5 Best Restaurants in Rajasthan, India

This four-story, family-run restaurant is a good choice for continental cuisine (think veggie burgers and Israeli salads) as well as Indian classics, with spice levels suited to the Western palate; the pizzas and pastas are popular, too. It's also a good place for breakfast, as it usually stocks a few pastries from a nearby bakery, makes paranthas (potato-stuffed flatbreads) that are fresh and not too oily. The café also serves "real" filter coffee. For views of Pushkar and the surrounding desert, sit on the rooftop terrace.

This little bakery and café in the Hotel Gangaur Palace, with courtyard or rooftop seating, sells fresh pastries and cakes, as well as delicious, real espresso. If you come for breakfast, try the baked beans on toast or the soft cinnamon rolls (not always available during summer months), apple crumble, or date-and-walnut pie. The café is on a busy thoroughfare, but you can take your coffee and pastry upstairs to its sister venue Natural City View (same menu). It also serves international dishes at lunch and dinner.

Jodhpur's most famous sweet shop buzzes till 11 pm, so consider stopping here for dessert. It's a good place to sample regional delicacies; test your chilli tolerance level with the spicy mirchi bada, a huge pepper that's been breaded and deep-fried or, for something sweeter, try the local specialty: mawa kachori (a pastry filled with nut-based milk solid), ghevar (disc-shape sweet), rabri laddu (milk balls). The place Indianized vegetarian versions of American-style fast food—think pizzas and burgers—are also available, though they are just okay at best. There's another branch of Janta near the railway station, but you are best off hitting the main branch at Nai Sarak.

Next door to Gehrilal Goverdhan Singh Choudhary, near the Clock Tower, is a sweet stall, Lala Misthan Bhandar, where you can satisfy your sweet tooth and refuel with the best gulab jamun (fried milk balls in syrup) and imarti (pretzel-shaped pastries dipped in sugary syrup) in town, its open late till 10 pm.

Arrive at this extra-large food stall as early as 6 am (or as late as midnight) for an old North Indian favorite—piping hot puris and alu (deep-fried wheat bread served with potato curry)---or try traditional Jodhpuri sweets, snacks, dosas, and more. Don't expect ambience, but the food is made fresh and bakery items are in chilled cases.