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Jaipur Events, Jaipur Food Guide

City Palace Jaipur | Jaipur by Nite@ | Food Festival

Conceptualized by the Confederation of Indian Industry better known as CII to give impetus to night tourism during monsoon, the fifth edition of Jaipur By Nite recently concluded at the City Palace, Jaipur.  Rajasthan Tourism organized Jaipur By Night.

Jaipur City Palace | Food Festival

The festival consisted of live music performances, Jaipur Women’s Car Rally, Jaipur by Nite Marathon, and a food festival – The Bite Fest. I attended the event on day three. The venue of The Bite Fest and the music concert couldn’t be better. Jaipur City Palace ranks among the top five tourist attractions in Jaipur. Therefore it is logical to host this event at one of the premier tourist attractions of Jaipur. City Palace Jaipur is a royal abode. This is where Jaipur royalty has continued to live for close to 3 centuries! Only a few sections of City Palace in Jaipur are open for tourists.

Mubarak Mahal in Jaipur City palace

The music concert and Bite Fest took place in the courtyard of the Mubarak Mahal. Let me take you through the photo journey. Don’t forget to check out the music videos of Swaraag Band if you love Rajasthani Folk songs and Indo-western Fusion music. Entry to the food festival & live music performance was from the gate near Jantar Mantar. We were greeted with the sight of the Mubarak Mahal.

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Mubarak Mahal, City Palace Jaipur

Mubarak Mahal constructed with white marble in 1890 AD looked completely different in yellow light. The word Mubarak implies greeting. Built as a reception center & guest house, it’s a textile museum now. Like the Albert hall museum, the Mubarak Mahal is built in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style. Windows and Jharokhas give it a different look.

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Jaipur By Nite. City Palace, Jaipur

One of these art installations looked out of place. While the turban is a symbol of Rajasthan, there was nothing Rajasthani about the other one!

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Food Festival in Jaipur – The Bite Fest/ JaipurbyNite

The food festival had food stalls from popular cafes, restaurants & food joints in Jaipur. Many Rajasthani elements were added to the seating space to give it a differentiated look.

Chokhi Dhani is a popular tourist destination in Jaipur providing the setting and cuisine of an ethnic Rajasthani village. Their food stall was a complete letdown going by the menu.

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There was a good mix of variety in terms of food joints.

We ordered Delhi Masala from Fat Lulu’s Pizza.  The pizza tasted amazing! This prompted us to order another one – Queens! Unfortunately, the folks at Fat Lulu’s delivered our pizza to some other customer. In haste to deliver our pizza faster, they burned the pizza! When we asked for an explanation, the staff found nothing wrong with the pizza. We didn’t want to waste our time arguing or calling for the manager, so we ate what we could! Not a good review Fat Lulu’s!! You didn’t win any brownie points!

We decided to try  Kashmiri food at Zarpar, a newly opened Kashmiri restaurant in Jaipur. We ordered Rajma Chawal since Zarpar had only two offerings for vegetarians. Did we have a choice?

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Kashmiri cuisine by Zarpar Jaipur

Frankly, Rajmah Chawal was far from good. It was just okay in terms of taste. What bothered me the most was the smell of non-vegetarian food in Rajmah Chawal! I don’t think it was acceptable by any standard!

After two fiasco’s we decided to avoid any more trials. We headed towards the Indo western fusion music performance by the Swaraag band.

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The Swaraag Band, a fusion folk band from Jaipur

The band played interesting and popular Rajasthani Folk songs in a fusion performance.

Watch Kesariya Balam Padharo Mhare Desh live performance video.

Another popular Sufi song Piya Re Piya Re originally sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was presented in a fusion style by the Sawraag band.

Watch the Sufi song Piya Re Piya Re live performance video.

There weren’t many foreign tourists in Jaipur By Nite’s Bite Fest. A few tourists who attended Jaipur by Nite music performance thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. Have a look at these two videos.

We also explored other areas of Jaipur City Palace specially lit for this festival – Rajendra Pol, Sarvato Bhadra Chowk, and Diwan-i-Khaas.

Rajendra Pol

Rajendra Pol in Jaipur City Palace is probably one of the finest masterpieces of Rajput architecture. The gate is incredibly beautiful with fine carvings and workmanship, flanked by two white marble elephants on both sides.

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A tourist walks through Rajendra Pol, City Palace, Jaipur

Diwan-i-Khaas in Sarvato Bhadra Chowk.

Don’t you think Diwan-i-aam looks incredibly beautiful during the night?

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Beautiful Diwan-i-aam in Sarvatro Bhadra Chowk, City Palace, Jaipur

Another perspective of Diwan-i-aam in Sarvato Bhadra Chowk.

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Diwan-i-Aam, City Palace Jaipur during Jaipur By Nite

Here’s how I sum up my experience at Jaipur By Nite. The idea of a food festival is a great concept. In terms of implementation, the choice of food partners – food joints and restaurants was not attractive to foreign tourists. There was no local food experience for the tourists. The seating was limited considering the crowd. Around 10 PM marathoners invaded the venue leaving little space for everyone.  Food options too were limited. Tourists were missing completely. Considering the motive of this event it was not marketed and promoted enough among the tourists. I’m hoping that the next version of Food Bite will be better than this one.

Check out more posts in Jaipur Food Guide 

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Another video of Swaraag Band

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75 thoughts on “City Palace Jaipur | Jaipur by Nite@ | Food Festival”

  4. beautiful capture ARV…. is the lighting permanent or it was just done for the fest…..
    The color of Rajma is not what it should be….. with such a color it cannot taste better….. you are right the color of gravy is much like non veg foood……

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Sudhir. All these pictures were captured with a smartphone. The lighting is not permanent. City palace is also a popular place for marriage functions although they charge a bomb as rental. Yes, the decoration is standard even in marriage functions. The best rajma I have had was on Jammu Srinagar Highway near Baglihar dam. This one was bad actually.

      Liked by 1 person

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      2. True. The difference that I have realised is that in Jammu and elsewhere in hills they are easy on Masalas so you get real taste of Rajmah whereas in other places everyone is using ready pre packed Masalas and it tastes quite similar. Haven’t had one in Delhi for a long time. Someday!

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Your occasional well-placed criticism (this time it was food and the service you were not too pleased with) makes your blog on your beloved city of Jaipur all the more trustworthy. Thank you for that lovely night tour, Arv!

    Liked by 1 person

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    2. I know what you mean, Peter. I guess many bloggers are using blog to sell products. It’s not wrong but you should be true to your readers. Ultimately, it is also about your motive for writing. Thanks for the trust. Appreciate it. 😃

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    1. It sure does. Unfortunately, I missed one of the most photographed courtyard of city palace. I’m sure you guys must have visited Jaipur and city palace!

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  12. Wow! this is a wonderful description of City Palace Festival, a pictorial delight too as your pictures and videos are speaking volumes. Thanks for sharing this virtual tour, I could almost taste your burnt Pizza and raj mah chawal with a dash of non-veg…I think they must have used the same ladle to stir vegetarian food. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Quite possibly. Even though they make both veg and non veg, for small kitchens it’s not easy to differentiate. Very few hotels are operating different kitchens for both types of food. I believe you must have seen city palace long ago.

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  18. There’s so much to explore and experience in Jaipur. Have seen the tourist hotspots as a kid but unfortunately have no significant recollection of any particular place. Hope I get to explore the city afresh.

    Best, Ragini

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. City Palace looks beautiful at night with all the lighting The art installations are good too though I think that one looks more South Indian in style than Rajasthani. It is hard to imagine how rajma Chawal can go wrong. I would have expected more veg food options.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Rajmah chawal is very simple to cook and prepare as you pointed out. when you find smell of non-vegetarian food emanating from it, it kills it completely. There were lots of other vegetarian food choices but when it’s a food festival, your expectations go up. I’m sure you would have visited city palace during your Jaipur visit.

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