I enter Jaipur’s City Palace to the sound of drums, weaving past a bejewelled foot-stamping, ear-flapping elephant. There is a wedding in progress outside and the streets are festive with light.
Earlier that morning, I had bought a ticket and jostled through gawking crowds to admire the stately buildings, crafted in pink sandstone and marble. By evening, I am back inside, seated in the serene heart of the complex, sipping a crisp Maharaja martini and scooping up creamy bajra malai koftas, inspired by the palace kitchens, with freshly made ghee-smeared phulkas.
Built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in the early 18th century, the palace was expanded by his successors till the 20th century. It is still home to the Jaipur royals. An intricately detailed square pavilion, popularly known as the Sarvatobhadra, stands at the centre of the expansive compound. This was historically used as the diwan-i-khas, where the maharaja once held private audiences. Today, a maître-de is stationed outside, leading guests up a narrow passage lined with historical photographs of the family taken at state banquets and polo fields, to the rooftop where The Sarvato now stands.
The seasonal rooftop restaurant is an intriguing new venture by Sawai Padmanabh Singh (Pacho to his friends), the 26-year-old titular maharaja of Jaipur, and Abhishek Honawar, who runs the city’s popular hotels The Johri and 28 Kothi.
Sawai Padmanabh Singh and (right) Abhishek Honawar
Hyperlocal six-course dining
“The whole reason the city of Jaipur was built was to deliver perfection,” says Singh, adding, “The maharaja who built the city had that vision for the city and its people. Over the past couple of years we have been trying on all fronts to deliver that vision [first through the Jaipur Centre for Art, a contemporary art institution launched last November, and now The Sarvato].”
The open air restaurant, which will close by the end of March as it gets warmer, and then reopen in September, offers a six-course experiential tasting menu inspired by the food of Rajasthan. “It’s 100% local ingredients — the fresh water fish, the bajra, the indigenous grains… we are doing a lot of sourcing and talking to the community,” explains Honawar. “There is no point in serving something that is generically available. If you see an avocado on our menu it’s an insult to the menu. That’s where we are coming from. It’s hyperlocal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t apply technique to it, process to it, energy to it.”
My meal begins with a miniature brass container, shaped like a traditional tiffin carrier, filled with a deeply savoury consommé with papad dhokli. The bartender suggests I team it with a refreshing Chukker, tangy with locally sourced ber fruit and tequila. The cocktails are sophisticated and spirit forward: from the Raj Rasayana, made with bird’s eye chilli spiced gin, green apple and curry leaf to the Royal Remedy, a warming winter cocktail made with honey, turmeric, ginger-infused rum and peated whisky. Sipping on my drink, under a star-strung inky night sky, I admire Chandra Mahal, where the royal family lives, shimmering under blue and white lights. On the other side, the stately clock tower looms. It’s like sitting in a jewel-studded tiara.
The new gallery cafe, set beside The Sarvato, seats 40 people. Offering a 360-degree palace view, it serves coffee and chai with traditional chaat, snacks, and desserts. It will be open all through the year.
Inspired by royalty and the community
Chef Sonukumar Singh, who says they spent eight months working on the menu, shares that some dishes come from the villages and some from the palace. The herbed bejad bread, for instance, is served with a generous bowl of airy white butter spiked with jaggery, sesame and salt from Rajasthan’s Sambhar salt lake.
Without giving away too many details (since tasting menus pivot on surprise), the meal is thoughtfully curated, showcasing some of the State’s most delicious and underrated ingredients. There are firm lachi fish from Udaipur’s lakes, served with kumbi Bikaneri mushrooms. A melt-in-the-mouth junglee maas [a rustic dish traditionally made with game meat, but now uses mutton] heady with the ruby red Mathania chillies, garlic and ghee. And olives. “They’re grown in Alwar, Jaisalmer and other parts of Rajasthan,” explains the chef, adding with a smile, “So they’re now a local ingredient.”
The flavours of fresh winter vegetables are highlighted in the next course, from snappy tender young emerald peas to crisp carrots served with star fruit relish, preserved lemon pickle and a fragrant mint chutney.
The meal also includes a rich, white bajra malai meat kofta, which is a speciality. “When it’s full moon, people [in Rajasthan] would eat white food,” states chef Sonu. “The maharaja shared how his grandmother used to cook this, and we followed that recipe”. Honawar adds: “People want to eat bati, laal maas and jungleemaas. There may be cliches, but with this menu we want to pay homage to classic dishes.” So they apply technique to heighten traditional, familiar flavours, like creating confit laal maas, in a rich slow-cooked gravy.
“It’s a grade A heritage structure — so you cannot touch it. You have to work around the functionality,” the restaurateur says, explaining how nothing is nailed to the walls (to prevent added weight on the stone slabs), and the entire structural intervention can be easily dismantled. “We want to make sure we celebrate the space by preserving it and keeping the integrity of the structure intact.” It took time and effort, but as he says it’s well worth it “because when you are on top, it’s magical”.
Honawar is already excited about the next version of the menu. “We want to go to the toughest regions in Rajasthan, like Barmar, Bikaner and Jaisalmer during May and June, in peak summer,” he says, adding that the trips will also involve documentation. “It will be challenging [the regions are predominantly desert with extreme climatic conditions] but we want to celebrate these communities by bringing their ideas and techniques to the forefront. We want to see what they are cooking, what they are eating. There will be processes like fermentation, which we can learn along the way,” he shares. “Off season is going to be incredible.”
A meal for one at The Sarvato is ₹8,000 plus taxes.
Published – March 06, 2025 05:56 pm IST
