Suryamahal

Suryamahal is the sun palace, and the dome over it is painted as a sky: blue, with clouds brushed across it.

The room opens at 7 in the morning and does not shut again until 10.30 at night.

Two kitchens work off one list. The Indian half is arranged by region — Rajasthan first, then Punjab, the south, and a short run from eastern India — and the other half is Neapolitan pizza, pasta and risotto, and a row of sandwiches and burgers. Every Indian main course arrives with rice or with bread, and the larger plates can be ordered as one portion instead of to share.

Tea gets the same attention as the food: a second-flush Assam, an Earl Grey heavy on bergamot, and South Indian filter coffee. The bread list alone runs to 7, from a pearl millet roti to a Jodhpuri parantha worked with mathania chillies and ghee.

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