For our two nights in Udaipur we stayed about 30 minutes away at the centuries old Devi Garh which was built as a nobleman palace/fort (garh means fort) and was painstakingly turned into a luxury hotel that will take your breath away as you drive up to this massive stone and marble structure!
The dining room has a massive menu, especially for a hotel so small that encompasses almost all cuisines, but of course we tried to stick with local options.
Will had a cough and was refraining from wine, but I ordered a bottle as we knew we could finish it the next evening. Our go to red in India is the 2022 Grover red blend of Cabernet and Shiraz and works quite well with most food, even the spicy prawns we chose!
A simple amuse of salad arrived with pappadams with coriander-mint sauce and pickle chutney. I started with the Dal Moth salad a yummy mix of some veggies with sprouted moth lentils and a tasty lemony dressing which had a nice spiciness. Will loved his Dal Nariyal aur Lemongrass Ka Shorba, a lentil soup with coconut and Lemongrass.
We chose three main courses to share and loved them all: Tamatar aur Jaitoon ke Kofte were olive, sun-dried tomato and cheese dumplings in a creamy sauce with a hint of spice; Tawas Jhinga Masala was a prawn curry that had a nice spicy kick, but the Kurkuri Bhindi was one of the best dishes we have had so far. Bhindi is okra but here it is saved thin and light battered with chickpea flour and fried then sprinkled with mango powder that must have some extra spice added as the dish was slightly spicy but not greasy at all and may be one of the best okra recipes on earth. They said they would email me the recipe!!
We were so full and hence skipped dessert.
Our second night, the amuse was the same Dal Moth I started with the night before, but they really cut back the spice. Our attentive and sweet server, Gautam, reappeared with a huge bowl of the lentils with kick-ass spice! My starter was the Som Tam Malaker off the non-Indian menu and this was an extremely spicy Green Papaya salad with beans, tomato, peanuts and Thai chilies. Will chose the Mushroom Paneer Kasorba soup which was a nice cream of Mushroom style. His main was the Amritsari Fish Tikka which were large chunks or river sole marinated with caramelized seed, ginger, chilies and cooked in a tandoori oven. My Dunghar Lahsun Ka Ghost was a smoked lamb with garlic that was really tasty and very different from all the other lamb recipes we had so far. Gautam insisted we have bread and rice, so Will had the yummy garlic Naan while I went with the paratha.
I finished the red wine with the lamb but had two glasses of the Sula Sauvignon Blanc which went brilliantly with the spicy lentils and papaya salad!!
We loved our meals here as well as the amazing breakfasts with Masala Dosa, Uppma(porridge) and Idly Sambar!! Headed to the south of India now and the state of Kerala for 6 nights!
