Samode Palace has two restaurants, a bar in the reception courtyard and an extensive room service menu.

Both restaurants are at the rear of the hotel, the main one used for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, operating on a buffet system with à la carte options, while the other, just below the infinity pool, is a new fine dining restaurant serving modern Indian and fusion cuisine.

The breakfast buffet was excellent, with a wide and pleasing selection of dishes ranging from puri bhaji to idlis, pancakes, beans, all kinds of eggs made to order, toast, cheeses, cold meats, fruits, juice, butter milk, mango shakes, tea and filter coffee. Service was smart and alert.

The room service menu, similar to the a la carte restaurant menu is very decent, covering a range of sandwiches, pastas, small plates (mezze platter, malai chicken tikka) and salads. The asparagus and spinach pasta was lovely.

Dinner is buffet or à la carte. The buffet, while serviceable, sees a clashing of various cuisines that in the end make it not as much value for money as ordering from the menu. Here, the rajastahni thali, traditional lal maas and gatta curry are particularly appealing.

The Fine Dining Restaurant, a recent addition popular with well heeled domestic guests, boasts dishes such as Beetroot and Pink Ginger Carpaccio, Duck Khichdi with Chutney and Smoked Salmon Samosa.

The bar has an extensive wine, champagne and spirits list and the usual range of cocktails. However, several items we ordered were unavailable: for example, of the four gins on offer only the single domestic option was available.