11 Best Restaurants in Rajasthan, India

This little bakery and café in the Hotel Gangaur Palace, with courtyard or rooftop seating, sells fresh pastries and cakes, as well as delicious, real espresso. If you come for breakfast, try the baked beans on toast or the soft cinnamon rolls (not always available during summer months), apple crumble, or date-and-walnut pie. The café is on a busy thoroughfare, but you can take your coffee and pastry upstairs to its sister venue Natural City View (same menu). It also serves international dishes at lunch and dinner.

This small café and bakery offers a range of healthy, light food, be it a tofu stir-fry or one of the interesting salads—all prepared to order. If you have had one too many naans or paneer-butter-ghee packed lunches, head here for a sandwich with homemade bread, cheesecake, or a healthy vegetarian or vegan meal.

The glass- and wood-dominated environment of this regional chain is the best place to tuck into South Indian specialties such as dosas, idlis, upma, and vadas.

Rajasthani vegetarian food is the specialty at this small family-owned rooftop restaurant, but don't expect the palate-burning dishes that Rajasthan is known for—the spice levels here are significantly toned down to suit Westerners. If you haven't yet tried quintessentially Rajasthani dishes dal bati churma (lentils, rolls, and sweetened wheat and butter paste—sort of the Rajasthani equivalent of bread and butter) or ker saangri (desert vegetable), this is the place to do so. For a taste of something local, try the Marwari Thali, an assortment of regional vegetarian dishes served with rice and chapatis.

Next door to Gehrilal Goverdhan Singh Choudhary, near the Clock Tower, is a sweet stall, Lala Misthan Bhandar, where you can satisfy your sweet tooth and refuel with the best gulab jamun (fried milk balls in syrup) and imarti (pretzel-shaped pastries dipped in sugary syrup) in town, its open late till 10 pm.

Most of the restaurants within the fort are vegetarian for historical reasons (mainly vegetarian Brahmin families lived in the fort), but a small section, where Rajput families live, have a few nonvegetarian restaurants—Little Tibet is one of them. It serves a mix of Tibetan (momos, vegetable and meat, great thukpa soups), Chinese, and Indian, with a few global items thrown in. The Indian nonvegetarian food is competently cooked if not hugely exciting; Tibetan fare is better. You can either eat at the main level or climb up to the rooftop, lit with fairy lights, and eat under the stars. It stays open later than most places inside the fort.

A favorite with backpackers, this quirky vegetarian restaurant in an old whitewashed-blue building near the Brahma Temple has chilled trance music in the background, and reasonably quick and attentive service. The lengthy menu has everything from pizzas, thalis, extensive breakfasts (fit for a king) with Italian espresso, 20 types of grilled sandwiches, 12 types of soup, many flavors of lassi (chocolate, rose, mixed fruit), pasta (a favorite is ravioli in sage sauce), Mexican favorites, and Israeli and Middle Eastern food like falafel, to crepes (vegetable, sweet, or salty) and apple pie. You can eat downstairs in a/c comfort or head to the rooftop and have a meal with a view.

Inside the City Palace complex, this casual café, is a perfect postmuseum stop—sit outside under Rajasthani umbrellas if you like to people-watch. The menu emphasizes standard continental café fare, such as salads, sandwiches, pizza, and pasta. Beer and an extensive variety of international and Indian wines are also available. If you have tickets for the sound-and-light show, you can watch it over dinner (Rs. 400; reservations required) on the patio. If you want dinner but don't have show tickets, you'll have to wait until the café reopens at 9 pm. Prices tend to be higher than other restaurants in the area.

Arrive at this extra-large food stall as early as 6 am (or as late as midnight) for an old North Indian favorite—piping hot puris and alu (deep-fried wheat bread served with potato curry)---or try traditional Jodhpuri sweets, snacks, dosas, and more. Don't expect ambience, but the food is made fresh and bakery items are in chilled cases.

An upgraded dhaba (roadside eatery), this unprepossessing spot located on the way to Amer Fort is an attractive and convenient stop after a heavy morning of fort viewing. Air-conditioned and kept spotlessly clean by its house-proud and attentive owners, it serves North Indian specials; favorites include palak paneer (spinach with soft white cheese), garlic naan, kadhi pakoda (yogurt curry with chickpea dumplings), achari aloo (spiced potatoes), vegetable curry (stuffed potato dumplings in gravy) on its mostly vegetarian menu.

Stop by this lively café and lounge, centrally located near a city garden and close to Fateh Sagar Lake, for some interesting blends of coffee, a quick bite, or to chill on the comfortable sofas. Sandwiches, burgers, and pizzas are on the menu, and Wi-Fi is free.