Despite the region being home to a quarter of the world’s population, cuisine from South Asia has long been underrepresented in the world of fine dining. Much of this has been due to preconceived notions and stereotypes about the cuisine. “I’ve been hearing stuff since I was a little kid [about South Asian food],” says Megha McSwain, an Indian-born American food journalist based in Houston. “[Comments] like: ‘The food smells,’ or ‘It’s too spicy,’ or ‘I don’t like the taste of curry.’”

“There’s this idea that South Asian food is heavy, spicy and oily, that it’s supposed to be a cheap eat, and it’s only affordable as a street food… not refined or worthy of fine dining,” adds Shayma Saadat, a Toronto-based food writer and chef who runs the popular food blog The Spice Spoon. “There is this expectation that South Asian food has to be authentic and untouched while French and Italian chefs are celebrated for deconstructing and modernizing their cuisine.”

Consider how long it took for this cuisine to gain recognition outside of the region itself. The first South Asian restaurants and chefs to be awarded Michelin stars were the London-based Zaika, headed by Vineet Bhatia, and Tamarind, headed by Atul Kochhar, both in 2001—seven decades after the guide first began awarding stars in 1926. 

In the two decades since, South Asian fine dining has taken its rightful place in the global culinary scene, an evolution that is reflected in both Google search trends as well as the numerous award-winning South Asian fine dining establishments, including London’s Opheem, the Leela in Hong Kong and New York’s popular Junoon and Bungalow, to name a few. This growing interest has been influenced partly by members of the South Asian diaspora, who grew up in North America and the U.K. and wanted to blend the cuisines of their multiple identities. 

“If you look at it over the last 10 years, it’s been little by little, but when you look at it as a whole, you’re like, ‘Wow, [from] 1985 to 2025, it’s just a world of difference,’” McSwain says.  

But there’s always room to grow. The area of South Asia encompasses India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Afghanistan, yet people often think South Asian cuisine means Indian cuisine—specifically North Indian cuisine. This flattens the culinary traditions of a geographic region that encompasses a wide array of languages, cultures, and cuisines to a few dishes like butter chicken, chicken tikka, naan and biryani. Most of the South Asian fine dining restaurants featured in the Michelin guide currently are Indian and serve North Indian fare, with only a handful of Sri Lankan, Nepali, Afghan and Pakistani restaurants featured — though both Saadat and McSwain think that this is slowly changing.

“The complexity of South Asian cuisine as a whole, it’s still quite underrepresented,” says Saadat. One of the reasons behind this underrepresentation, she notes, is because both Western and South Asian diners and critics have rather rigid and inflexible ideas of what “authentic” South Asian cuisine is, what it should taste like, and its cost — and they don’t always support cuisine that challenges these ideas. “You’re reducing entire culinary traditions to a handful of recognizable dishes,” Sadaat says. 

Despite these constraints, the future of South Asian cuisine in fine dining spaces, which have always prioritized innovation, is promising. “I think a lot of us who now live outside the country of our birth or our parents’ or grandparents’ birth want to cook that food, but not necessarily the way our grandparents did,” Saadat says. “There is that sense of nostalgia, but we want to change things up.”

Below, seven South Asian fine dining restaurants around the world that are doing exactly that:

Semma in New York, USA

Semma, meaning ‘awesome’ or ‘fantastic’ in Tamil, is the brainchild of Tamil Nadu-born Chef Vijay Kumar. Semma aims to bring diners the “soul of South India” through its simple yet sophisticated take on South Indian classics like podiyal (sauteed, shredded vegetables), khichdi (a rice and lentil porridge), and, of course, dosa. Judging from the Michelin star it was awarded in 2024, which makes it New York’s only Michelin-starred Indian restaurant, Semma appears to have succeeded.

Gaa in Bangkok, Thailand

Gaa, meaning ‘sing’ in Hindi-Urdu, first opened its elegant doors, located inside a renovated 60-year-old Thai house, in 2017. It’s headed by Chef Garima Aurora, who has brought the restaurant two Michelin stars and became the first Michelin-starred Indian female chef in the process. Gaa’s 13-course menu (available in both vegetarian and meat options) marries Indian techniques with Thai ingredients to create an extraordinary gastronomical experience unlike any other.

Avatāra in Dubai, UAE

Founded by restauranteur Bhupinder Nath in 2022, Avatāra (Sanskrit for ‘avatar’) is, as its name indicates, “a reincarnation of soulful Indian vegetarian food.” The world’s only Michelin-starred Indian vegetarian restaurant, the restaurant’s 16-course tasting menu, curated by Chef Rahul Rana, consists of dishes that elevate staples of Indian vegetarian cuisine—such as okra, lentils and peas—into portals that allow diners to journey through the six ‘rasas,’ or tastes, of Ayurvedic cuisine: sweet, pungent, astringent, salty, bitter and sour. 

Musaafer in Houston, USA

McSwain likens the chef Mayank Istwal-helmed, Michelin-starred Musaafer, meaning ‘traveler’ in Hindi-Urdu, to a museum where what’s around the table is meant to be enjoyed and admired as much as what’s on it. With its opulent interiors reminiscent of ancient Indian palaces, and a menu inspired from Istwal’s travels across India, Musaafer indeed transports its customers from Houston to Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra—and back. “Even though you’ll see some familiar names of dishes, the presentation is something you’ve probably never seen before, and that spans from the cocktails and food to the desserts,” says McSwain. “Everything is a work of art.”

Oven in Lisbon, Portugal

Named after the tandoor, a type of clay oven used to bake and roast flatbreads and meats in cuisines across South Asia, Oven’s well-rounded menu consists of generously seasoned meat, seafood and vegetable options through which diners can experience a taste of Nepali and Indian cuisine.

Jamil’s Chaat House in Toronto, Canada

After operating as a pop-up in several restaurants across Toronto last year, Jamil’s Chaat House opened the doors to its permanent location on Queen Street West earlier this year. Owner Jamil Bokhari has worked with partner Emma Tanaka and Chef Eric McDonald to curate a menu that blends snack dishes from his Pakistani heritage with elements of tapas, presenting small plates of samosas, paneer, and beef kebabs alongside natural wine pairings, a new take on the cuisine. 

Lapis in Washington, USA

At Lapis, Persian for ‘gem,’ Chef Shamim Popal aims to share her family’s legacy through homestyle dishes made from recipes passed down generations. The restaurant’s extensive menu ranges from Afghan dumplings to grilled skewers of kebab to vegetarian dishes to their traditional aush soup — with hearty rice noodles, ground beef, dill and garlic yogurt — that promises to wow an Afghan mother-in-law. Lapis’ soups have certainly impressed Michelin inspectors who awarded the restaurant a Bib Gourmand in 2021 for its good quality and great value cooking.