London in summer

If Gstaad is for winter, London is for summer. While in London, she often dines at MiMi Mei Fair, Samyukta Nair’s Chinese restaurant on Curzon Street, which Kareena believes offers “the best Chinese”. They stay at Claridge’s in Mayfair whenever they are in town. Kareena’s own London to-do list is more everyday. On one trip, she ordered coffee from Pret A Manger, chicken biryani from Copper Chimney, and took Saif and Taimur to a Rolling Stones concert. “But we do go to Annabel’s, a private members’ club, whenever Karisma (Kapoor) is in London.” 

Italy, Greece and the Maldives: Italy is about wine and long lunches, she says, particularly Tuscany. “Saif and I love red wine from Tuscany.” The Amalfi Coast is another of her favourite destinations, and so is Venice. “Italy is beautiful, and I want to see it over time.” Greece has become a summer habit. She travelled to the country in July 2025, and then again, a year later with the entire family, when they hired a yacht: “Just me and the Aegean Sea, what’s not to like.” The Maldives predates both. “Actually, we’ve been to the Maldives many times,” she says. “That was Taimur’s first international visit, which is what made it special.”

India calling: In India, Kareena’s destination of choice is Ladakh, where she and Saif shot Tashan and fell in love. “Ladakh has stunning landscapes and the best of nature, which is what we look for.” Then there is Pataudi Palace in Haryana, Saif’s ancestral home. Built in 1935, it was run as a heritage hotel by the Neemrana group until Saif took it back in 2014 and restored it. The family spends winter holidays and long weekends there. Breakfast runs to Makki ki roti and Saarson da saag, which Kareena says, “comes from our very own ghar ka bagh”. In Mumbai, for a date night, they head for a meal at The Taj Mahal Palace in Colaba, which she says “is old world and vintage”.

Before the passport stamps

Kareena grew up in Mumbai with Karisma and their mother Babita, and for a while money was tight. And there were no holidays, in India or abroad. And when Karisma began working, “it was to the film sets. I was drawn by the lights and the cameras. I used to bunk school a lot,” she says. She did end up going to Ooty on one of the shoots for a film starring her sister. Boarding school at Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun brought its own outings.

Food is best served at home: Ask Kareena where her love for food comes from, and she puts it down to her “Punjabi roots”. She grew up on roti smeared with ghee and wants the same for her sons.  She still takes a teaspoon of ghee every day, and Saif, she says, is the only one in the house who doesn’t like it. “In winter, we eat Sarson ka saag with Makki ki roti at least once a week, and Aloo paratha comes with ghee or white butter.”

The Kapoor table is legendary, and the family is known to serve the best meals. “My father Randhir Kapoor doesn’t know the meaning of the word vegetarian,” she says. Ask her who the family’s biggest glutton is, she doesn’t spare herself: “Toss-up between me, Armaan and Aadar,” referring to her cousins. Kareena has never taken a shine to street food, and “has never cared much for pani puri or chaat. The exceptions are pav bhaji and samosas, particularly from Punjab Sweet House in Bandra, Mumbai”.

Khichdi, wherever she lands: For someone who travels quite a lot, Kareena’s eating habits remain remarkably consistent. Her nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has often said that the actor has followed nearly the same plan for 18 years: paratha or poha at breakfast, a protein or dal and rice at lunch, cheese toast or a mango milkshake in the evening, khichdi with ghee at dinner. Dinner is at 6 pm, and lights go out by 9.30 pm. While she had gone vegetarian a few years back, she has added meat back to her food, and now dinner could be a fish or chicken dish, too. But khichdi remains a personal favourite. “I start craving it after two or three days without it. I can’t survive without khichdi.” Biryani is the family’s favourite dish, particularly when they are in Delhi.

Dining out

Away from the diet chart, Chinese food is the family default. “I have a weakness for Chinese food,” she says, “and Kapoor family lunches and dinners still run mostly to Chinese.” Her favourite restaurant is Yauatcha, where she orders dim sum. Her two pregnancies brought on a craving for pizza. 

In her book, Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Pregnancy Bible, she wrote of working through pepperoni pizzas at her local, Out Of The Blue, during her first, and later, when she couldn’t go out, ordering from Ray’s Cafe & Pizzeria in Bandra two or three times a week. She often dines at her close friend Malaika Arora’s Scarlett House, which Malaika opened with her son Arhaan in a 90-year-old Portuguese bungalow in Bandra. “Who do you think eats all the wings? It is an outstanding place and serves great food.”

If Italy and Italian wines are her top choices, can Italian cuisine be far behind? Cheat days tend to mean a plate of Spaghetti al Pomodoro. Her idea of a perfect evening is modest: sitting in “my 20-year-old pyjamas,” sipping wine or coffee with friends, eating spaghetti.

The art of dressing for a flight: Fashion magazines have often credited Kareena with starting the airport look trend, and photographers still track her through Mumbai’s terminals. Kareena herself believes there is nothing special about her dressing up for a flight. “We should all dress like normal human beings,” she says when asked about celebrity airport style. “I don’t dress for the airport, and I have no issues being photographed in chappals at the airport. I like to be comfortable.”