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From Live Fire Cooking To Micro-Regional Plates: Chefs Predict 2026’s Biggest Food Trends

India’s leading chefs predict a year of slower cooking, deeper flavour, and culturally rooted dining.

| Isha Mayer
26

2025 was the year matcha lattes, protein-forward menus, and regional food dominated both restaurants and social media feeds. Smaller eateries flourished, and experiential dining continued to gain momentum. As we move into 2026, chefs predict a more thoughtful, technique-driven, and culturally rooted approach to food – one that prioritises flavour, craft, and connection. Here’s what chefs believe will be some of the biggest food trends this year in India.

Chef Jasleen Marwah, Founder & Chef, Folk

Experiential Dining

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It’s no longer just about ingredients or menus, but about the experience that surrounds them—how food is served, shared, and felt. At the heart of this evolution is Indian hospitality, or mehman-nawaazi, which has always been central to the way we dine. Thoughtful dining experiences that blend immersive storytelling with Indian culture will continue to grow. These are meals designed to slow people down, engage the senses, and create a sense of connection—transporting guests beyond the table and into the traditions the food comes from. Experiences like Folk’s Kashmiri Wazwan reflect this approach, where food becomes a way of understanding history, community, and ritual.

Yajush Malik, Chef & Restaurateur, Gallops

Nostalgia Makes A Comeback

We’re going to see old school dishes make a comeback because, at the end of the day, familiarity and nostalgia evoke emotions within us. When this is tied to a food memory, it makes for a delightful experience full of joy. 

Chef Rahul Punjabi, Founder, BANG BANG! Noodle

Non-Veg Heavy & Moving Beyond Chicken/Mutton

I’ve personally seen a big increase in demand for non-veg food. Diners right now are asking for more than just chicken and mutton. They want quail, duck, pork, buffalo. If the category keeps growing, we’ll also start seeing demand for quail, partridge, venison and other more exotic meats. Even in a neighbourhood like Goregaon, where we were told it would be predominantly veg and we’d get suffocated, pork is a huge moving item for our eatery.

Experimental, Chef-Driven Food At An Affordable Price Point

Earlier, we would only see highly skilled and creative chefs open fine dining restaurants or entering the high-end space. But now, there’s a bit of a revolution. People want affordable food, but good food. Just like Bang Bang Noodle, we’ll see more chef-led, chef-driven restaurants where the chefs themselves are opening and funding the spaces. To keep prices approachable, we keep the capex low and focus on the product. 

⁠Product-Focused Menus Rather Than Cuisine-Focused Menus

People have already done a disservice to cuisine-focused restaurants. We don’t genuinely see pure cuisine-focused anywhere. A Vietnamese place will serve Pan-Asian, and an Indian restaurant will serve both North and South. Now we’re seeing restaurants like Benne, Hoppum and so on, where the focus is on one product done really well. Think pasta or pizza restaurants. Same with us — we focus on noodles, we make them handmade, and we focus on quality while being cuisine-agnostic. 

Seefah Ketchaiyo, Chef & Co-Owner, Seeran Hospitality

Charcoal & Live-Fire Cooking As A Flavour Signature (Robatayaki and Open Grill Theatre)

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Live-fire cooking is moving from technique to brand identity. Guests are drawn to the sensory experience — smoke, aroma, crackle, and char — which feels authentic, primal, and premium. Robatayaki perfectly fits this narrative, offering clean Japanese precision with intense charcoal flavour. In 2026, charcoal grilling will symbolise craft, restraint, and depth rather than heaviness.

Chef Manav Khanna, Executive Chef, BANNG!

Freshness And Natural Flavour

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I’m seeing a lot more focus on freshness – fresh herbs, vegetables and flavour extraction without heavy sauces. The idea is to let natural flavour speak for itself.

Authenticity And Going Back To Old Recipes

Many chefs are now looking back at how things were done earlier and bringing out lost or forgotten recipes.

Chef Anand Morwani, Head Chef & Partner, Gaijin

Culture-Led Dining Where Food Meets Music

Food in 2026 will increasingly be part of a larger cultural experience, not a standalone attraction. Listening rooms, vinyl culture, and concept-driven spaces will continue to grow, creating environments where food, sound, and atmosphere coexist thoughtfully. These spaces encourage slower dining, deeper engagement, and a sense of belonging. Gaijin’s vinyl-led listening room format reflects this shift, where guests don’t just come to eat, but to spend time, discover music, and connect. The future of dining isn’t louder or faster; it’s more intentional, immersive, and culturally rooted.

Technique-First Kitchens

In 2026, the spotlight will shift decisively from ingredient chasing to mastery of process. Rather than building menus around imported or novelty produce, kitchens will invest time in fermentation, curing, ageing, stock work, sauce building, and precise control of heat. These techniques deepen flavour, extend shelf life, and allow chefs to extract more character from ingredients that are already familiar to the diner.

Radhika Khandelwal, Chef-Owner, Radish Hospitality Pvt Ltd

Flavour Over Story

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This year, I see food moving away from excessive storytelling and back to what really matters – flavour. Diners are less interested in long explanations and more drawn to food that is bold, confident and immediate. Acid, heat, fermentation, bitterness and fat will be used unapologetically. It’s about food that hits you on the first bite, without needing a backstory to justify it. People want dishes that are delicious first and everything else second.

Latin American Food Beyond the Obvious

Latin American cuisine will go far beyond the familiar Mexican and Peruvian references we’ve seen so much of. I’m excited by the rise of immigrant and home-style cuisines from regions like Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and the Caribbean. These foods are generous, deeply flavoured and built around starches, slow cooking, tropical acidity and smoke - they feel instinctive and soulful rather than polished.

Chef Saurabh Udinia, Culinary Director, HOM (Bandra, Mumbai)

Slowed Down Cooking

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There will be fewer gimmicks on the plate and more confidence in execution. Flavour, timing, heat, and restraint will matter more than complexity.

Chef Shubham Thakur, Japanese MasterChef at The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts

In 2026, chefs will spend a lot more time rediscovering ingredients that were never explained properly on menus: grains, regional rice varieties, and vegetables we’ve often taken for granted. There’s a genuine curiosity to understand where these ingredients come from, how different communities use them, and how they can naturally fit into modern menus. Cooking ‘from the season’ will become instinctive rather than intentional, with seasonal produce guiding decisions. At the same time, diners are looking for food that feels indulgent but not excessive; meals that are satisfying, thoughtful, and rooted in experience rather than spectacle.”

Chef Rijul Gulati, Head Chef, Indian Accent Mumbai 

New Indian Proteins & Beyond

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Indian cuisine has an extraordinary protein vocabulary beyond paneer and chicken — jackfruit, banana stem, lotus root, lentils, millets, artisanal cheese from the Himalayas and indigenous beans. I am serving dishes like green jackfruit kofta, seasonal green chickpeas (choliya), and moth beans in a Multani moth kachori with special khatta masala. These ingredients deserve centre-plate respect. Plant-forward dining will grow with Indian logic, not as a Western imitation, but as a natural evolution of our culinary heritage.

Chef Jyoti Singh, Brand Chef, The Second House and Cafe Lento

Micro-Regional Food

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Regional food, especially micro-regional food, will become much more important in 2026. People are moving past broad categories and want to know exactly where a dish comes from, not just the state or country, but the village, the season, even the community behind it. There’s a growing curiosity around lesser-known regions that haven’t really been explored yet, and that sense of discovery is what makes the food exciting.

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