Lucknow has officially been declared a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy during the 43rd Session of the UNESCO General Conference, currently underway in Uzbekistan. The recognition celebrates the city’s centuries-old Awadhi cuisine, its living food traditions, and inclusive cultural heritage.
It is a fitting honour for a city where age-old tunday kebabs are still cooked and eaten much as they were a century ago — the only change being the passing of ladles and appetites from one generation to the next. But beyond the historic lanes of Chowk, a quiet food revolution is taking shape. New restaurants are creating outward-looking dining experiences in the rapidly gentrifying pockets of Gomti Nagar, while others are reinterpreting traditional fare to give diners fresh perspectives on local cuisine.
Ulta tawa paratha being cooked in the streets of Lucknow
| Photo Credit:
Suparna Hazra
Until recently, only those willing to brave the bustle of the old markets could sample its iconic dishes. And while kebabs, nihari, biryani and chaat form the backbone of Lucknow’s UNESCO bid, how these foods are accessed in their original establishments is unlikely to change. Yet, a growing number of Lucknowites now seek easier access to classic bazaar fare — in cleaner surroundings and without the accompanying after-effects. For years, sit-down dining options were limited to staples such as Quality, Royal Café, or Chinese favourites Jone Hing and Chung Fa. Today, diners are looking for a wider range of international flavours that still retain a sense of comfort and familiarity.
A new wave
Sassy Canteen, founded in 2019 in Balmiki Nagar and now operating in an expanded space, represents this shift. Run by chefs Himani and Bhaskar, both former five-star hotel chefs, it brings together local and international favourites in a refined setting. Their gilawat and boti kebabs follow traditional recipes but are prepared with the precision of a sushi chef — Bhaskar previously worked at Wasabi by Morimoto at The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai. The couple insist their only adaptation to the classics is to make them lighter, so diners can enjoy them without feeling weighed down.
Sassy Canteen’s nihari kulcha
| Photo Credit:
Gunjit Sharma
For Lucknow’s well-travelled residents, legacy dishes such as chicken kali mirch are reimagined — here, served on a Soviet-era-style babka toast. “It’s about comforting new flavours,” says Himani. Sushi has been on the menu from the start, but it took two years to introduce a raw-fish version. Matcha was also gradually incorporated, paired with ice cream and caramelised dry fruits to create a dessert that blends Italian affogato with Kashmiri shufta.
Like Himani and Bhaskar, chef Harsh Misra prefers to ease diners into new ideas rather than overwhelm them. For nearly a decade, he has helped curate menus across Lucknow’s evolving restaurant scene. His current venture, Talllk Espresso Bar and Kitchen, serves ravioli in saffron sauce — a nod to Lucknow’s decadence in a pasta form. His latest menu includes burritos that use a familiar format to introduce new flavours. “People have the spending power and are open to trying new things,” says Harsh. He notes that younger diners often compare dishes against the menu descriptions, taking satisfaction in discovering every detail of the thoughtfully assembled plates. An experimental Awadhi tasting menu, he adds, is on the horizon.
Tradition meets experimentation
Amid this experimentation, some chefs are turning inward — celebrating food traditionally cooked in Lucknow’s homes, long overshadowed by its more famous bazaar dishes.
In 2018, Sheeba Iqbal began hosting curated dinners featuring family recipes in her century-old haveli. She now collaborates with Naimat Khana, a restaurant that champions home-style Awadhi cooking. Her menu — refined over 33 years of cooking for her family — includes yakhni pulao, rayeta-e-badingam made with roasted aubergine and smoked yoghurt, and arvi ka salan (colacasia in sour tomato-tamarind gravy). Here, novelty is replaced by tradition; ingredients and recipes shift with the seasons, in the true Lucknowi way.
Sabz karari keri wali
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Sheeba’s food showcases what distinguishes Awadhi from Mughlai cuisine — delicately spiced, seasonal produce cooked in mustard oil, with ghee used to bloom aromas rather than signify indulgence.
“We often associate Lucknow with opulence and excess,” says chef Taiyaba Ali, whose curated Awadhi menus have travelled across Indian cities. “But the Nawabs had refined tastes. There’s restraint in home food — you respect your ingredients.” In Lucknow, her tasting menu was staged at the Mahmudabad House inside the Qaiserbagh Palace complex.
One of chef Taiyaba’s creations
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Chef Taiyaba takes an interpretive, artistic approach to her cooking, using seasonal produce to show how a single dish can vary across communities. Her creations — dal gosht dumplings, winter root salan, and sabz karari keri wali (raw mango with crispy okra) — blend nostalgia, storytelling and experimentation, aiming to familiarise diners with the layered flavours and culinary history of Lucknow. “What I do,” she says, “is food I’d want to eat — food rooted in my identity. The question is, where can I take it next?”
Khasta matar chaat
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Change in Lucknow, however, is gradual, especially when it comes to food. Experimentation is often met with scepticism. Diners may try new experiences, but they still crave comfort and familiarity. For chefs like Taiyaba, resistance to change remains the biggest challenge. Most agree that tasting menus and small-plate dining are still avant-garde for the city. Yet, with Lucknow’s evolving palate — and now, its UNESCO recognition — it may only be a matter of time before its diners not only embrace but expect to be surprised by what lands on their plates.
Published – November 05, 2025 12:03 pm IST