This custom-built Dublin restaurants named after the "Jewel of Rajasthan" and offered Dubliners one of the city's first contemporary images of ethnic dining.
It's a cool and spacious place, with a large modern spiral staircase leading up to an area that can be used for private parties, with the main restaurant below it. Modern decor and warm colours send the right messages and it is a pleasing space.
Head chef Mahipal Roma uses mostly Irish ingredients, while importing fresh and dried spices directly, and his menus offer an attractive combination of traditional and more creative dishes.
Unless in a group, when it is easy to experience a selection of dishes, first time guests might get a broad view of the offering by ordering mixed plates - beginning, perhaps, with a Jaipur kebab platter (a tandoori assortment of prawn, chicken, lamb and fish) and then a main course selection, such as Chakra Mashaari Thaali - or, for vegetarians, Chakra Shakahari Thaali.
Service is invariably attentive and discreet, adding an extra dimension to a visit here.
And Jaipur was the first ethnic restaurant in Ireland to devise a wine list suited to spicy foods; under regular revision, it offers a wide choice of appropriate wines across a broad price range, including over a dozen by the glass.
* There is a possibility that Jaipur may relocate to a new city centre premises in the near future.
* Also at: Jaipur Dalkey, Co.Dublin; Jaipur Malahide, Co.Dublin; Chakra by Jaipur, Greystones; Jaipur Ongar & Ananda Restaurant Dundrum.
Seats 100 (private room, 50); children welcome (high chair); air conditioning. L Thu-Sun, 12.30-3pm, D daily, 5.30-11.30. Value L €16 12.30-3pm, Early D €24.95, 5-7pm; also a la carte. House wine from €18. Closed 25-26 Dec. Amex, MasterCard, Visa, Laser.
