India is a veritable food paradise, given the wide range of its cuisine. Every State and every region has a different cuisine with its own unique flavors and aromas. Having had the privilege of staying in and travelling across the country has made us self proclaimed connoisseurs of Indian Vegetarian food.
We love food from all corners of the country, but one of of our favourites has to be the cuisine from the western states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Having stayed in Gujarat for a long time we have a particular fondness for the Gujarati Thali (Food platter with a mind boggling variety of dishes served piping hot).
Cosmopolitan city like Bangalore offers literally limitless dining options of every type of regional and international cuisine.It was one of those summer afternoons when clouds covered the sun and the earth cooled down a little after bearing the brunt of the sun all day. A cool breeze had set in carrying with it a whiff of the aroma of fresh earth, indicating the advent of rain in the city. We headed towards a restaurant called Rajdhani for our lunch.
Rajdhani – The Vegetarian Thali Restaurant
The Restaurant
The restaurant is part of a chain of similar restaurants spread across 27 locations in India with a presence in the Middle East as well. It offers Gujarati and Rajasthani cuisine and boasts of 72 varied and rotating menus which include over 22,000 dishes. The restaurants are spacious and neat and have a good ambience.
The Food
We had chosen a table near the window and we had a vantage view of the rain washed road below as the restaurant is situated on the third floor. A turbaned waiter ushered us into our seats and we were immediately served with water followed by a glass of cool Aam Panna (Juice of cooked raw Mangoes).
We felt like royalty as three waiters hovered discreetly around our table, ensuring that we were comfortable. They then placed huge circular plates in front of us and around 10-15 small bowls for each of us. Once we were ready, they started serving us with a mind boggling array of starters, curries, pickles, fritters and salads, stopping only once all the bowls were full to the brim. Next they started serving Phulkas (wheat pancakes) topped with marinated butter and an assorted array of different rotis. It being the Mango season, we were also served Aam Ras (Mango juice with some spices like cumin powder, thrown in), this is best eaten with Puris (deep fried wheat pan cakes).
We were full but we could not stop before having a helping of Khichdi (preparation of rice and lentils), a famous and common preparation of Gujarat.
We rounded off our lunch with dessert which included Gulab Jamun and Jalebi.
The food was indeed very satiating and tasty and had brought the flavours of Gujarat and Rajasthan to Bangalore.
Service
The service is very good with smiling and friendly waiters who unobtrusively make sure that you are comfortable.
Cost
The cost is quite reasonable by the standards of Cosmopolitan Bangalore.
Tip
These kind of restaurants are meant for focusing on and enjoying your food, if you are thinking of a quite dimly lit romantic kind of dining, then this is not the place.
If you liked this post, you may want to read our other food related posts. You may do so by clicking on the below links:
Indian food you should definitely try in your lifetime
Authentic Indian Sweets – An ecstasy for the tongue
Aam Sutra – On the trail of the Indian Mango
A Vegetarian Dinner in Zurich
6 Survival secrets of a Vegetarian Traveler
I love the presentation of the meal. It makes me really hungry. I’ll tell my friends who live in the Middle East about it. Thanks!
Yes, they would love it. This is there on Oman too.
22,000 dishes? Um, woah. I can’t imagine trying to understand the cuisine as a whole with so many options, even if they’re distributed across a variety of restaurants. I love Eastern food and the diversity of it!
Indeed it is a huge range! Though we tried out around 25+ delicacies that day, we were exhausted! 🙂
I love Indian food and just so happen to be vegetarian. Thanks for sharing – my stomach is grumbling for some Indian cuisine!
Haha.. I know. We enjoyed this vegetarian lunch.
72 menus with 22k dishes? Wow!
Yeah! Amazing right?
22000 dishes! I wouldn’t know what to choose :D!!
22,000 dishes are on rotating basis! 🙂
I have been here and it is a good experience for one time. I feel that they were good and have kind of become a little more commercial in the recent times.
The first time experience of looking at so many dishes being served was what we liked the most.
Yay! I love vegetarian food. I wish there were more veggie places near me.
Glad to know you like vegetarian food.
I’m a meat lover but love the Indian Vegetarian cuisine. Great post.
Thank you Russ.
As vegetarians we really love the food at Rajdhani. And the service and ambiance definitely add to the charm, isn’t it? They definitely make us guests feel like royals
Whoah! I didn’t know the Indian Cuisine offered such a variety of vegetarian food! Awesome! Beautiful atmosphere as well!
That food looks so tasty, and it looks like you get quite a bit! As long as the food is worth it, I don’t mind compromising on the atmosphere of the place!
I wish I have the chance to taste Indian food. The foods look yummy and tasty. But I am hoping for more of meat variant dishes because I don’t eat veggies.
Loved the circular plate, the presentation looks really nice. I want to try it because I am quite interested with Indian food. I still remember the first time I tried it with friends and we didn’t have any idea what to order and just picked something from the menu. Turns out all we ever ordered were biryani (albeit in different flavors haha). Still, I loved it, I loved the flavor and I happen to love spicy food so it was very delicious for me. Having said that I want to be exposed to more Indian food.
Love this, Indian food is my favourite, particularly thali lunches! They are always a great deal, no matter if I’m at home or travelling abroad. I cannot believe the size of this meal, it looks amazing! I like the sound of the romantic atmosphere too, this is the kind of place me & my boyfriend would both enjoy 🙂
First of all , I am not sure if I would be able to eat all this food at one go!! but this food looks amazing! I would have to sit with my family to get hold on everything! lovely place to hangout with friend though!
I have been there and could relate to all this. Good place to get pampered. 🙂
I go there when I am in a mood for good veg food.
All these dishes look amazing and very delicious and I know they are delicious . . . the first 5 seconds. Then it is too spicy for me. I was in South India and I tried my best (I even ordered kids menu) and I was begging the waiters “not spicy please” but it was always too spicy. By the way, do you know why the waiter was turbaned? I though there were turbans only in specific regions of India.
I have never dined in any vegetarian restaurant before and not really a vegetarian so I am un sure how I would like to be in this restaurant. But your honet review seems to attract readers to try. So yeah would live to go there. Anyway the food looks pretty amazing