5 Best Restaurants in Aurangabad, and the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Mumbai

A convenient place to stop for a cold drink and a hot samosa. The outdoor patio has fruit trees (home to many monkeys) and pink bougainvillea flowers. The restaurant closes before the caves do.

Walk straight out of Kailasa Cave (number 16), past the umpteen souvenir stalls on your right, and you'll see the Hotel Kailas with its attached restaurant, Kailas: it's a simple cafeteria-style restaurant serving basic vegetarian Indian food until 9:30 pm. The food isn't great, but it's a hygienic spot, and a bit nicer than the Ellora Restaurant.

At one of Aurangabad's top restaurants, dark furniture, large paintings of Indian scenes, an abundance of green granite, crisp white tablecloths, and a chandelier composed of multiple diyas (traditional Indian lamps) set a regal tone, while a wall of windows opens onto a garden of lovely tropical trees and flowers. The menu might include butter chicken and dal makhani, a rich black lentil dish; tasty Indo-Chinese food—the chilli chicken, a spicy concoction, is recommended; and some Mexican and Italian food.

The hospitality manager Syed Liakhat Hussain is one good reason to visit this brightly lit, busy, and cheerful restaurant that stays open late; the other is the authentic and well-made tandoori food. Shoot for lunch instead of dinner if you're coming by auto-rickshaw, because in the evening it's difficult to find transportation (it's far from the main hotels).

This restaurant inside the local Taj is as good a place to sample the distinct flavor of Indo-Chinese—which blends powerful Indian spices and delicate Chinese preparation—as you're likely to find outside of Mumbai proper. The menu features an excellent array of teas (try the Darjeeling) and cocktails (the sweet but subtle mojito is especially nice), and unlike most of the rest of the pack in Aurangabad, the atmosphere here is quiet and refined.