We start this post with a positive note that Chennai is seeing opening of more vegetarian restaurants. It is encouraging to see restaurants of specific cuisine and we have a new addition serving Rajasthani food, Royalasthan, located in the street next to AVM Rajeswari marriage hall in Dr.Radhakrishnan Road. The Restaurant is not a newbie, it is revamped to serve only vegetarian food. Earlier it was a non-veg restaurant. The Rajasthani restaurants that we are familiar of are buffet restaurants, and this restaurant has a a la carte menu and thalis for lunch. A look at the menu confirmed that the items are affordably priced and half portion option is certainly value for money.

We tasted the kebabs, dal pakoda as starters and jal jeera as a welcome drink. Tomato shorba is a must try. It was out of the world, light on the palate, aromatic and a perfect appetizer.

One thing that impressed us was the food was not oily and felt homely. The shallow fried kebabs were nice, full points to the hara bara kebab. The green chutney with it was nice too. The inclusion of authentic Rajasthani vegetables such as Sangri was surprising. Did not have the opportunity to taste it anywhere in Chennai. Also, traditional  Gatte and Mongodi found its place in the thali. Gatte and Mongodi are kind of pakoras made out of red gram flour and green gram flour.

We went for a Thali which had Missi roti, ghee phulka, 4 types of side dishes – ker sangri, gatte ki subzi, mongodi subzi, paneer makhani, and panchratan dal. A small cup of basmati rice is served along with papad, salad, Masala Buttermilk, and curd. The traditional dessert semiya was not overpowering in sweetness too. We can check out the pickles kept on the table if you want that extra kick in the food.

In addition, we tried masala papad and we were excited to see sev tamatar in the menu. So ordered it and had it with the thaali. We had Rooh Afza, again a Must Try and also carrot halwa to complete the food journey of the day.

The biggest plus is the ambience, it is an old home so beautifully decorated to give a homely feel and the interiors show Rajasthan in beautiful paintings and accessories.

Only suggestion to the chef is to reduce the overpowering garlic in the food else it is a nice experience of good Rajasthani food at Royalasthan.