What to Eat in Agra Today?

Breakfast: bedai and jalebi

Agra's morning meal is bedai — a puffed, crisp kachori stuffed with spiced urad dal — served with a thin, tangy potato curry. It is usually eaten standing up at a sweet shop and followed by a hot jalebi. Sweet shops fry it from early morning and often run out by mid-morning, so it is a meal for the hour after your Taj sunrise visit. Deviram Sweets is a well-known place to try it.

Petha: the sweet everyone takes home

Petha is ash gourd, cut into pieces and cooked in sugar syrup until it turns translucent. The plain kind is firm and mild. Kesar is flavoured with saffron, angoori comes in small cubes soaked in syrup, and paan petha is green and flavoured with betel leaf. Dry petha keeps for a week or two and travels well. The syrupy kinds should be eaten within days. Panchhi Petha is the best-known name, and many shops copy it, so check the shop sign closely.

Dalmoth: the salty partner

Dalmoth is a crunchy namkeen of fried lentils, nuts and spices, sold in the same shops as petha. It is the snack Agra families offer with tea. A mixed box of petha and dalmoth is the standard gift to take home from Agra.

Mughlai at dinner

Agra was the Mughal capital for most of a century, and its meat dishes show it. Mughlai korma is meat slow-cooked in yoghurt, cream and whole spices, rich rather than fiery. Pinch of Spice on Fatehabad Road serves a sit-down version. Mama Chicken in Sadar Bazaar is a busy evening favourite for rolls and tandoori.

Street snacks worth trying

Sadar Bazaar is the city's evening food street. Look for dahi bhalla, aloo tikki and chaat, and tea served in clay cups. Eat where the turnover is fast and the food is fried or cooked in front of you.

Food near the monuments

Food cannot be taken into the Taj Mahal, and the cafés inside the complexes are limited. Eat before you go in, and carry water. Restaurants along Fatehabad Road and around the Taj's east gate are the nearest sit-down options. See where to eat for the full list.