Best Indian Restaurants in Barcelona 2026 | Vote Now

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Best Indian Restaurants in Barcelona 2026 | Vote Now

Barcelona Food Guide · July 2026

The Best Indian Restaurants
in Barcelona

Pure vegetarian thalis, crispy South Indian dosas, smoky Punjabi tandoors — your complete guide to Indian dining across the city. Now you vote.

🌿 Pure Vegetarian

🌴 South Indian

🍛 North Indian

70+ restaurants · You pick the winner

Barcelona's Indian food scene has quietly become one of the best in southern Europe. What started with a single pioneer in the Eixample in 1985 has grown, over four decades, into a city-wide spread of over 70 sit-down Indian restaurants — covering everything from Tamil Nadu tiffin to Mughlai biryanis, Gujarati thalis, Bombay street food and South Indian coastal cuisine.

Below you'll find the history of how Indian food arrived in Barcelona, three editor's highlights, and a full voting widget where you choose the best. Scroll down — and vote.

How Indian food arrived in Barcelona

Four decades of spice, community and a scene that kept growing.

1985 — The Pioneer

Namaste: Barcelona's first Indian restaurant

The story begins in 1985, when Nanik Ramchandani opened Namaste on Carrer de Villarroel in the Eixample — the very first Indian restaurant in Barcelona. In a city whose gastronomy was dominated by jamón and chuletones, it was a bold move. Ramchandani offered over 100 dishes of authentic North Indian cooking, a traditional tandoor oven, and even Bollywood dance nights on Saturdays to bring the culture alongside the food. For years Namaste stood almost alone. After four decades of service it has since closed, but it remains the restaurant that started everything.

Late 1980s – 1990s

Small wave: the post-Olympics era

The 1992 Olympics transformed Barcelona into a major international city overnight. Tourism surged, the expat community grew, and appetite for world cuisines followed. A handful of Indian restaurants opened in the Raval and Barri Gòtic — neighbourhoods already cosmopolitan and open to the unfamiliar. Sindur opened in the Eixample during this period, importing Rajasthani furniture and recruiting chefs from Kolkata — a sign that some operators were already thinking seriously about authenticity.

2000 – 2008

Bollywood, Tandoor, Mayura and the Eixample expansion

Bollywood Restaurant opened in 2000 on Avinguda de les Drassanes, bringing Bollywood décor, native chefs and weekend dance shows to a growing audience. In 2002, Tandoor opened on Carrer de Londres — a father-and-son project that set a new standard for tandoori cooking. Around 2006 Mayura opened on Carrer de Girona; it would go on to become the most-reviewed Indian restaurant in Spain. Shanti followed in 2008, bringing a more refined dining experience to the Les Corts area.

2010s

A quality leap — Gràcia becomes the heartland

A new generation of restaurateurs — trained in family kitchens in Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — opened restaurants that no longer softened spice levels for local audiences. Gràcia became the heartland of quality Indian cooking: Swagatam, Indian Herbs and Veg World India all found their home there. Bombay Spicy became a Raval institution for vegetarian thalis. Desi Galli brought Bombay street food energy to the Eixample. And Chennai Masala Dosa introduced proper Tamil tiffin — crisp dosas, soft idlis, freshly ground chutneys — to a city that had never really tasted it before.

2018 – 2025

A mature scene with fine dining ambitions

Rasoi Ghar launched in 2018 with fine-dining ambitions and won immediate acclaim. Rasa, The Mantraa, Atithi, Achaar Bar, Haldi, Hungry Eyes, Sagun and dozens more followed, each carving out a neighbourhood and an audience. By 2025 Barcelona had well over 70 sit-down Indian restaurants spread across every district — from Zona Franca to Sarrià, from Sant Andreu to Barceloneta.

2026 — The latest chapter

Saravanaa Bhavan arrives — and the scene keeps growing

In 2026, the globally renowned Saravanaa Bhavan chain — known across the world for its authentic South Indian vegetarian cooking — opened its Barcelona branch on La Rambla, marking a milestone for the city's South Indian dining scene. Its arrival is a signal of how seriously Barcelona is now taken as an Indian food destination. The scene that Nanik Ramchandani started with Namaste forty years ago is still very much alive — and still growing.

🌿 Editor's Highlight · Pure Vegetarian

⭐ Pure Vegetarian · Gràcia

Veg World India

📍 Carrer de Bruniquer, 24 · Gràcia

★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,600+ reviews

The standout 100% vegetarian Indian restaurant in Barcelona. The interior is an event in itself — hand-painted murals, brass lanterns, warm light and a street-food buzz that feels like stepping into a Delhi market lane. The menu covers the greatest hits of Indian vegetarian cooking: pani puri, bhel puri, Amritsari kulche, masala dosa, chole bhature and deep, properly spiced curries. Portions are generous, the mango lassi is one of the best in the city, and spice levels are adjusted on request. The fact that it draws as many local Barcelonans as it does homesick Indians tells you everything. Book ahead on weekends — the queue outside is a permanent feature.

🌴 Editor's Highlight · South Indian

⭐ South Indian · Les Corts & Eixample

Chennai Masala Dosa

📍 Carrer de Galileu, 326 · Les Corts · Also: Carrer del Bruc, 25 · Eixample

★★★★½ 4.5 · 2,700+ reviews (Les Corts) · 4.8 · 200+ reviews (Eixample)

The name synonymous with South Indian cooking in Barcelona. The original in Les Corts is a proper tiffin house — the scent of sambar and freshly ground coconut chutney reaches you from the street. Masala dosas arrive impossibly thin and crisp, idlis cloud-soft, and the veg South Indian thali is one of the most complete and satisfying meals in the city. The Eixample branch on Carrer del Bruc brings the same kitchen to a brighter central setting. One reviewer said it simply: "If I had closed my eyes I would have thought I was back in Coimbatore."

🍛 Editor's Highlight · Indian

⭐ Indian · Raval · Open daily until midnight

Taste of India BCN

📍 Carrer dels Tallers, 8 · Raval

★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,620+ reviews

One of the most consistently praised Indian restaurants in Barcelona. Located on one of the city's busiest streets at the edge of the Raval, it delivers bold, properly spiced curries at prices that remain refreshingly honest. The chicken tikka masala is a benchmark — creamy, smoky, with enough heat to remind you this is the real thing. The kadhai paneer is outstanding for vegetarians. The menu spans both North and South Indian, ideal when a group can't agree. Open until midnight every day — one of the very few places in the city that can satisfy a late-night curry craving.

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