Jaipur royal Padmanabh Singh launches The Sarvato, inviting you into the City Palace for dinner

At The Sarvato, the new seasonal restaurant in Jaipur’s City Palace, recipes dip into the royal kitchens, and menu experiments begin in the desert when it’s offseason

I enter Jaipur’s City Palace to the sound of drums, weaving past a bejewelled foot-stamping, ear-flapping elephant. There is a wedding in progress outside and the streets are festive with light.

Earlier that morning, I had bought a ticket and jostled through gawking crowds to admire the stately buildings, crafted in pink sandstone and marble. By evening, I am back inside, seated in the serene heart of the complex, sipping a crisp Maharaja martini and scooping up creamy bajra malai koftas, inspired by the palace kitchens, with freshly made ghee-smeared phulkas.

Built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in the early 18th century, the palace was expanded by his successors till the 20th century. It is still home to the Jaipur royals. An intricately detailed square pavilion, popularly known as the Sarvatobhadra, stands at the centre of the expansive compound. This was historically used as the diwan-i-khas, where the maharaja once held private audiences. Today, a maître-de is stationed outside, leading guests up a narrow passage lined with historical photographs of the family taken at state banquets and polo fields, to the rooftop where The Sarvato now stands.

The seasonal rooftop restaurant is an intriguing new venture by Sawai Padmanabh Singh (Pacho to his friends), the 26-year-old titular maharaja of Jaipur, and Abhishek Honawar, who runs the city’s popular hotels The Johri and 28 Kothi.

“The whole reason the city of Jaipur was built was to deliver perfection,” says Singh, adding, “The maharaja who built the city had that vision for the city and its people. Over the past couple of years we have been trying on all fronts to deliver that vision [first through the Jaipur Centre for Art, a contemporary art institution launched last November, and now The Sarvato].”

The open air restaurant, which will close by the end of March as it gets warmer, and then reopen in September, offers a six-course experiential tasting menu inspired by the food of Rajasthan. “It’s 100% local ingredients — the fresh water fish, the bajra, the indigenous grains... we are doing a lot of sourcing and talking to the community,” explains Honawar. “There is no point in serving something that is generically available. If you see an avocado on our menu it’s an insult to the menu. That’s where we are coming from. It’s hyperlocal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t apply technique to it, process to it, energy to it.”

My meal begins with a miniature brass container, shaped like a traditional tiffin carrier, filled with a deeply savoury consommé with papad dhokli. The bartender suggests I team it with a refreshing Chukker, tangy with locally sourced ber fruit and tequila. The cocktails are sophisticated and spirit forward: from the Raj Rasayana, made with bird’s eye chilli spiced gin, green apple and curry leaf to the Royal Remedy, a warming winter cocktail made with honey, turmeric, ginger-infused rum and peated whisky. Sipping on my drink, under a star-strung inky night sky, I admire Chandra Mahal, where the royal family lives, shimmering under blue and white lights. On the other side, the stately clock tower looms. It’s like sitting in a jewel-studded tiara.