Royal Repast from the House of Bedlas, a meal to relish the Culinary Heritage of Mewar.

Royal Repast from the House of Bedlas, a meal to relish the Culinary Heritage of Mewar. 

Since my childhood, Sunday is synonymous with Red Meat Day at home! I used to accompany my father on those market trips to purchase the choicest cut of the Mutton from some legendary Meat Shops in Kolkata like Hajis, Rahmania who were selling meat for over a century. At home, the cooking was an extravagant affair too that I will sometimes share later. 

Last Sunday, I woke up with a hangover of those wonderful childhood memories and a craving for some red meat that must be prepared extravagantly.

A little reading here and there, and called up a speciality restaurant serving true-blue Rajput cuisine, Royal Repast from the legendary House of Bedla. 

If I start with their legacy, it'll end up in a multi-volume book. So, just to give you an idea from their website, The Bedla family has had the distinction of serving their cuisine to Queen Elizabeth, Jacqueline Kennedy and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru the first prime minister of independent India & various royalties of Rajasthan.  Their cuisine kept on evolving; keeping intact the basic distinctive authenticity coupled with imagination and innovation. 

I spoke with Karan sab, the owner, and requested him for a reservation for a leisurely brunch with their speciality cuisine. 

We arrived at around 2 pm in the afternoon. The restaurant is situated in their ancestral home which is maintained beautifully. The approach and the locality are congested as its situated in one of the busiest streets of the city (Mini Chetak Marg, connecting Hathi Pole and the Chetak Circle). But the moment you entered their gated and guarded premise, you'll leave all the hustle and bustle behind and slowly steep into an era of royal heritage.

You'll find enough parking for your vehicle on their campus. The restaurant offers both indoor and outdoor al fresco seating. As it is last week of November, we chose the outdoor option. 

The beautiful passage with walls covered with frames depicting the heritage and legacy of the Bedla Family and the Dynasty lead us to a courtyard that resembles nothing other than the one we found at any upscale country house restaurants in Mediterranean countries.

The Passage

The Courtyard

The Bright Blue Hue

The pleasant white with vibrant blue, all around, with beautiful artworks and patterns on the wall and natural greens. The ambience was serene with the occasional chirping of birds and traditional Indian instrumental music playing in the soundbox. The white stone top iron tables are placed at a comfortable distance between each other, and the chairs offer cosy seating with nice blue cushions. 

We were greeted by our server, Mr Virendra, who was courteous and found later that he has excellent knowledge about the food that they are serving. Dressed up nicely as well as other staffs and well versed in English, Mr Virendra and his team of runners were a perfect match for the property.

The menu was handed to us after a brief introduction of the restaurant. We found the menu quite impressive where the dishes were mentioned properly with a brief description. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian have plenty of choices with clear marking of their house speciality. The prices are moderate. It could have been better if the spice level is mentioned in the menu as most of the dishes are of traditional recipes with a strong royal connection to it. 

The restaurant offers some off-menu speciality like Keema prepared with rabbit meat, an extravagant Murg Masallam, where a whole chicken is stuffed with gravy, vegetable, rice and then slow cooked in an oven as well as some Nomadic dishes like Banjara Murgh. And perhaps the most famous and celebrated worldwide dish of Rajasthan, Laal Maas that is prepared by a recipe curated exclusively by the House of Bedlas. 

Upon our server's recommendation and to justify my belief of Sunday being the red meat day, we thought to order one of their most adventures dish in the menu, The Khargosh kabab to begin with along a house speciality Mutton Kabab. For the mains we chose, Mutton cooked in their signature secret sauce and simple Naan. 

The Khargosh Ke Kabab is kabab that is made with minced rabbit meat and shaped like Shammi kabab and then shallow fried. It was mentioned on the menu as one of the oldest recipes of the Bedla's. 

The other dish was Handi Sula where piccata of lamb tenderised and marinated with their secret in-house sauce, Bedla sauce and cooked in a special pot over low heat and smoked afterwards.

There was no separate Drinks Menu, but the server helped us with a glass of beer from their off-menu stocks.

The appetisers served without much delay. The rabbit meat kabab was good in the portion; there was eight small Shami kabab like pieces. The minced meat was flavoured well and had a right balance of ground spices. The shallow frying was done well, but in the first bite, we found a slight hint of the burnt oil. But the aftertaste was excellent. Rabbit meat is delicate, but the Chef handled it with acute perfection and an excellent use of spices. 

The Khargosh ke Kabab

The next on the table was Handi Sula. The mutton was tender and juicy. The marination was good. Use of their in-house secret sauce, The Bedla Sauce pushed the flavour profile in a different orbit that we enjoyed. 

Handi Sula

Both the dishes were good in portion, and thus we took a short pause before the arrival of the main course and to discuss the in-house Secret Sauce and the special types of equipment that they use in many of their cooking like the earthen pots and all.

The Bedla sauce is developed by the family long back but improvised over the years. It is made with around thirty-two ingredients and takes about two to three months to prepare and develop the right flavour profile. It's a typical Indian sauce but the heat is balanced nicely, and the texture is unique to its nature. 

We also requested our server to show us the equipment used in the cooking of our main course order; Mutton cooked in an earthen pot. And we have the privilege to observe that the well-marinated mutton was cooked in an earthen pot (handi) that is black in colour to conduct heat in a better way. 

Chef cooking Mutton in an Earthen Pot

The typical Black Earthen Pot that conducts better heat

The overnight marination made the mutton pieces perfect for chewing and easily separated from the bones. The bones left adequate juice in the gravy to make it more flavourful. The flavour was well balanced and medium spicy and suitable for most of our taste platter. And the portion was enough for two.

Mutton cooked in an earthen pot

The juicy mutton was served with tandoori naan bread

The Naan bread was soft and prepared fresh. Though Laccha Paratha could have gone better with the gravy, we choose to stick to a completely non-oily variant and thus ordered Tandoor Naans. 

The dishes that we ordered made us feel that we have done a good justice to our craving and I'm going to repeat my order on next visit.

The restaurant is righteously proud of their traditional cooking technique and preserving the rich culinary heritage of the family and the province of Mewar. 

A must visit for anyone who relishes slow-cooked food and the culinary heritage of the land as well as anyone who loves to explore food with an emotional connection to the art of cooking.

The restaurant takes reservation and can be contacted at -

ROYAL REPAST

Bedla House, Chetak Marg,
Opposite SBI Bank,
Udaipur (Raj.) 313004

Phone: +91 294 2522362
Mobile: +91 9549551335/ 98292 20362
Email: royalrepastudr@gmail.com