Review Overview
2
Summary : Rambagh Palace's dining hall, the Suvarna Mahal, is magnificent but the food unfortunately is the hotel's weakest link.
Rambagh Palace’s dining hall, the Suvarna Mahal, is magnificent but the food unfortunately is the hotel’s weakest link. There’s a good-value fixed menu at both lunch and dinner (Rs150). In the evening, get your seat by 7.30 pm—that’s when the Rajasthani culture show starts. In the old city, LMB Hotel (Johari Bazaar) is here to go for Indian nouvelle cuisine—wacky food and ultra-kitsch 1950s decor, but it makes a change! Famous for its vegetarian food and sweetmeats, LMB also has a popular snacks/ice-cream counter.
The sit-down three-course meals are excellent value (Rs70) and the service is superb. For Chinese and Tandoori fare the same price bracket try Niro’s on M.I. Rd. It’s a surprisingly cheerful place for an upmarket Indian restaurant, with soothing sounds, pleasant decor, and bubbly atmosphere. Right next door is Surya Mahal, serving outstanding vegetarian food at very low prices. Lots of Jaipuri families come here—it’s spotlessly clean, staff wear smart uniforms, and service is quick. The mid-priced Chanakya, also on M.I. Rd, is another well-run vegetarian restaurant, heavily patronised by locals and very centrally located. Kullu . Islami in Ramganj Bazaar is where to go for cheap non-vegetarian food.
Golder Dragon, just off M.I. Rd, is a reliable Chinese restaurant—not as good as Biro’s perhaps, but cheaper and well known for its Szechwan specialities. Jaipur’s Kwality Restaurant, M.I. Rd, is probably the best of the whole chain—fabulous decor (like a Maharajah’s mahal!), select atmosphere, mellow sounds, and multi-national cuisines . Food is a long time coming, but you can help yourself at the (good) lunchtime buffers .
GENERAL INFORMATION
RTDC Tourist Information Bureau, inside the rail station (tel 69784), is open 6 am toe 8 pm daily. Come here for good information and handouts (even posters), for badge-carrying guides (Rs25 half-day, Rs50 full-day), and for useful city tours (Rs20 half-day, 8 am to 1 pm, or 1.30 pm to 6.30 pm; Rs35 full-day, 9 am to 6 pm). There’ also a Government of India tourist office at State Hotel, Khasa Kothi (tel 72200) which runs similar ITDC tours.
The post office on M.I. Rd is (apparently) open 24 hours, and has an international phone facility. State Bank of India is at Sanganeri Gate (very quick currency exchange on them 1st floor), and has a small branch near the tourist office. Both offices are open 10 am to 2 pm, except Sundays. Indian Airlines is at Nehru Place on the Tonk Road to the lirport (tel 74500, 70624, airport tel 822519, 822222, 822718); East West Airlines In at Hotel Jaipur Palace, Near Laxmi Mandir, Tonk Road (tel 512961, tlx 0365-2615). Foreginer’s Registration Office is behind Hawa Mahal (Raj. Police Head Office) (tel 4939e and Rambagh Palace Hotel has a good bookshop.
