Gokarna India – 5 Best Places to Eat

Gokarna has a great choice of places to eat, with several well established local restaurants along its Main Road and Car Street. Alcoholic beverages are also available in a select number of establishments in town, and almost everywhere on the beaches. Most of the eateries in Gokarna, serve pretty decent traveller-orientated fare with variations of International dishes, as well as authentic South and North Indian cuisine. We recommend you try the following.

Local Food

Pai Hotel, on Car Street, is famous among the travelling community for serving inexpensive, delicious, authentic South India food. It is a no-thrills kind of place, with a small vegetarian menu, which offers the best of local fare. It serves an excellent masala dosa during breakfast hours, very good milky coffee, a superb thali with generous re-fills and, arguably, the best gobi manchurian in town. Pai Hotel is a popular meeting point for travellers and is therefore almost always buzzing with people. Service is efficient and quick, décor is simple but sufficiently clean. We recommend you try their gobi manchurian, which will cost you around INR70 but be warned it’s a little on the spicy side.

Mixed Kitchen

Prema, located on Main Beach Road, may look a little shabby and basic but its menu offers an excellent selection of dishes catering for both Western and local tourists. It’s a pretty popular place due to its proximity to the beach, but it also serves great food, including a wide variety of delicious ice creams. The menu offers both North and South India grub, various local snacks, salads, desserts, dosas and a selection of noodle soups. Service is speedy and the staff are very friendly. We recommend you try their veg thali, which is very tasty and filling and will set you back a mere INR100, and a local ice cream delicacy called gadbad.

Pai Restaurant, on Main Street, around the corner from Pai Hotel, yet which has no relation to Pai Hotel, also serves pretty decent fare. Their the menu is slightly more expansive and offers everything from continental and south Indian breakfast, to Chinese, noodle, rice and North Indian dishes. The restaurant owner is a little standoffish, but the service is fast, the place is clean and the food both tasty and inexpensive. Their mushroom biryani is fantastic and comes in a large steaming heap on a sizable place so you certainly won’t leave hungry. One of these will set you back about INR90.

Western and International

Chez Christophe is an authentic French restaurant, owned and run by a Frenchman. Situated mid-way down Main Beach the place is decidedly different from the surrounding sea shacks. As well as offering excellent views of the seashore, which you can enjoy lounging on large padded swings, the restaurant serves superb food. It has a reasonably small but perfectly varied menu offering everything from a cheese platter, to rustic French vegetarian dishes. It also has an excellent selection of sweet-treats and wines. The place is beautifully designed, clean and efficiently run. Perfect if you’re after a romantic dinner or a group celebration. It is on the expensive side, however; a glass of wine will set you back about INR250, while a dinner for four will cost in excess of INR2000.

La Pizzeria Kudle View is said to serve the best pizza in the whole of Gokarna. Located on Kudle Beach, with an open-air dining area offering excellent views of the sea, this relatively simple but very friendly restaurant is perfect if you crave an authentic wood-fire pizza made to your liking. They also do excellent butter garlic prawns, king fish rava fry and will serve you an ice cold beer in a matter of minutes. If you head to the La Pizzeria we recommend you try one of their pizzas, we had the satay chicken option, which was absolutely scruptious. This place is family friendly, offers a great selection of drinks, including beers and juices and is perfect for a sunset-dinner. Pizza prices start from INR120.