Dera Mandawa
Jaipur, Rajasthan
At Dera Mandawa you’re lucky to be in the company of a fantastic cook – the lady of the house herself – who runs a tight ship, taking personal responsibility for her guests’ satisfaction.
Breakfast is included in the tariff. Lunch and dinner are also available.
Breakfast means continental staples like cereal, fruit, toast, juices and more, but for me the highlight was really the one Indian component, which could range from a parantha or poha to a special ‘Raj Days’ Dish’.
Lunch and dinner have been made easy by creating easy-to-understand veg and non-veg thaalis, elements of which are also available as single dishes.
The food here is simply delicious, drawing on typical Rajasthani flavours and complimented by local chutneys and pickles.
Dining can be indoors in the dining room or outdoors in the courtyard, depending on the weather.
Or ask us anything about it: *
Your Email *
Unlike other websites, we stay at every property we review. So ask us anything! Our expert staff will help you find the perfect room.
Menu
The hosts encourage you to try the local Rajasthani cuisine but one can ask for something specific and customise to suit your taste.
The thaalis are the most popular option as they offer variety in reasonable proportions.
The western dishes on the menu are few, but the chef can prepare western dishes (grilled chicken, salads etc) on request.
Our recommendations: aloo bharta, the chef’s special aloo tikki, tamatar pyaaz ki sabzi and the chicken and mutton curries. The botti kabab, veg biryani, grilled chicken, garlic chicken and salad are also popular.
Dining nearby
Compared to many other tourist cities Jaipur has a real lack of quality restaurants. However, the mind blowing street food more than makes up for this.
The best the city has to offer in terms of informal, high quality cuisine is Anokhi Café at the KK Sq Mall on Prithviraj Rd. The first café to serve genuine, modern western food in the city and an oasis of calm, Anokhi does everything well: proper coffee, fresh juice, innovative salads, sandwiches, thin-crust pizzas, and exquisite desserts from a chef from New Zealand and vegetarian produce that’s mostly organic.
MI Road hosts Niro’s, a reliable city institution that’s popular with travelers and also frequented by locals on their special occasions. The food is decent enough but really quite unremarkable in the end. However, it does provide a clean, safe, hassle free spot to dine, which counts for something.
Four Seasons offers unpretentious and tasty vegetarian food that locals swear by, but Shri Ram Namkeen Bhandar is where the real action is. This hole in the wall joint down an alleyway off MI Road is as basic as it gets, but serves possibly the tastiest kachoris in Jaipur. Get Raju, the rickshaw wallah (see Getting Around) to take you, he knows it well.
Also check out our guide to eating in Jaipur.