Dum Pukht, Mumbai, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 18, Part 2)

Flying back into Mumbai from Cochin I was dreading the inevitably annoying taxi experience we would have. We were headed to the hotel ITC Maratha for our dinner at Dum Pukht, a restaurant that specialises in the eponymous refined style of cooking food at low temperatures and longer durations in containers sealed with dough. Even though we went with the safe route of the prepaid counter, dealing with the taxi driver was reliably frustrating as they initially put our suitcase on the roof rack without tying it up, and then the driver had a friend come along for 'baggage' service - aka getting a tip for doing nothing.

Arriving in our beat up yellow and black taxi at the luxury hotel was a comically out of place juxtaposition that you may find in a Wes Anderson movie In spite of probably looking a bit out of place next to all the private cars, the hotel staff were lovely, and after scanning our bags through their strict security assisted us as we headed to Dum Pukht for our meal. When we arrived it seemed that in spite of a confirmation email that my reservation had not been recorded, however given that they were not particularly busy we were seated immediately in the restaurant's opulent dining room. Having eaten here 4 years ago, the restaurant had had a serious refit in the interim and really looked like a restaurant fit for Indian royalty from a bygone era. By far, Dum Pukht had the best décor of any restaurant we ate at in India.

Our waiter Ashok initially gave us the a la carte menu, but also gave us the option of a complimentary meal if we bought a very expensive bottle of wine (not something I was interested in) and also a set dinner featuring many of their signature dishes. Seeing their famous Dum Biryani on the menu, we decided that the non-veg multi-course set dinner was the way to go, along with a bottle of French Syrah.

Instead of the obligatory bread of other more European fine dining establishments, we were served some tube shaped papads. Though the presentation was very interesting it was not exactly surprising in terms of flavour – about what I would expect for a good papad.

Our starter was a kabab taster consisting of Murgh Chandi Tikka (chicken) and Dum Pukht Kakori (lamb). The chicken was delicious and incredibly soft – completely different to the spicier style more commonly encountered. This tikka used a 'royal' cumin marinade resulting in a lighter, more refined dish. Still, as good as this was, it was no where near as amazing as the lamb. A signature dish of the restaurant's, the lamb was described as 'melt in your mouth' - though this was an understatement. Just touching the kabab with a knife was enough to cut it, and it was easily the smoothest lamb mince I've ever eaten, spiced wonderfully with cloves, cinnamon and saffron. We wondered how on earth they managed to remove the meat from the skewers as the softness would have been a difficult challenge even for the most careful of chefs. Ashok explained that once there was a king who loved eating lamb kababs, however as he had no teeth he commanded his royal kitchen to make lamb mince so soft he could eat it without chewing. This was the dish they created. After our excellent lunch at East Indies, it seemed like we'd struck gold yet again.

Our main was served in two courses. The first was a trio of curries – the dum cooked Murgh Khushk Purdah (chicken), Shahi Nehari (lamb) and Maash Qaliya (moong bean). 

All three were excellent in their own right but the real standout was again the amazing lamb. Cooked overnight, the lamb curry was 'assimilated' (whatever that means) with extract of basmatti in milk with almond paste.

It was so smooth it looked like the smoothest gravy known to man, with most refined spiciness. This was served with a a basket of roti. The naan was more restrained than the over the top variety at Trishna, and though it would have been inappropriate in this setting we felt we preferred Trishna's naan. The paratha on the other hand was easily the best paratha we had in our trip – lovely layers of cooked dough that outclassed every parotta we had in Kerala. Possibly the best I've ever had.

There was so much curry, that even with an additional scoop of chicken and lamb to our bowls there would have been over half a bowl of each curry left when we decided to move onto the rice, so if you're a bigger eater than we are you can really fill up at this stage of the evening. But please please please leave some space for what would have to be one of the best biryanis you'll ever eat. Due to the slow cooking method and the more restrained spiciness of the dum pukht cooking method, the rice in the signature Dum Biryani has a very different texture to any other biryani I've ever had. Where most rice holds together in clumps to some extent, each grain could almost been eaten one by one – this is the most perfectly cooked rice. Having been basically slowly steamed in its own juices while sealed in its cooking vessel, the rice is incredibly flavoursome while maintaining the refined elegance of fine dining. I'd usually choose naan over biryani, but I'll make an exception for this Dum Biryani.

We took a bit of a break after the rice, and then moved onto dessert. We were served a quartet of Indian sweets – Gulab Jamun, Ras Malai, Saffron Falooda noodles and Saffron and Pistachio Kulfi. All we perfect examples of these Indian sweets, with the Gulab Jamun and Ras Malai being very traditional and the other two dishes being opulent versions of the classics thanks to the addition of saffron.

To finish, we were served a tray of non-tobacco paan as a freshener.

The Verdict: Exceptional

If you're not staying at ITC Maratha, getting to Dum Pukht can be a little inconvenient – especially if you're staying in the Fort area. That means the best time to go is on the way to or from the airport, and we found going to Fort from ITC was expensively jacked up in price because of the assumption we must have had some money to have eaten there. Still, in spite of all the inconvenience I can thoroughly recommend the food at Dum Pukht as being truly exceptional examples of Indian cuisine at its more refined, elegant and opulent. There is another Dum Pukht in Delhi that I have on good authority is even better than in Mumbai, being the best restaurant in India on the S. Pellegrino list. Regardless, if you're in either city Dum Pukht should be required eating.

East Indies, Cochin, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 18, Part 1)

Black Berry Resort had majorly stuffed up. I had spoken to a guy who I feared was being too blasé when I made arrangements for our early morning departure, and my concerns were proven to be justified. Having a midday reservation in Cochin on the way to the airport, it was important for us to leave at 6:30am as per my request so we would get to Cochin with ample time to make the 12pm. So when we arrived at reception to find that no arrangements were made I was rather furious with the guy I'd spoken to the day before. We ended up waiting for an hour and 15 minutes before our taxi arrived. Get this - first car that was sent to pick us up apparently broken down on the way (I know, right?) and the hotel staff simply didn't think this this additional delay was useful information to share with us.

Anyway, the taxi that eventually arrived was driven by Das, our driver from the day before. We felt a lot better seeing him as he'd been an excellent driver yesterday. We set off on our journey to East Indies, a restaurant that had such great reviews we were making this special diversion out of our way to try it. Das was very skilled at maneuvering between the auto-rickshaws, tea trucks and buses as we descended the mountain, and then proved invaluable as we came closer to Cochin. On previous trips to Cochin I'd taken the very busy and congested main road into the city, however knowing we were late Das took the initiative to take us to the ferry which for a 20 rupee fee each way took our car across the water to the Fort Cochin area in very little time at all. After asking a few locals about the location of the restaurant, we arrived at the East Indies with 10 minutes to spare. Das just earned himself a good tip when we got to the airport.

East Indies is the elegant in-house restaurant of Eighth Bastion, a hotel centrally located in the old Fort Cochin area. The menu is Pan Asian Dutch, inspired by the colonial era of the Dutch East India Company with the restaurant's chairs all bearing the company's VOC insignia.

Apparently assisted by an anthropologist, chef Saiju Thomas researched the menus and cuisines of the VOC spice route and trade posts, and in a similar manner to reimaginings of British food at Dinner with Heston, East Indies presents classic dishes of an era in a manner that is thoroughly modern casual fine dining (though of course less molecular/modernist in preparation). As a Eurasian product of the colonial era, and with Alissa's Dutch heritage we were both looking forward to seeing what East Indies has in store for us.

The menu is a la carte, and we decided to go with the same three course starter-main-dessert format we'd enjoyed at Otto e Mezzo Bombana and Indigo. Being a massive fan of squid, I went with the Stuffed Calamari as my starter. When the plate arrived my eyes were treated to the prettiest plating we've seen in India. Better than Indigo's to be honest. And the taste was incredible. The squid was perfectly cooked in a spicy red pepper oil marinade. The filling was what was most interesting as it tasted a lot like otak-otak, a dish popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. I've never tried anything quite liked it. This was a very interesting and impressive starter.

Alissa went with the most Dutch of the starters – the Open Faced Cheese Tart made from cashew cheese, oven roasted tomato, spinach and with a basil vinaigrette. This was again an example of the best plating we've seen in India, with the vinaigrette framing the tart beautifully on the plate. The taste was excellent – we weren't sure whether the cashew cheese was pure vegan or included milk, but we agreed its tart, creamy flavour was delicious. As Alissa said later, 'cheese, tomato, pastry... what's not to like?' I read that this was based on a classic comfort food of the Dutch explorers, and one present day Dutch explorer was very satisfied. We were already ready to call this meal exceptional – so long as the remaining courses could maintain this high standard.

Although it was very much an Alissa dish, I chose the Herb Crusted Pork Chop with lime pudding, apple chutney, wasabi mash, roasted brussel sprouts and long beans. Needless to say, the plating was again of the high standard we'd come to expect. The last pork chop I ate was in a pub in Melbourne, which was a dry, overcooked and disappointing affair. This on the other hand was perfectly cooked, with the meat nice and juicy. The meat had obviously been brined as it was evenly salted and flavoursome all the way through. For some the meat might have been a little too much on the salty side, but I was quite happy with the salt level, especially since the nice sweet and tart flavour of the lime pudding and apple meant it was well balanced on the fork. The mash was very smooth with just a hint of wasabi for interest and I very much enjoyed the petite brussel sprouts. A hearty, very Dutch main elevated to a fine dining experience.

Alissa went with the Pan Grilled Chicken with lemongrass and moong bean ragout, poached carrot, skillet potato and turmeric foam. This was even better plating than my main, with the carrots and the moong bean ragout each lovingly plated as square and round 'towers' respectively. The chicken was again skillfully cooked, having also been brined for even seasoning. The moong beans had a lovely creaminess that worked well with the lemongrass, and the poached carrots were nice and sweet. Alissa nodded her head in approval – a very satisfied customer.

We had a short pause between our mains and dessert, and when they arrived we were again to be wowed by East Indies. My main - the Frozen Honey Parfait with roasted grapes, pineapple, granola, and white chocolate whiskey sauce – was exactly the kind of flavours I really enjoy. I love honey ice cream, and this was very good honey ice cream – creamy, with a lovely honey flavour, and when it comes to a delicious crunch there can be nothing better than a good granola. Mixing the honey ice cream with the roasted grapes, pineapple, granola and the chocolate whiskey sauce tasted like an amazing frozen breakfast. So good.

The Crème Brulee French Toast with banana and oven roasted salted white chocolate sauce was as much Alissa on a plate as my dessert was me. To begin the French Toast had a nice fluffy texture with a crispy outside, and the caramelized bananas were very tasty. The dish was however made all the better due to the caramelized quality of the salted white chocolate sauce. Alissa loves anything that is salty sweet, and then to have the white chocolate roasted? A revelation. As with my dessert, this could easily served as a remarkably delicious breakfast.

After we finished our meal, the chef Saiju Thomas came out to speak with us. He seemed genuinely surprised that we had found his restaurant and had made the reservation so far in advance. We expressed how we felt that the food we'd eaten for lunch was amongst the best we'd had on our trip – beating the 3 Michelin Starred Otto e Mezzo Bombana in our esteem, and that we'd come to Cochin just to eat at the restaurant. Alissa took a photo of Saiju and I, we paid the bill and we departed for our trip to the airport very satisfied and a bit blown away.

The Verdict: Exceptional
When we came up with our scale for judging how good a place should be rated, we said that Exceptional had to mean that the food was good enough that you would overcome any deterrents to eat there, in particular having to travel distances just for a meal. We made the gamble of travelling to Cochin just to eat at East Indies, and it did not let us down. We enjoyed this meal more than we enjoyed our dinner at Indigo and at a considerably cheaper price than the famous Mumbai restaurant. Perhaps it was because of the strong and cogent Dutch East India Complany theme of East Indies but it felt like a very unique menu that would be much harder to find anywhere else, while the fusion food of Indigo was similar to what I could find in Australia in equal or better quality. If you're in Kerala at any time, even if you're just coming through Cochin Airport just to go to the backwaters or to Munnar, please consider making a detour to East Indies in Eighth Bastion for a meal you won't regret.

As Alissa so eloquently put it; 'my only regret was that I couldn't order more.' Enough said.

Copper Castle, Munnar, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 17, Part 1)

I sometimes worry I'm a little too generous and positive in my appraisals of restaurants. Perhaps its because I worked hard researching good places to eat, but the vast majority of our meals in India have left us feeling genuinely satisfied, even surprisingly so in the case of the very cheap Rapsy Restaurant. As a means of contrast, let me tell you about our meal at Copper Castle.

After a morning and early afternoon of doing the Munnar tourist drive to Top Station and back, our driver Das took us to town to eat at Silver Spoon. When we got to town, we found that it was indeed right smack in the middle of town as I had remembered however it was closed for what seemed like renovations. Having to go with a second choice, we chose to forgo a second meal at Rapsy and decided on lunch at the Trip Advisor recommended Copper Castle, which was down the road from our hotel. Little did we know we had just made a huge mistake. 

We arrived to sit at the empty dining room of the restaurant, something I've come to notice is fairly usual with hotel restaurants in India as the dinner trade seems to be when they are at their busiest. We looked through the menu and chose to go with the Malabari Fried Prawns and the Pepper Chicken, along with two serves of parotta. 

We received our drinks quickly enough and began to amuse ourselves with conversation and making funny faces at each other as we took photos. But then things started to go downhill. We waited for what seemed like a very long time before we received our first dish, and when it came out we were both a little taken aback by how small it was.

The Malabari Fried Prawns were a lot smaller than we had expected. I'm not sure if the photo does justice to just how small the prawns were, but they were really very tiny – more like the smaller size you'd expect from a cheap supermarket shrimp cocktail than the usual meatier size I'd expect as a main. We ate this quietly, both of us commenting on how surprisingly small the serve was while noting that it at least tasted good. We were thinking maybe we should have ordered something else or that we may have to order an additional main, however the slow pace that things were coming out at made us hesitant to ask for an additional order less we extend our meal any longer. I understand prawns are more expensive than chicken or lamb, but I would rather pay more for a reasonable serve (either larger prawns or more small ones) than get a plate so insubstantial.

Things got even worse when they collected our finished plate. Unbeknownst to myself as I was facing the other way, the chef and kitchen staff came out of the kitchen to stand and watch as the waiter interacted with us.

'How was the prawns?' the waiter asked as he took the plate.

'It was very good, thank you,' said Alissa, being polite.

When he returned to where the staff were waiting, he spoke to them and they all started laughing. We're not sure whether they were laughing because they knew we'd obviously been fleeced by a stingy serve that they knew was no good or whether they were laughing because Alissa being Caucasian made her seem strange or some other reason. Regardless of the fact, this is unacceptable behaviour in any restaurant. I've never seen anything like it before.

After waiting again for a long time, the Pepper Chicken came out. We were very hungry by this point so to be fair the photo I've taken was after I'd already dished out some of the gravy onto my plate, but you can see that three measly pieces was all the chicken that was served to us. By way of comparison, have a look at the amount of chicken served to us at Rapsy Restaurant the previous day and you'll see how this was terrible value for money. The food was again at least tasty, having nice spice, and the parotta served to us was probably the best we had in Munnar. However I would later learn from Alissa that the restaurant staff again stood at the back of the room and watched, which made her feel very uncomfortable and self-conscious.

The Verdict: Okay

In all of our journey, I'm fairly certain this was easily the worst dining experience and most disappointing. I've heard that the nighttime buffet service is quite good but a restaurant should be bringing its A-Game at all times, and this was amongst the worst restaurant services I've ever experienced and the stingiest serving sizes we've encountered in all of India. A dish per person has been the rule of thumb at every other Indian restaurant we've eaten at, and my feedback to Copper Castle would be I'd rather have paid more for decent serving sizes that be served an insufficiently filling meal. But then at four times the price of Rapsy, one could eat food of equal quality to their hearts content and have a better dining experience to boot. Our meal here was at least good tasting otherwise this would be getting an even worse rating, but I thoroughly recommend you save you money and go to Rapsy Restaurant for a lunch in Munnar rather than have the kind of terrible service only Copper Castle seems able to offer.

Rapsy Restaurant, Munnar, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 16, Part 1)

I could have sworn the main restaurants in Munnar town were easier to find. We walked around the main city loop twice and just could not find either of the two restaurants in town that I wanted to eat at. By this stage of the trip, we'd entered the more relaxed portion of our holiday and my book of notes had become less necessary than it had been in Hong Kong and Mumbai. However, we needed the book now to help locate the elusive restaurants and I'd foolishly left them at the hotel. I was not going back down that pothole-ridden road just for the book so we had to just keep an eye out and hope for the best.

Little did we know that Silver Spoon (one of the restaurants recommended by Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet) was closed for renovations so we had no hope of finding it even though it is right in the middle of the main loop of town. We decided to try walking towards where the Tea Museum is, and as we walked up the road we found the other recommended restaurant in town – Rapsy Restaurant. From the outside, there is little to recommended it as it looks like any other restaurant in Munnar. The décor inside was very spartan, however it did at least look to be clean. As we sat down at a table a waiter handed us a notepad to write down our order:

If you're in the south and in particular Kerala, you have to have some fish curry. The curry itself was very good – having that sourness I associate with southern fish curry, but not overpoweringly so. Being a whole fish, I found the bones cumbersome, though I know this is the usual fare for this style. At the end of the day I'm hard to please when it comes to fish curries of the south as I much prefer the richer, creamier chicken and lamb curries of the north but I ended up eating this dish the most. Very enjoyable.

The other dish we ordered was the Chilli Chicken. This was done in a similar Chinese-inspired style to the squid at Trishna and was very tasty. Alissa liked this dish in particular and as I was happy with the fish curry I left this mostly for her to eat.

Alissa ordered chappathi at first, but when she saw the parotta I had ordered was basically roti paratha we ordered additional parotta to eat with our meal. The parotta was nice and layered in a way that is perfectly suited to the runnier consistency of southern curry, although a little crispier would have been nice.

The Verdict: Very Good

In a town like Munnar you're not not likely to find a high end restaurant like Indigo or Dum Pukht, or something a bit more casual but mindblowing like a Trishna. However, if you're looking for authentic South Indian food Rapsy is a very strong recommendation. I should also say that at roughly $5AUD for the two of us Rapsy is easily the cheapest meal complete meal we had in India, and that was with pretty free-flowing parotta as well. Considering we paid three times the price for the terrible service and stingy portions at Copper Castle, we would have rather eaten at Rapsy for a second time. Excellent value.  

Hornbill Restaurant, Munnar, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 15, Day 16, Part 2 & Day 17, Part 2)

I've really struggled with writing this post. Compared to a single dish or a meal served in courses, I find buffets to be less focused gastronomic experiences. Where you can focus on a plate of cogent and complimentary components, a buffet plate is a bit of everything piled together. Even when entertaining at home, I prefer to serve things in courses for this very reason. Still, having eaten there for breakfast and dinner for several days in a row, here is a brief overview of the Hornbill Restaurant experience.

Two years ago when I was last in Munnar I sent Alissa a text message that I was looking over fields of tea, and that I wish she could see it, and I sent the message to her at Hornbill. So coming here held special significance for us. As it turned out, we decided to stay at Blackberry Resort - the hotel that Hornbill is located within. 

Its a lovely location - situated on a slope and covered in creeper, the restaurant has views of the tea plantations below.

The service for breakfast and dinner is buffet style, with the menu changing slightly day to day. On our first night it was mostly Southern Indian, but on the night I took pictures of the spread on offer it had a lot more Northern Indian items. Additionally Chinese food is popular in India, and they do a fairly decent Stir Fried Noodles. 

Food is successfully kept warm in bains-marie that are kept closed to retain the heat. I thought they did a very good job of keeping the quality level up in a buffet situation. 

Here was my plate of food (clockwise from top right) - Chicken Do Pyaza, Butter Paneer, crispy Chilli Potatoes and the Stir Fried Noodles with some Saffron Rice underneath.

Alissa had a similar plate, but had a Mattar Paneer instead of the Stir Fried Noodles.

Everything was tasty, but the meat lacked that northern tandoor flavour and instead had a more southern twist. The curry gravies themselves were very good, and the harder halloumi-like paneer in the south has a nice squeaky chewiness to them that we both really liked. 

One issue we had with Hornbill was that while the buffet obviously had a lot of choices, there was no roti available. It was only after we'd already mostly eaten a whole plate of food that the staff came out and asked if we'd wanted a parotta. So parottas are available but they don't mention it straight away, and there is no sign or explanation that it will be cooked up when ordered. Make sure you ask for the bread if that is how you prefer to eat your curry. 

For dessert they have Ras Malai and Ice Cream. The Ras Malai was good, but we really liked the Ice Cream. They were all store bought ice cream and nothing compared to good gelato, but the flavours were always interesting day to day - and I just love ice cream anyway.

Verdict: Very Good
Though not mindblowing, the food at Hornbill is good enough that I would dine there even if I was not staying at Blackberry, as I have done in the past. They do Southern Indian very well here and their 'Southernised' Northern food is very tasty if lacking in that delicious tandoor flavour. 

Millets of Mewar, Udaipur, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 14, Part 1)

By the time I'm a week into India, the constant diet of curry starts to take its toll. Sure, there are a plethora of vegetarian options in India, but these are only marginally healthier with their liberal use of dairy products and ghee. The lack of fresh vegetables due to fear of food poisoning makes you seriously start to miss the simple pleasure of a crunchy raw vegetable or a healthy salad, and when you can find a place with reputable cleanliness its almost a godsend.

Located on the same west side of the lake as Ambrai but preceding the annoying alley of touting, Millets of Mewar proclaims itself as a 'Healthy Indian Fusion Restaurant' and is one of the few places outside of Jain restaurants that serve vegan food (most vegetarian restaurants in India are usually lacto-vegetarian). Serving a clientele of often dreadlocked, largely American hippie stereotypes, I was initially disappointed to see the first floor lacking in tables with only lizard lounge mattresses on the floor. While I don't mind sitting like this for a cup of coffee, I don't particularly like eating without a table. Thankfully, an upper floor with table and chair dining was offered to us.

The menu was filled with interesting and delicious sounding vegetarian dishes, including pizzas with the option of vegan cheese. Not being vegans this didn't particularly matter either way for us, however for those who don't touch dairy its worth noting. Alissa decided to go with the Mushroom Mixed Vegetarian Pizza, I went with the Indian Taco and excited by the idea of greens we decided to share a Spinach and Beetroot Salad, along with a Banana Date Shake with coconut milk and vegan raw date coconut ladoo balls.

The service here was terribly slow. It took them quite a while before they even came to take our order, and then once taken it seemed like an inordinately long wait before our dishes were brought out. At that point they also stated that the Spinach and Beetroot Salad was not available, so we went with Sprouted Bean Salad with Peanut and Tamarind instead as it also sounded very nice. 

My Indian Taco was pretty cool – two shells placed together filled with a moong bean paste, a coleslaw-like salad with mayo and a very nice salsa that tasted like it had hints of Indianised spice additions to the usual Mexican original. This was tasty and fresh. It was lovely chewing crunchy raw vegetables after so long!

Alissa Vegetarian Pizza was good too, seeming to use the same salsa sauce from my taco as a base. Though of course cooked, it was again still nice to have a vegetarian meal – especially combined with the comforting nature of decent pizza. I've definitely had better pizza back home in Perth, but it hit the spot on that day.

I should mention too that the Banana Date Shake was very tasty. Not exactly super healthy, but coconut milk worked very well with the banana and date flavours – better than milk would have.

After finishing our meals, we wait for a while of our salad. It never came. It seems like there must have been some mix up and our order for the Sprouted Salad never reached the kitchen. We were having a fairly chill day, but after all this wait we decided we didn't want the salad that much, and collected our ladoo balls, paid the bill and left. 

The ladoo balls were nice sweet desserts  – very much like raw vegan desserts I've had back home, but so much better because of the signature Indian dessert spice – cardamon. Cardamon is one of my favourite spices, and it definitely elevated the dish in my esteem. As far as being called a ladoo ball though – it tasted nothing like a 'real ladoo'. I quite dislike when a dish is 'veganised' but bears little resemblance in taste to the real thing. Nothing to do with it being vegan per se, but I feel this does the vegan version a disservice insofar as in my mind I'm expecting one flavour and getting something that does not at all match with the image in my head. So as a new, different dessert these ladoo balls were very good in their own right, however if you're expecting a raw vegan version that actually is close in taste to a traditional ladoo this is not the ladoo you're looking for.

The Verdict: Good

When you've been on a non-stop curry eating binge its nice to have a change. Millets of Mewar definitely was what we were looking for at the time, though in the great scheme of things its not necessarily the best vegetarian restaurant I've eaten at. But a far as a safe place to eat raw veges in Udaipur goes Millets of Mewar is a good option.

Ambrai, Udaipur, India (Alissa and Don Eat Asia Day 12, Part 2, Day 13 & Day 14, Part 2)

When it comes to restaurant location, Ambrai has few competitors in Udaipur. Located right on the lake on the quieter west bank of Lake Pichola, Ambrai is perfectly located for a stunning view of the lake, the City Palace and its surrounding area, and the Taj Lake Palace built on its own private island. For the best view, the table located at the very corner of the restaurant is the most prized, and given that this was our honeymoon I made reservations for the table for three nights in a row. Since we ate at Ambrai repeatedly we were able to try most of their signature dishes by our final night. As such rather than dealing with this meal by meal, we'll give an overview of all the dishes we tried.

The journey to Ambrai was a pleasant walk from our hotel Jaiwana Haveli, as you walk the streets near the city palace, down the laneways to the bridge across the river. Udaipur is really a magical city. Once you're on the western side however, its a walk through a gauntlet of sellers who taut constantly and try to find sneaky ways to get you into their store with such veracity its quite off-putting and (in one case) a little unnerving. Throughout Udaipur you'll get the constant 'yes please' and 'look at my shop' and the classic Udaipur trap of getting you into their store with 'Excuse me sir, where are you from?' but with less foot traffic in this part of town there is a desperation and forcefulness that wore out its welcome. One guy seemed particularly angry that his guilt trip comment of 'Now... finally I have my chance to show you my shop!' was greeted with 'No, please, we're not interested' everyday, and we even took an auto-rickshaw on one of the days just to avoid having to interact with him.

Once you've actually made it to Amet Haveli – the hotel Ambrai is located within – you'll see that the walk was entirely worth it. Amet Haveli's grounds are perfectly tended, with the odd chicken casually strolling through the gardens as you approach the restaurant. Its truly idyllic. As you enter Ambrai, the fairy lights and candlelit tables are as welcoming as the staff. And with the view of the city all lit up accompanied by sarangi and tabla music by live musicians, this is Udaipur at its most romantic.

Ambrai have quite an extensive menu. Not quite as comprehensive as Persian Darbar but nonetheless considerable. Having eaten here before, I knew to focus on the 'Ambrai Specialties' section as their signature dishes are excellent.

Of their curries, I feel that the Chicken Jhangiri is their most significant. A tomato-based creamy gravy, the curry is filled with nuts and is served with cherries and egg. I've not found this dish anywhere else, and its really very delicious – like a much more deluxe butter chicken made all the better due to the additional flavours. We heard a table near us order the Butter Chicken, and I couldn't help but feel that they were missing out.

Their other most significant dish is the beautifully presented Ambrai Special Biryani – or as I like to call it 'Three Colours Biryani'. The rice is layered in the orange, green and white of the Indian flag, each having its own flavour that when mixed together makes for a delicious biryani. I particularly like the paneer and spinach that is in the green layer, and the cashew nuts that give it a nice crunch and nuttiness. Its not quite as amazing as the biryani at Dum Pukht, but this is definitely a must order at Ambrai.

As much as we really like the Jhangiri, we wanted to sample a few different dishes from their menu. Almost as good is their Chicken Angoori. Instead of the tomato base of the Jhangiri, this one is a lot creamier and even more nutty and uses chicken meatballs instead of the boneless chicken. This is extraordinarily rich and opulent – definitely one of the dishes we can point at as contributing to our massive weight gain during the trip.

Since we were saving our fish curry eating for the south, we decided to skip trying Ambrai's fish curry and instead give their Mutton Rana a go. This mutton curry gravy is sort of halfway between the Angoori and Jhangiri curry, insofar as creaminess and overall flavour is concerned. The mutton was cooked perfectly, with a great melt in your mouth quality that complemented the richness of the curry. Its not as refined as the lamb curry at Dum Pukht and I personally rate the Jhangiri higher, but if making multiple visits is good to break up the endless chicken eating.

When I was last at Ambrai two years ago, I remember their being an excellent eggplant dish, and on one of our nights we ordered the eggplant curry even though it was not on their Ambrai Specialties list. Either their standard had dropped or I had ordered the wrong dish, but it did not taste as I recalled. The eggplant was very vinegary and almost tasted like bottled eggplant, lacking the nice soft texture I was expecting. Definitely not an item I would order again.

To accompany the curries we ordered the garlic naan. The garlic naan was good, though its not on the level of Trishna.

For dessert, we repeatedly ordered the Gulab Jamun with Ice Cream. This was about what I would expect for the dish, being neither bad or exceptional examples.

The Verdict: Excellent

As you'd except from the north, Ambrai's food is decadently rich. But it so delicious you've just gotta try it if you're in town, plus their cocktails are very good too. And while I would probably would eat at a few different restaurants next time I'm in Udaipur, I would certainly go back again. To sit there at the corner table, with the music wafting through the cool evening air as we overlooked the city... for me, it wouldn't be a complete Udaipur experience without it.