Gastronomic Adventures in Udaipur

No account of Udaipur would be complete without mention of our memorable dining experiences. In this I am not referring to the quality of the food (although the diverse dishes we ordered were some of the tastiest meals I have ingested to date.) It was the location of each restaurant that made our meals so remarkable. At Udai Kothi we ate by candlelight on the terrace of one of the city’s fancy, historic hotels. As dusk fell we watched the striking skyline change into constellations of blinking yellow lights reflected back to us in the heart-shaped lake below. The following day, our aimless rambles through the old city led us to an eye-catching, near vacant heritage hotel where we took dinner IN a turret overlooking Lake Pichola. We were so high that flocks of diving white birds looked like mere specks against the lake’s blue-black water. And I cannot forget our lunches at the outdoor restaurant Ambrai, situated on a strip of land that juts into the lake. Alexander and I sipped black chai and ate Aloo Palak (Potato and Spinach curry) while taking in the surrounding scenery: the creamy vanilla city palace façade; the sun setting over the bright, water-bounded lake palace; and a nearby ghat, busy with women in colorful saris washing their jewel-toned, dirty laundry.