Masque Honoured With Asia’s 50 Best Art of Hospitality Award 2026

Every year, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants goes beyond rankings to spotlight restaurants that are shaping how the continent dines with a voting academy of chefs, restaurateurs, critics, and industry insiders.

Ahead of the ceremony, the Art of Hospitality Award was awarded to Masque, a flagship fine-dining restaurant in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi district that has become one of India’s most influential culinary destinations.  Coinciding with Marque’s completing a decade since its opening, the restaurant was selected for its ability to curate a dining experience that is as immersive as it is thoughtful.

Since debuting on the list in 2021, the restaurant has repeatedly been named the Best Restaurant in India within the list and climbed into the top tier of Asia’s fine-dining establishments in 2025, securing a No. 19 ranking.  The restaurant joins an esteemed line-up of previous winners, including Toyo Eatery in Manila, Nusara in Bangkok, and Zen in Singapore.

A Decade of Experimentation

Founded in 2016 by restaurateur Aditi Dugar along with Chef Varun Totlani, Masque is infamous for its ingredient-driven approach and seasonal, multi-course tasting menu. Chef Totlani, along with his team, travels to different regions of the country researching and sourcing local ingredients ranging from Goan seaweed to Kashmiri chilies from local farmers.  Once collected, the team experiments with pickling and fermentation in their in-house Masque lab, creating their own curations, including their infamous black garlic. Inside the Masque lab, the R&D kitchen bridges traditional Indian cooking with global techniques and influences. The lab also acts as an intimate private dining space suited for just 14 guests.

What Makes Masque’s Menu Special?

Centering around a ten-course chef’s tasting experience, the menu offers both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, evolving with the seasons and drawing on Indian traditions and culinary roots while also giving a modern interpretation. While not following a regular à la carte format, Masque has built a reputation for rekindling with regional ingredients, including prickly pear with nagphani and coconut malai, ponkh bhel enriched with Goan seaweed, among others.

Speaking about the recognition, Aditi Dugar says, “It’s almost poetic to win the Art of Hospitality award in our 10th year. It’s made this milestone so much sweeter. Being recognised on a global platform like this has affirmed something we’ve believed in from day one: that hospitality isn’t just the delicious food on your plate, but everything that happens from when guests walk in through the door till they leave at the end of their meal. This recognition is for the people behind Masque, a team that shows up every day wanting to do its very best with rigour and consistency.”

Chef Varun Totlani adds, “For me, this recognition makes me look at our journey and everything we’ve done to get here. Masque is almost 10 now, and we want to build an institution known for great food, service, and storytelling. We didn’t have a playbook when we began. It’s our own lessons and hard work that brought us here. It’s gratifying to see that work acknowledged, and it reinforces our responsibility to represent Indian ingredients with honesty.”

The Art of Hospitality Award is the second of three pre-announced awards ahead of this year's Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony.