Jaipur

Jaipur
9401 Lee Highway, Unit 105
Fairfax, VA 22031
703.766.1111

On the recommendation of a Bengali friend of mine, who said this was his favorite Indian restaurant in the DC area, we decided to have dinner here tonight. The decor is various shades of pink as Jaipur is known as the "pink city" since in 1876 the city decorated itself in pink to welcome Queen Elizabeth and Prince Albert II.

One really nice thing about the menu is the ability to order nearly any entree as a half order, so we took full advantage so that we could try a lot of different dishes. We started with some papdam and two beautiful samosas. The samosa dough was handmade and filled with surprises like cashews, an item I haven't seen in too many samosas. Then we had some paneer tikka (one of my favorites...marinated and grilled cheese), saag paneer (my old standby of spinach and cheese), besan ka ghatta (gram flour dumplings), bhartha baigan ka (smoked eggplant), kulcha do piaza (bread stuffed with onions), naan (bread) and dal (in this case, yellow lentils).

Honestly, the best thing on the table was the dal. It was spicy and rich and complex, one of the best examples of dal I have ever had. The besan ka ghatta was new to me and it was wonderful! The tomato, onion and yogurt sauce was fantastic and the dumplings provided a really chewy conterpart. The paneer tikka was less smoky than the one I love at Woodlands but the cheese was much richer and moister at Jaipur. And the kulcha do piaza was great!!

The service was very attentive, in fact, a bit much, as we were asked if we were finished several times while we were taking breaks, but very politely.

I thought Jaipur was definitely among the best Indian I have ever had, but still comes in a tiny bit under Woodlands overall.

Overall: 92

Rating System:
95-100 World class, everything is outstanding from service to ambiance to wine list
88-94 Among the best and favorites.
80-87 Very good, at times outstanding, but could be inconsistent or not provide a total dining experience
70-79 Good. May surprise you at times, usually inexpensive and casual.
60-69 Decent. A good weeknight, quick dinner out. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done adequately.
Below 60 Not recommended