Centuries of princely treats

One such group that came to the city was a group of halwais, who acquired a tiny space in Johri Bazaar and set up a sweet shop. Little did they know that this shop would travel through centuries and get engraved in the city's charming history.

It was sometime between 1949 and 1950 that one of the descendents of these halwais, Maliram Ghodawat, branded this sweet shop that then came to be known as the Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar (LMB).

He went on to convert it into a restaurant for vegetarians and, in 1960, laid the foundation for the LMB Hotel that opened to guests in 1963. A landmark today, LMB is known for its vegetarian meals, sweets and namkeens across the country.

In the tiny roads that mark the Johri Bazaar and among the tiny shops that are characteristic of Jaipur, LMB stands apart, surrounded on both sides by pickle shops. In fact, a visit to the restaurant is a must for anyone visiting the city, especially for its famous vegetarian thali.

"Until 2000, we did not even use garlic and onions in our food. But after conducting a survey, we realised that we had to modify ourselves with the changing tastes of the society. Hence, we started adding onions and garlic in the preparations," says Ajay Agarwal, CEO of the enterprise. He adds that LMB still, and always will, stand for vegetarian food.