Pano

Pano is the principal restaurant of the Lemon Tree Premier on Rajpur Road, the contemporary boutique-hotel anchor on the Mussoorie-bound stretch of the city. The dining room is mid-scale and well-lit, with a small al fresco terrace that catches the Doon Valley evening, and runs the gourmet Indian-and-global multi-cuisine format at the more contained price tier the Lemon Tree Premier brand has built for Indian tier-2 capitals.

The cooking is refined Indian with a confident international section. The kitchen runs the careful tandoor and Mughlai programme that any Indian luxury hotel must do well, plus a continental grill, a sushi and pan-Asian counter, and a small Garhwali Doon Valley section that gives the room its regional voice. Signature plates include the slow-cooked dum biryani, the tandoori cottage cheese with mint chutney, the Doon trout grilled on the stone, and the chocolate dessert tasting that closes the kitchen's celebration register.

The wine and Champagne pour is shorter than the Hyatt's but accurate where it commits - an Italian, French and Indian wine list of around 50 references, plus a serious cocktail programme that is well-suited to a birthday first round. The single-malt selection is contained and well-priced.

Service is unfussy and warm; the hotel handles a celebrating party of eight to ten without strain. For a birthday dinner that needs a polished room and a Chef's-tasting menu without paying the Hyatt resort tariff, Pano is the most considered booking on Rajpur Road.

Pano is the considered hotel birthday dinner on Rajpur Road. The polished service, the broad gourmet Indian and global menu, the elegant hotel setting and the contained pricing combine into the most reliable birthday-dinner booking in the city without the resort tariff of the Hyatt.