One Year Away

Penny

While visiting India, make sure to take advantage of all the dining options that it offers.  We’ve had some of our best meals of our trip in India.  From exquisite street eats in Mumbai and Delhi to high end dining in a maharajah’s fort.

Eating from Indian street vendors requires you to throw caution to the wind.  Joseph and I have paid for some of these meals with a day or two of intestinal fireworks.  Some of our favorite treats have included jalebis, samosas and kachuries which are like flaky deep fried pizza pockets filled with curried vegetables.  In Mumbai, the specialty seems to be sandwiches.  The vendors are jam packed at 5pm when workers are leaving the office.  A quick sandwich on the run ensures that they can hold off until dinner time that can be as late as 11pm.  We have tasted  two sandwich varieties.  One sandwich was grilled over charcoal and filled with tomato, cucumber, onion and radish.  After grilling, the outside of the sandwich was topped with chili sauce, ketchup and cheese.  The second type was a deep fried vegetable patty in non-toasted plain white bun.  Both were excellent!  And at 10 to 15 rupies ( less than $0.50), these stalls allowed us to enjoy many sub-$1 lunches.

Although India is mostly vegetarian and it is almost impossible to find beef (even at McDonald’s), the north does have some great chicken dishes.  Our favorite was the chicken tikka (chicken marinated in yogurt and spices) at the fort in Jodhpur.  The meal was complimented by a spectacular location.  The restaurant was on a terrace at the top of the city’s majestic fort.  Our candlelit table was set between old cannons and we were served by turbaned waiters with imposing mustaches.

Another great and very romantic dinner setting was at the Udai Kothi hotel in Udaipur.  The roof top restaurant by the hotel’s beautiful pool offers views of the famous Lake Palace.  Diners can sit at regular cast iron tables but we opted to sit in one of their romantic alcoves.  We took our shoes off and sat on a cushioned floor at a low table.  The alcoves high domed ceiling was covered in a mosaic of mirror and colored glass.  As we ate by candlelight, we both agreed that this was one of the most romantic dinners we had ever had!

Even with all these incredible locations and amazing food, our most expensive meal has been less than $25!  This does exclude alcohol which is highly taxed and very expensive in India.