 7pm. The popular Italian and Tibetan places have small rooms and fill fast. In the lower valley around Sidhpur it is much easier, though calling ahead helps on weekends and during the summer and Christmas seasons.
Are there good vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Dharamshala?
Yes, this is one of the easiest places in India to eat vegetarian well. Nick’s Italian Kitchen is entirely vegetarian, most Tibetan kitchens run substantial vegetarian menus, and the Kangri and South Indian sections of The Divine Hima’s menu are largely vegetarian by default. Vegan is more work but most kitchens will adapt if you ask when ordering.
Where can I find a bar or a drink with dinner in Dharamshala?
Licensed bars are scarce in McLeod Ganj itself. The lower valley around Sidhpur is easier: The Bar By Far sits alongside The Divine Hima’s restaurant and is one of very few proper bars in the area, so a drink with dinner is straightforward there.
How far are McLeod Ganj restaurants from Sidhpur?
About twenty minutes by road, uphill. Sidhpur sits in the quieter lower valley opposite the Norbulingka Institute, near enough for dinner in McLeod Ganj and far enough that the evenings are actually quiet.
Come for the Dham, stay for the mountains. Book your stay at The Divine Hima.