The Rambagh Palace has been home to generations of royals until 1957, when it was first changed into a luxury hotel by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, but it was not until 1972 that Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces took over the reins and opened the palace to everyone who could afford it. The Rambagh Palace can be found in the pink city of Jaipur that is the capital city of Rajasthan, and Suvarna Mahal is its flagship restaurant.

Suvarna Mahal once was the maharaja’s royal banquet hall and the big dining room is still mesmerizing and grand with Italian Renaissance styled Florentine ceiling paintings & mirrors, tapestry-covered walls and gold-plated silverware. Live classical and semi-classical music plays in the background and the four alabaster lamps gleaming in the four corners of the dining hall set the mood in a true royal fashion.

The menu focuses on original Indian cuisines from the royal houses of Jaipur, Mewar, Awadh, Hyderabad, Vijayanagar, Kashmir and Patiala among others that originate from four different provinces. The flavours remind you about a lot of other Indian restaurants in India so the promised royal cuisine from all over India does not offer any unique taste sensations. You will have courses like the maas ke sule, laal maas and gajrela that are typical and recommended with traditional ingredients such as chicken, lamb and yoghurt.

We expected more from Suvarna Mahal with its magnificent dining room and top class service, but it turns out that it is just another fine dining Indian restaurant with little innovation when it comes to flavours. Almost all you order in tastes the same or very similar to what you have had at so many other restaurants in India. The murgh tikka zaffrani or the dahi ka mass is still chicken in yoghurt cooked in a tandoor and lamb with the typical yoghurt curry.

Written by Andy