Jaipur New: Top 5 FnB

Three elements served together: hard wheat balls baked in a clay oven, a spiced lentil dal, and churma, the same baati crushed with ghee and jaggery. The baati keeps for days without spoiling, which suited desert travel. It anchors the Rajasthani thali and is the dish most often used to represent the state's cooking.

A mutton curry built on Mathania red chillies, which give the colour and most of the heat. The meat is slow-cooked in ghee with yoghurt and garlic. It began as a hunting dish in the Rajput courts, where game was cooked with whatever spice travelled well. Bajra roti or bajra bhakri is the standard accompaniment.

A round fried pastry filled with onion, gram flour and spice, served hot with tamarind and coriander chutneys. Rawat Misthan Bhandar is credited with popularising the Jaipur version. It is eaten mainly at breakfast and through the morning. Most shops sell out of the first batch before midday, so timing matters more than the address.

A disc of fried flour batter, honeycombed through the middle and soaked in sugar syrup. Versions include plain, mawa and malai, the last topped with thickened cream and nuts. It is tied to the monsoon festivals of Teej and Raksha Bandhan, when city sweet shops make it in volume. Supply is thinner outside those months.

A thick yoghurt drink blended with sugar, saffron and cardamom, then topped with a layer of clotted cream. It is served in clay kulhads, which lend an earthy note as the drink sits. Lassiwala on MI Road has worked from the same site for decades and sells out by early afternoon. Portions are heavy enough to replace a snack.