We arrived late in Pushkar and found a little restaurant just along from the hotel that looked to be popular and where we could see them cooking the food in the open kitchen. It was a cool evening and they had braziers inside to keep you warm while you dined.

The great big bins of fresh vegetables in the kitchen on the counter helped us choose this place. It was great to see the produce being used as each dish was ordered the chef grabbed a bit more as he cooked each meal to order.

The smells from the kitchen were amazing and you could see the steam rising from each pot and pan as he worked. I wished that I could have talked to him properly as I watched him cook just to know what was in the dishes. It could have been the best master class ever.

Thali

I ordered the Thali which he then cooked for me as I watched. A couple of thin lentil based daals, one slightly thicker and creamier than the other. Apart from that I have no idea what was in them. There was a great little pot of potato and peas an Aloo Matar I thought, rice, pickle, fresh salad and roti after roti was produced as I ate.

This is really great simple cooking and quite wholesome food. It was hard to believe that all this and unlimited bread was only 120 rupees, it was also hard to believe that I was not missing meat that much either. The food is so good and fresh, and so different from that we get served in the standard restaurants in the UK.

One of the highlights of this place and even of the whole trip so far food wise was meeting this lovely lady who was in charge of making all the breads at the restaurant. She was happy to let me come into her section of the place for a photograph and to show us how she was making the different breads.

In front of her was her rolling board and to the side a tray of the different bread mixes, as we watched she made chapatti (roti), naan, and poppadoms, each dropped onto the embers of the wood fire for just enough time to cook and char nicely. I really want one of these ovens and of possible a lady like this to teach me how to use it properly.

This place is located at Jaipur Ghat, Pushkar Lake, Ajmer, Rajastan. It is right by the sacred lake, a great spot to eat and relax.

Just watch out for the fake priests and the hawkers.