Diner's club: Celebrities and their favourite restaurants

Guilty pleasure: Waffles, but I never eat them. Unless I’m in London and we pass Wafflemeister

SHUBHRA CHADDA 

Co-founder, Chumbak

Favourite restaurants: The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai; Indian Accent, Delhi; Toast & Tonic, Bengaluru; Gaggan, Bangkok; and Le Bernardin, New York; Masakichi, Tokyo. My favourite dishes are the Kejriwal toast and gulab nut for dessert at The Bombay Canteen

The surprise twist: Salmon roe at Tsukiji fish market in Japan

Street food: Bhel puri or vada pav in Mumbai

Comfort food: Curd rice, which my husband makes for me, and I get to have 2-3 times a week

Guilty pleasure: A glass of wine everyday

AMISH TRIPATHI 

Author

Favourite restaurants: Be it India or abroad, I’m more concerned about the ambience than a particular restaurant or the cuisine

The surprise twist: Mango Tree in the historic town of Hampi in Karnataka. They served this lovely South Indian thali on banana plantains. The ground-level seating faced the Tungabhadra river and beyond the river were the architectural ruins of the Vijayanagara empire. The food was simple, tasty and pocket-friendly

Street food: Pani puri

Comfort food: Dal khichdi with buknu (spice mixture, popular in northern India), ghee, papad and dahi at least once a fortnight, and my go-to restaurant for this is Khichdi Samrat in Mumbai

Guilty pleasure: Cream biscuits and chocolates

SHILPA SHETTY 

Actor

Favourite restaurants: Wasabi by Morimoto in India and Nobu abroad

Street food: Vada pav and pani puri

Comfort food: Dal khichdi with ghee

Guilty pleasure: Chocolate

SIDDHANT KAMATH 

Director, Natural Ice cream

Favourite restaurants: Highway Gomantak in Mumbai for authentic seafood; Al Jawahar in Delhi for the best khameeri roti and chicken changezi; the unique kebabs and the biriyani at Kolkata’s Arsalan; Giri Manja’s in Mangaluru for its home-style seafood thali; and Kokni Kanteen in Goa for barleli bangda and baby shark curry

The surprise twist: At Gunpowder, Goa, I was surprised how South Indian food can be redefined
Street food: Misal pav, any day, any time

Comfort food: Dal makhani with plain laccha paratha. When I am having a bad day, there’s extra white butter on the dal. I usually let myself indulge on Friday nights

Guilty pleasure: Moong dal halwa. I forget about diet and etiquette when I’m having it

PAYAL SINGHAL

Designer

Favourite restaurants: Peshawari in Mumbai: There’s no black dal like Peshawari’s in the world; Pio Pio 8 in New York—their green sauce is to die for

The surprise twist: The raspberry dessert at Yauatcha
Street food: Egyptian chicken & rice on 49th Street & 6th Avenue in New York City

Comfort food: Homemade chicken biryani. I have it at least twice a week

Guilty pleasure: Chocolate cake, any time