Rawat Mishthan Bhandar

Rawat Mishthan Bhandar is the name most Jaipur residents give when asked where to eat a pyaaz kachori, the flaky fried pastry stuffed with a spiced onion filling that is one of Rajasthan's best-loved snacks. The shop is on Station Road near Sindhi Camp, and it has been frying kachoris since 1972. It is part of the Rawat group, and the business is large: a 2015 report described a staff of more than 200 working from about five in the morning until late at night to keep up with demand.

The star is the pyaaz kachori, with the aloo pyaaz version, filled with potato and onion, a close rival. There is also a plain aloo kachori, and for something different the mawa kachori, a sweet version filled with reduced milk. The kachoris are served hot and are best eaten straight from the pan. The group sources onion, garlic and red chilli from its own farm near Jodhpur.

Beyond kachoris, the counters hold a wide range of Indian sweets, including mawa and chhena sweets and ghewar, the honeycomb-like disc soaked in syrup that is a speciality during the Teej festival. Stuffed chilli fritters, samosas and namkeen, savoury snacks, are available too. Wash it all down with a makhania lassi, a rich, chilled sweet drink made with butter.

This is a quick-service sweet shop rather than a sit-down restaurant, so expect queues at busy times and a functional setting. Prices are low, which makes it one of the best-value food stops in Jaipur. Kachoris are eaten at almost any time of day, with tea or lassi for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. They also travel reasonably well: customers buy boxes to take to other cities, and a kachori keeps for around a day at room temperature. Everything is vegetarian, so it suits every kind of traveller.

Rawat is easy to find thanks to the Sindhi Camp landmark, and it is a short ride from MI Road and the old city gates. Combine a kachori stop with a morning of sightseeing, or with a visit to Lassiwala on MI Road, another long-running Jaipur favourite for a quick snack.