13 Best Restaurants in Rajasthan, India

This four-story, family-run restaurant is a good choice for continental cuisine (think veggie burgers and Israeli salads) as well as Indian classics, with spice levels suited to the Western palate; the pizzas and pastas are popular, too. It's also a good place for breakfast, as it usually stocks a few pastries from a nearby bakery, makes paranthas (potato-stuffed flatbreads) that are fresh and not too oily. The café also serves "real" filter coffee. For views of Pushkar and the surrounding desert, sit on the rooftop terrace.

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.

At the base of the fort, this little Italian restaurant has a lovely vibe, an interior that is simple yet far from rustic, and an open rooftop area that is perfect for people-watching. It also has a huge advantage: it is one of the only restaurants in town with an indoor area with a/c comfort. The menu focuses on vegetarian Italian pasta dishes and pizza as well as good espresso and tiramisu---just don't expect it to taste the same as a cafe in Italy. Beer is available.

For a break after a morning of sightseeing at Jaipur's fortresses, go to this pretty restaurant in the Trident hotel to sample a mix of Indian and European fare—pastas, kebabs, salads, sandwiches—washed down with cold Indian beer, or try the grilled red snapper or the Rajasthani thali (traditional laal maas or spiced mutton), two of the best dishes on the menu. It also offers a sizeable breakfast buffet.

Jodhpur's most famous sweet shop buzzes till 11 pm, so consider stopping here for dessert. It's a good place to sample regional delicacies; test your chilli tolerance level with the spicy mirchi bada, a huge pepper that's been breaded and deep-fried or, for something sweeter, try the local specialty: mawa kachori (a pastry filled with nut-based milk solid), ghevar (disc-shape sweet), rabri laddu (milk balls). The place Indianized vegetarian versions of American-style fast food—think pizzas and burgers—are also available, though they are just okay at best. There's another branch of Janta near the railway station, but you are best off hitting the main branch at Nai Sarak.

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.

The house specialties at this terrific place for Indian tea and dessert are bundi ki laddu (sugary, deep-fried chickpea-flour balls) and the rasgulla (cheese balls in a sugary syrup); other sweets include ras malai (sweet cheese dumplings smothered in cream), which melt in your mouth. Popular with locals for the thalis, this all-vegetarian restaurant is also one of the few places open for breakfast—if you're in the mood for stuffed paranthas (whole-wheat flatbread) or idlis (South Indian steamed rice cakes). The decor is bland, but the sweets make up for it. No alcohol is served.