ROOH SF

Rooh opened in SoMa in 2017 and has spent the years since proving that debut wasn't a fluke. The kitchen treats Indian cooking as a starting point rather than a script, pulling in techniques and ingredients from well outside the subcontinent and executing the mashups with real precision. The mawa-stuffed breads alone justify the higher check — this isn't the thali-and-naan formula most Indian restaurants in the city still run.

The room backs up the ambition. Jewel-toned walls, velvet chairs, low ambient light — it reads more like a serious cocktail lounge than a curry house, and the small-and-large-plates format gives the kitchen room to keep surprising people who think they know this cuisine.

Rooh has since expanded to Chicago, Palo Alto, and New Delhi, but San Francisco is the original, and it still plays like one — sharper, more exploratory, unwilling to coast on the format it invented. Service and atmosphere keep pace with the plates, which is why regulars keep calling it worth the price.

A Michelin Guide selection confirms what the kitchen has been arguing for years. Rooh SF earned it by refusing to stand still.