Overview
- Signature Dishes: Pani puri
- Opening Times & Days: 10am to 8pm, daily
- Address: Pink City, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
- Contact: N/A
- Reservation: No
Author Reviews[display_rating_item_results rating_form_id=”3″ rating_entry_ids=”1″ show_category_filter=”false” show_options=”true” result_type=”star_rating” preserve_max_rating=”true” show_title=”false” show_count=”false” ]
Total Rating: [display_rating_result rating_form_id=”3″ show_count=”false” show_rich_snippets=true] [accordions load=”1″] [accordion title=”User Reviews” last] [display_rating_item_results rating_form_id=”5″ show_options=”true” result_type=”star_rating” preserve_max_rating=”true” show_title=”false” show_count=”true” show_rich_snippets=true] [/accordion] [accordion title=”Add Review”][display_rating_form show_email_input=”true” show_comment_textarea=”true” show_name_input=”true” rating_form_id=”5″] [/accordion] [/accordions]
Summary
While street food in India is cheap, abundant and delicious, it is not the most hygienic option for food. If you can eat street food without getting sick, then you have to try some of the Jaipur street food options found in the Old City. From drinks to snacks, and meals to desserts, there is so much to choose from that you would wish you had more time in Jaipur to try them out.
Best Jaipur Street Food Options
Due to the cheap prices and great variety of food available on the streets, a big part of the Indian population live on street food alone. As a result, one can find anything here, from drinks to full lunch meals and even desserts.
Every Indian loves street food, and I am no exception. I have grown up eating street food in between meals or occasionally as a meal. Having grown up in India, my stomach can handle any unhygienic food that comes its way. However, Graham having grown up in hygiene-loving Australia couldn’t eat the street food in Jaipur, as his stomach wasn’t strong enough (yet) to handle the spices and unhygienic nature of the food. So, it was left to me to try out as much street food I could possibly eat in the four days we stayed in Jaipur.
Drinks
This is one street food (or drink rather) that Graham could have and did have – daab or coconut water.
This is a very refreshing drink, and in the middle of the afternoon, on a hot, humid day in Jaipur, this drink is the perfect refreshment. Not only is the water cooling for your stomach, the water is sweet and delicious.
Depending on the daab you get, the man / woman selling the daab will also cut it open for you, so you can eat the young coconut inside. While I’m not a fan of it, it is soft and moist, and makes for a lovely snack on its own.
A daab should cost between Rs 20 – 30 and no more. Compared to a fizzy drink (Rs 15) or a lassi (Rs 20), it’s a good, healthy option for a drink on the street.
[singlepic id=3392 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Another popular drink in Jaipur, and India in general, is lassi. It is an Indian drink made from dahi (thick yogurt). There are many flavours of lassi, such as mango, rose, strawberry and more, however, nothing tastes quite as good as the original, plain lassi.
No other place in India does lassi as well as Jaipur does. There are countless Lassiwala shops in the Old City, and they make a really good glass of lassi. My favourite Lassiwala shop is on Johari Bazar Road near LMB Restaurant.
This is another wonderful, refreshing drink that is perfect for drinking in a hot and humid place like Jaipur.
[singlepic id=3398 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Another delicious drink is sugarcane juice which is made in front of you directly from the sugarcane plant. This is quite a laborious process, as the man has to push the sugarcane sticks between two crushing wheels to squeeze the juice out of them. This continues until there’s no juice left in the sticks, and instead has been collected in a container under the wheels.
Sugarcane juice is absolutely delicious, especially when they squeeze some lime into it. It is sweet and cold, which makes it another refreshing drink, great for a hot, humid place like Jaipur.
Snacks
[singlepic id=3395 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Everyone’s favourite all over the world is potato chips. In India, there is another version of potato chips, called jhal chips, which is hot or spicy potato chips. They are thick cut, mixed in a hot chilli flavouring that is so addictive. Other varieties include the crinkle cut potato chips and the salted potato chips.
Around the streets of Old Jaipur, there are push carts with potato chips piled up high like mountains. They are much cheaper than the commercial packets of potato chips.
[singlepic id=3388 w=720 h=560 float=center]
In Old Jaipur, there are several shops selling namkeen, which are salty, crispy, fried snacks. They are normally made from wheat and lentil flour.
They have them piled high, and decorated in such a way that they looked extremely colourful. They come in several varieties, and it is possible to mix a few together. Namkeen makes for a great snack while walking around the streets of Old Jaipur.
[singlepic id=3396 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Samosas are a favourite snack for almost every Indian, and they are definitely one of my favourite snacks in India. They can be had for breakfast as well. Graham and I had them for breakfast on several occasions during our trip around India. When they are hot, they taste the best.
Aloo (potato) samosas can be found everywhere in the Old City of Jaipur. There are shops on the street that sell them, in addition to temporary street carts set up on the pavements. They usually cost around Rs 10, so they make for a tasty snack or breakfast, especially when walking around the streets of Old Jaipur.
[singlepic id=3397 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Perhaps the most popular snack in Jaipur, and around most cities in India, is pani puri. Known by different names around India, they are small, round, hollow puris (wheat balls), fried crisp, and filled with a mixture of flavoured water (pani), tamarind chutney, chilli, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. It is generally small enough to fit completely into one’s mouth.
They are made differently around India, and therefore taste different. No matter where you eat it, it is packed with flavour, as the tasty filling is enhanced with the mouth-watering tamarind water.
[singlepic id=3389 w=720 h=560 float=center]
One of the snacks that Jaipur is well known for is dal bhajias. These are made of moong dal, a type of yellow lentil, with coriander and spices, and have a lovely, thick and spicy coriander sauce poured over the top.
I had it for a lunch time snack one afternoon while we were walking around the Old City of Jaipur. These were hugely filling, even though I had a really small quantity of it.
Lunch Meals
[singlepic id=3386 w=720 h=560 float=center]
One of the popular lunch time meals all over India is chola batura. Chola batura is an Indian snack made up of ‘chana’ and ‘batura’. Chana is basically chick peas cooked in spices, tomatoes, onions and coriander, and sprinkled with a dash of lime or tamarind. This come with batura, a type of Indian bread that is soft, doughy and lightly fried.
It makes for a great lunch meal, and is one of my all time favourites when I am on the road in India. I had it for lunch one afternoon when we were visiting the attractions in the Pink City. The best one is located on the corner of Hawa Mahal Road and Tripoli Bazaar. A wonderful smell like no other wafts towards you as you walk around this area, so look out for a big crowd somewhere around this corner.
This dish was the best street food I ate in Jaipur by far. It was immersed with flavour that I wanted to lick the paper bowl clean.
[singlepic id=3393 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Around lunch time, several food carts make their way on to the streets of Old Jaipur. There are several options to choose from, ranging from rice to puris with a choice of curries.
When they cost Rs 20 – 30, these meal options are a bargain, especially when they taste so good.
Desserts
[singlepic id=3394 w=720 h=560 float=center]
If you’re in the mood for something sweet, one healthy option is to try some fruit. Depending on the season, a variety of cut fruit is available on the streets of Old Jaipur.
While we were walking around the Pink City, we found some really, delicious pineapples for sale at the side of the street. After eating some unhealthy snacks, fruits are a healthy option, especially when they are covered from the dust and flies. These pineapples weren’t covered, so make sure you find some that are covered in a glass container.
[singlepic id=3399 w=720 h=560 float=center]
Last but certainly not the least are Indian sweets, which are my favourite dessert option in India. The choices are innumerable, and each shop makes different sweets to the next one. The most popular Indian sweets are laddu and jalebi.
A laddu is a yellow ball-shaped sweet made of wheat flour, sugar and chick pea flour. There are several types of laddus available in the Old City of Jaipur.
A jalebi is made by deep-frying a wheat flour batter in a pretzel or circular shape, which is then soaked in sugar syrup. Possibly not the most healthy option, they taste amazing, especially when they are eaten freshly cooked, hot and crispy. They are my all time favourite sweet in India, and I would usually eat one a day whenever I found them on our trip around India.
Once again, make sure that the sweets are enclosed in a glass case, so as to reduce the dust and fly exposure as much as possible. We tried to eat a different Indian sweet each day, so we could taste as many varieties as possible. As proof to the countless varieties of Indian sweets available, even ten weeks wasn’t enough time to try out all the varieties on offer.
These are only some of the Jaipur street food options available in the Old City. No matter where you go in Jaipur, and around India for that matter, you will always find street food any and every where. So, happy and safe eating!
