Jaipur

All right, slightly different format from previous posts. Experimental. Intent is to expand the coverage of this blog to include a bit of travel with the basic underlying theme being food. Lets see how this goes.

Jaipur, pink city, capital of rajasthan, erstwhile princely state of rajputana. Best time to travel Monsoons and winter. Avoid april-june as it is the peak heat and almost unbearable.

Love this city. Memories of my trip with my dad a few times, one girl friend from this city and another girl friend who used to transit from jaipur to kota.

If I were here, these are the places Id visit.

Nero's at Paanch Batti- an old set up from british time and one of the high end restaurants. The raputana laal maans and the chicken ala keiv are a must have. The chicken kiev is an interesting one as I have never had any chicken keiv anywhere else. If I am in Jaipur I have to have this dish. Its a crumb fried chicken mince cylinder with a stuffing of butter. This is one of the best dishes I have had and Highly recommended.

Talk of the town- now being a non vegetarian foodie, jaipur does present its challenges as it is primarily a vegetarian set up in view of the jains and guptas. There is a majority of marvadis who are vegetarian. One of my friends Ritik took me to talk of the town. Its a small takeaway shop that specialises in only a few variants of chicken tikkas and fish tikkas but they are perfectly gtilled. Very economical and I would again highly recommend. I have been here close to four years back and I still remember this one. It is close to hotel khasa kothi.

Rawat ke Kachori- this is one of the mostfamous and memorable eat outs and very popular. Located close to the bus stop, for decades Rawat specialises in pyaaz ki kachori and mave ki kachori. There isnt much to it. Simple shop. Most economical and affordable. People from all strata of the society can be found here eating together. Not too much of ambience but for the love of kachoris anything I say. Highly recommended.

The next door shop serves lassis. Huge glasses of lassi and kachoris go perfect hand on hand on a summer day. My personal preference is the pyaaz ki kachori.

Rtdc restaurant at Nahargarh fort: another one I can recall from close to ten years back was a rajasthan tourism restaurant situated at the Nahargarh fort.  Elegant open air and with wrought iron chairs in a cortyard with green trees overshadowing. I recall having the non vegetarian thali and it was really yum. Not sure if they still have it.

Lakshmi mishtaan bhandaar or LMB at the city is another old sweet and snack shop. It is an old institution which signifies class and age old heritage. While they have  a vast array of sweets and snacks, if I were here, Id always buy a sweet called the ghevar or the malai ghevar. The namkeens or the savouries are all in desi ghee. The samosas kachoris are pretty good.

Chowki dhaani is one of the landmarks of Jaipur now. What started as a small concept close to 13 years back has become a 5 star resort specialising in rajasthani culture and food. In the lunch or dinner there is a entire array of vegetarian rajasthani food served. From makke and jowar rotis to gatte ki sabji and loads of white makkhan. This is a place worth visiting.

Aapno gaon is another such rajasthan culture set up which was started again about 15 years back. Eventually chowki dhaani became what it is now and the rest became non descript.

All in all Jaipur has its own charm. From a strong influence of its heritage and the walled city to the modern GT or Gaurav Towers. It beautiful. At times rustic but it has its own charm. A beautiful blend of modern and old world. For food it has its own style and taste. Well if you are a hard core non vegetarian you may not get extensive choice. But there some really good joints and if you move into the vegetarian fare loads of choices. The rajasthani cuisine, the marwaari cuisine.

A place I love to visit again and again.