The Forage last weekend, in it’s new home at Fairbairn, was another wonderful spring Canberra foodie festival opportunity. Coupled with the Hustle and Scout twilight fashion market, it’s a very lovely opportunity to taste and try, admire and enjoy.
Pulled Pork Roll $10 Smoked Goat Pita $10
Mix and match muesli B St Bakery
Sweet Bones Bakery Poacher’s Pantry
Suryagarh Hotel, 16km out of Jaisalmer, is beautiful, but isolated in the desert.
While rooms can be quite affordable, especially in the low season, food and drink is expensive, at Australian prices.
That said, the dining is very, very memorable….and there’s a few ways to stay in budget.
Welcome drinks and snacks are amazing and extremely generous.
Then, through your stay, little treats and sweets arrive mysteriously in your room.
Breakfast is included in the room price and is incredible, including a ‘chaat bar’ (make your own snacks) and traditional Indian sweets, as well as Indian breakfast foods and marsala chai served in a variety of traditional ‘tea cups’.
The setting for breakfast is lovely and peacocks wander around the courtyard.
Dinner is silver service, glamourous and romantic in the courtyard and very, very good.
Safed chicken, rice, misi roti $AUS25 Bundi ladoo
If you have enjoyed the arrival snacks and sweets that arrive in your room, then really, one main, bread and rice is enough for two people…and helps to compensate for otherwise steep prices.
The complimentary sweets are very lovely too.
Another tip to stay in budget is to take some pre-dinner drinks and snacks out with you (a welcome tip from a fellow traveller).
Gin is $AUS3 for 750ml (a bargain)
Spring is a great time to be in Canberra for festivals and September-October coincides each year with the Gujarati community’s Navarati Celebrations – colourful, spectacular and great fun, featuring amazing traditional clothes, music, dances and food!
Organised by the Gujarati Samaj of ACT, the Festival of Dance, Raas Garba and Dandia runs for ten nights – this year from 25 September to 4 October 2014.
The Sur Vrund Group from Vadodara, Gujarat India is providing some great music that inspires some amazing dancing.
Everyone looks so beautiful, dressed in some very special outfits and there is an obvious pride and pleasure in celebrating shared traditions and experiences.
Much effort has gone in to creating some wonderful traditional Indian vegetarian food with new dishes being added to the menu each night.
Chocolate Baklawa Methi na Gota $5
Ras Malai $5 & Mango & Cardamon Lassi $3 Behl $5
Samosa Chat $5 Dabeli $5
Pav Bhaji $7 Mancuria with Gravy $7
Mango Kulfi $5
And Canberra joins communities all around Australia and the world, celebrating Navarati at the same time.
Here’s a great fun Bollywood version of Garba sent by a lovely friend.
There’s no substitute for staying in the fort wall in Jaislamer, but if you’re looking for something different, Suryagarh, 16 km out of town, looks amazing….and it is.
Rooms start from about $AUS14o for a double (which is all you need) in low season, $AUS 200 for a suite.
Suite
There are nice facilities and walk ways.
And the property looks lovely as the light changes in the evening…..
…when there is also some traditional music and dancing to watch before dinner.
But it is really isolated. (It was good to know to take some drinks and snacks). Rooms have no view (which is why a double is enough, the extra space in the suite is not all that pleasant for sitting) and it’s easy to get ‘cabin fever’. Outside the room, there’s no air-conditioning, so when it’s hot, it’s really hot. And the walkways are latticed after the ground floor, so it’s easy to feel a bit imprisoned.
Best to get to the hotel late afternoon. It’s not a place to spend the day at.
In fact the best parts are arriving, the evening and breakfast…in fact the food is absolutely delicious. But that deserves a whole story of it’s own…..
If you stay at Hotel Garh Jaisal Haveli, in Jaisalmer, it’s handy to know about Lake View Restaurant, at Hotel Surja Guest House, almost next door.
Hotel Garh offers a great breakfast, but doesn’t normally serve dinner. So at the end of a long day, to just go next door and enjoy an inexpensive but delicious meal with a drop dead view, can be perfect.
Catering especially for backpackers, the restaurant is great value and Raj’s hospitality and helpfulness invaluable.
Indoor seating Outside seating The ‘music wallah’
Start the day in Jaisalmer with a traditional breakfast from one of the very popular vendors just outside the first fort gate in Gopa Chowk. (So popular, that it pays to pre-order.)
Dal Makarni and Pakwan and Dal Chakori, especially ordered from the most popular breakfast stalls in town.
If it the right time of year, the mangoes are amazing. Also sold easily in Gopa Chowk.
A great place for a sweet stop is Dhanraj Ranmal Bhatia.
One of the highlights of Jaislamer, are the old havelis, just outside the fort wall.
Patwa-ki-Haveli is the best, and needs a good look inside. But Nathmal-ki-Haveli is also worth going in to.
Exploring the old city of Jaisalmer is a real treat, both inside the fort wall and in the streets below. The Palace museum is not as good as the one in Jodhpur, but don’t miss the havelis, especially Patwa-ki-Haveli.
Perhaps the best place to stay in Jaisalmer’s fort wall is Hotel Garh.
This tall narrow home has been converted into a hotel full of charm, located around a courtyard at the top of a lane.
It’s roof top restaurant has spectacular views.
It shoulders up against other hotels (in fact, the brave can walk between roof tops). Hotel Rajmandir is right next door and Hotel Surja Guest House (good for an easy meal) the next hotel along.
The staff are kind, thoughtful, honest and sincere. Requests are happily and readily accommodated.
There’s no room safe, but belongings are secure. There’s also no room fridge, but complimentary chai, coffee and water are always available (and lovely to enjoy in the gorgeous window seats.)
Each of the seven rooms is beautifully decorated in a different colour. My favourite was the Sweet Purple room, that is huge, with a large bathroom and extra single bed.
But the Opium Room is also lovely…
And there’s the Green Room…
The Blue Room and Red Room…
…and the Scarlet Room
Hotel Garh is great value, at less than $AUS60 per night in low season, including a sumptuous breakfast of fruit, juice, eggs, masala chai/coffee, banana pancakes and Indian breakfast choices like Poha (flattened rice cooked with spices and vegetables).
Jaisalmer, in desert far west Rajasthan, is the ‘Golden City’ and perhaps my favourite place in India.
It is a unique experience to stay in the fort wall ….
…and watch the sun rise and set….
…and the rain roll in….
…and life below….
….from a roof top restaurant
…or a lovely window seat.
Fine Eating 