Was in Pondicherry for 5 days and here are few restaurants that we tried.
Mel Whisks
Went there for a late lunch. This is a rooftop resto pub nestled in the Heritage Town. Stumbled upon this while we were walking in search of a place for a quick lunch. We had few starters and a small portion of a main course. We didn’t expect it to be good, but it was pretty decent. Good service as well. Although the quantity was less, it was tasty. Recommend their Calamari fry. Moderate pricing.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/5LPDwjzZtLAo6fpg8 Promenade
We tried their outdoor restaurant (They have an Asian restaurant on the roof top but won’t serve those here. More on this later). This was more of their North Indian spread and had few Continental dishes as well. This is right on the Rock Beach but no views though. Service was good but food was expensive.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/4JGYx4eJwsCnKaPY9 Coromandel Cafe
This place was super crowded even on a weekday and we had a wait for couple of mins to get the seat. They had good selection of Continental dishes and the quantity was good. The service could have been better though. Moderate to expensive pricing. Nice ambience though.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/7Ao7BbbUqKHXRdHSA Villa Shanti
This was on top of our list seeing the reviews by many Bloggers but turned out to be pretty ordinary. Nice ambience though. Moderate pricing.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/eF5uVBbhS3ygFxs19 Le Dupleix
This place was totally empty when we went and we had our doubts on the dishes. It was pretty good and had good portions.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/kBGhrqwYsXhaexqr7 La Villa
This was our biggest surprise. We went in to find the place totally empty, with staff nowhere to be found. We thought to try some other place, went out but came back after 30 mins to be greeted by none. Then one staff came and arranged a table outside. The food there was really good and enjoyed the ambience. Learned that this was under the same management of Villa Shanti. Would definitely recommend this place. If it’s after dusk, would recommend sitting inside as there were quite a lot of mosquitoes outside. But to enjoy the ambience, the place to sit is outside.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/fA6qeN7boP9NDKLV9 Tanto
We didn’t review any other place in Auroville and this was one default recommendation by all. This is outside Auroville towards the ECR road. Nothing fancy about this place. We tried their non-veg + veg pizza and it was good but a bit salty for me. But would recommend them.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/XsKX8EjCmagFFfeA8 Bay of Buddha at the Promenade
Seeing the rush few days back, we decided to try it. It was disappointing. The fish tasted really raw that we replaced it with another dish as per the chef’s recommendation. They tried to pass the bill for the fish which was almost 1k when the replacement dish was around 500. I wouldn’t recommend this.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/PW4ZNFB4UkfvQ7GUA Baker street
This was strongly recommended by my friends for their sweets. Found the cakes/biscuits to be pretty ordinary but loved their marble cake. Would recommend that.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/LyktBWjMnbfwuXFC8 (They have an outlet at Rock beach as well)
GMT - Ice cream
Again, a decent place and tends to get really crowded. Reasonable pricing.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/odvuyBz7aR2E3zE59 Auroville Bakery & Cafe
We had gone to their supermarket market (Farm Fresh) which was right beside the bakery to get some fresh cheese and that’s when we noticed the rush. At an instant we noticed that bread was their main hotseller. We grabbed few vegan biscuits (Chocolate, Chocolate and orange etc) and also tried their marble cake. Although it was good, we liked the one from baker street. Moderate pricing and would recommend it if you are going to Auroville.
Location -
https://goo.gl/maps/ed55JaoQPKZ5j3ov7
Maybe got spoiled by options since most of these dishes are available in Cochin and Bangalore.
Some notes:
1. Most of the meat that they serve are rare so point out to make it well done in case you don’t fancy the raw taste.
2. All the above do serve alcohol except for the ones at Auroville.
3. None of these restaurants have parking. So park somewhere in White Town and walk to these places. There’s a paid municipal parking plot in White Town or try parking near “La Villa” or at “Suffren Street”. Weekends can be really crowded.