a taste of rajasthani food with a view of the see-through kitchen

i arrived in raipur yesterday for a stay of two nights.i am doing some senior management staff hiring for my company and i decided to stay at the babylon international.it is an excellent hotel with all amenities including wifi.the restaurant serves very tasty north indian food and the buffet breakfast has a wide spread(never knew that conjeevaram idlis share honours with paranthas and other stuff).there is the coffeeshop which is mandatory for all 5 star hotels.there is also another all-vegetarian restaurant called 'rangoli' which i went to last night with a business colleague for dinner.

we were welcomed by a lady in traditional rajasthani dress.she applied the tilakmark on our foreheads.she suggested we order a thali as they were serving special rajasthani 'khana' that evening.we thoroughly enjoyed the delectable rajasthani cuisine.mildly spiced and no overload of ghee. butte ke putali was the starter. followed by aloo baigan ki sabzi,bhindi peanut poukra fried,ker sangari,special panneer,dal tadka,baati/choorma(rajasthani food is incomplete without this) and gulab jamun to tickle the sweet tooth. all simple marwari fare.but the presentation was elegant,service very courteous,items tasty and the ambience just the right one for the rajasthan theme for the night.

the transparent glass-enclosed kitchen gave a feeling of comfort to the diner as one could see the high standard of cleanliness and hygiene . we saw everything being cooked by the chefs who wore traditional rajasthani headgears.as we were seated right in front of the kitchen, we got the puffed-up phulkas at the right temperature too. see,smell and eat.that was the message. and we liked it.the papads helped us to digest all that we ate and the thin paans left a pleasant feeling in the mouth.

though i am not like my daughter l a true blue foodie,i think we got a bite of the desert.the rajasthani ambience was there all over with nicely decorated mewari glasswork hanging at different places adding to the colour and true rajasthani flavour.one thing was sadly missing though.the rajasthani folk music. the soothing and sonorous notes would have added greatly to the ethnic feeling that we experienced.