1/31–Jaipur Dinner on our Own

Tonight we have no group event and are, again striking out on our own for dinner.  We had chosen a bunch of different places, including a selection of rooftop restaurants with varying degrees of reviews.  Asking Bhanu for advice, he quickly poo poo’d all rooftop my choices, “What else? What else do you have?” and suggested we go tonight to Handi, which has local, traditional cuisine.  As for the rooftop restaurants, he suggested visiting his friend’s restaurant, Skyfall tomorrow.  Sounds like a plan to us.

Handi was actually on our list, although a bit confusing, because they opened up a new restaurant called Copper Chimney which was the recommended place.  But everything we could find said it was closed, and something called Handi Fusion was open.  Bhanu said to go to the original location, which has been open for more than 30 years serving traditional food, so we followed his recommendation, jumping in an Uber for the short ride over (again, less than $1 USD.  Honestly, why would you drive anywhere?).  Once there, we saw that Handi Fusion was on the corner of the building, upstairs, while the original Handi was a few doors down, inside along hallway lined with barbeque grills and Naan making stations.  At least you can see how they are cooking the food!

Inside is cozy enough, with low ceilings, lots of tables and balloons for some holiday (we are assuming it is for an Indian holiday since the balloons are the colors of the flag, and there was another dry day yesterday).  We are seated right away, no fears of not having reservations – it’s practically empty, which is surprising, but we are probably just early.

It’s definitely not empty because of food quality, that’s for sure. Drinks come served with some sort of marinated onion, which everyone but me enjoys, along with some little cracker/crunchy things. For our main meals, we order all the Mughal specialties:  The Handi chicken plate (which I thought would be dry, but comes out with a huge amount of sauce), half an order of Butter Chicken, Mutton for Richard and Paneer for Maggi.  It’s a feast! 

A couple of drinks later and we are all ready to head back to the hotel, totally stuffed and happy.  We spend a few minutes watching the Naan chef make his delicious bread, then Uber it back home to the Holiday Inn for a nightcap and then bed.  Tomorrow the full tour of Jaipur begins.