Wednesday 15 December 2010

Rajasthan (8) Udaipur - Food

As readers of this blog know I like my food, and have struggled a bit in Orissa with the amount of chilli in dishes and the lack of variety of food. Northern Indian food is more my style, more filling, wholesome, warming food, just all the more satisfying eating experience all round and in Udaipur we struck gold.

PB271056First the tourist guide book recommendation of the Ambrai Restaurant. A garden restaurant on the banks of the lake, great setting and the food certainly loves up to the location, although ones pays extra for it.  Splashed out on sundowners and tandoori, nice!

But we also stumbled into a backstreet eatery at the opposite end of the scale for a quick lunch and found a truly superb cook.  The Ganesha Guest House has a  restaurant on its roof, as do many of the hotels and havelis in Udaipur, capturing tourists desires for the views. We ordered rice, and a couple of dishes. One the Tomato and Bringal (Aubergine/Eggplant) curry was just heavenly! Intrigued by the Korean back page to the menu on our way out we asked why?  Gudu, who, it turns out, manages the restaurant for its owners and is the cook, asked us to sit and he patiently explained the whole Korean thing, describing what each dish was and how it was cooked. He is  incredibly enthusiastic about his craft and indicated that he could make anything given notice. We decided to come back the following evening, giving him notice that we wanted a mutton dish. We were not disappointed it was terrific, tender juicy meat, cooked to order with very filling dumplings.  He is NOT in any of the guide book and should be. If you read this and go to Udaipur eat at Gudu’s and say hello from the three English ladies who loved his cooking.  It is such a shame that he is only managing the restaurant for its owners, he deserves his own and to have many more eaters. A delightful find.

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