There was one hotel on our India trip that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave: Fateh Garh is the most beautiful spot I’ve ever visited. Hands down.
Fateh Garh sits on the top of a hill in the Araveli range near the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan. The hotel “belongs to the Heritage Renaissance School of building Heritage Renaissance – a term used to describe the laborious transplanting of the stone by stone, pillar by pillar of a heritage structure from a place not very far away to a new context.” (Source).
And it looks like this. Seriously, I don’t think it could be any more beautiful.
Wanna see my favourite spot?
We were so warmly welcomed to this breathtaking site, and proceeded to enjoy two days of Rajasthani (specifically Mewari) food. Tough life, right?
Imagine breakfast at sunrise:
Where you start out with a typically North Indian food: Paratha. These are gorgeously flaky whole wheat breads stuffed with all sorts of Indian veggies – my favourite options being aloo (potato) or even better – gobi (cauliflower)! And where there’s paratha, there must be curries and chutneys. This tomato chutney was just-the-right-sweet for breakfast, and just-the-right-savoury. Mmm.
And onto something I’d never encountered as a breakfast food: Semiya Upma. This dish is an upma made with short vermicelli noodles (instead of the rava (cream of wheat) that I’m used to), fresh veggies, and mustard seeds. Yum.
And of course, idli and sambar. You’ll have to go read about Mumbai to discover the idli and sambar deliciousness.
And Rajasthani feasts for dinner:
The candlelit tables were gorgeous, but of course made food photography look a wee bit blurry, as you’ll see in the shots below — so you’ll have to forgive me. But I make up for it by showing you my favourite desserts: one of them being gulab jamun (balls of sugar & milk in a simple syrup). Try not to call them “Timbits”.
And my all-time favourite dessert: Jalebi. Jalebi are like a funnel cake where the batter is fried, and then soaked in simple syrup. How could it not be amazing? And they presented at the restaurant as “Jalebi (live)” — because the chef was out there making freshfresh jalebi right in front of our eyes. And bellies. Don’t ask how many I had.
And so now you get the experience of “Jalebi (live)”:
And jalebi to eat, by candlelight.
Hint: If you’re looking for Jalebi in Toronto, you usually find them at Indian grocers and sweet shops — and they’re highlighter-orange in colour. We got them au naturel in Udaipur, but saw the bright orange ones heaped in piles by the street vendors.
I’d rather have a beige jalebi, and a bright orange sunset:
Then sit by the pool and digest while contemplating buddha.
And if you decided to actually leave the hotel and go visit Udaipur?
You can go see some traditional Rajasthani dancing:
Gorgeous temples:
The Palace:
And best of all, the Summer Palace — known around these parts as the Lake Palace, for obvious reasons.
If you feel like you recognize it, it’s because it was in a little Roger Moore Bond movie, “Octopussy”.
But really, I’m here for the food. Can you bring me another jalebi? I’ll be at the pool.
Your photos are gorgeous, the light looks amazing! It really does look like the most beautiful place on earth! All that and the best vegetarian food in the world, I have to go, and soon!!
YES! I recommend saving your pennies now so you can get there ASAP. You would love the food. 🙂
Your pictures are breathtaking. Makes me want to visit India some day 🙂
Thank you so much, Felix! I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to go! And can’t wait to go back!
Thank you for the lovely write up and pictures…..
On behalf of team Fateh Garh,
Dushyant
Thanks, Dushyant for stopping by my blog!!! We are thrilled to be coming back to Fateh Garh in March 2012 — and are looking forward to another wonderful experience!
Thank you for the lovely write up and pictures…..
On behalf of team Fateh Garh,
Nehpal singh
Manager Front office
You are so welcome! We enjoyed our time so much last year, and this year was truly special — so thank you for the hospitality! I will let you know once our post about this year’s stay is up!