Aristocratic Home Dining in Lucknow

(Itaunja House) – by appointment

The royal estate of the Itaunja (now a small town on the road to Sitapur) is about 40 km from Lucknow and the main palace of Itaunja is situated there. Lucknow being the capital of Oudh and later United Provinces was supposed to have representative homes of all royalty that came under it, so did Itaunja. Most of these royal estates had much larger homes initially, but after India became independent, most of these royalties either lost portions of their city palaces to government, leaving them with only small areas to live (though these are still too large as compared to modern homes) or sold off portions to augment their incomes. Similarly Itaunja House, the city palace of Itaunja Royalty retained the main portion of the palace, maintaining it as their inherited heritage home, which the family continues to use as their home.

A beautiful lobby leads guests to Itaunja House, where the architecture, high ceiling rooms, black and white marble and coloured glass windows are enough to take guests back to glorious times when the family ruled an entire town of Itaunja. Raja Raghavendra Pratap Singh, Raja of Itaunja, is a sophisticated gentleman and passionate about restoring the palace both here and in his estate, Itaunja. His degree in design is evident in colours and décor that he has judiciously used while restoring his home and still maintaining its soul. “During the World War, this home was actually turned into an extension of King George’s Hospital due to paucity of beds there, given its proximity to the hospital” – this unknown fact and many other such interesting ones will be a part of conversation that Raj Sahib Itaunja will have with guests over drinks. Culinary tradition of Itaunja is yet another reason to be here, where the family has an array of closely guarded family recipes from which they curate the day’s dinner.

A typical evening here starts with an introduction to his family and a casual conversation over evening drinks followed by a home cooked dinner constituting dishes from family’s well guarded dining heritage. Tornos has exclusive arrangements with the family that organises this at their home, The Itaunja House. Top it up with a Kathak Interpretation,

Cost :	On request – info@tornosindia.com
Starting Time :	Winters / Summers – 7 pm
Expected Duration :	2.5 hours
Remarks :	This is an exclusive and privileged home dining product that operates every day by appointment and pre-booking. The menu is curated by the family itself for the day and the meal is based on fixed menu or could be pre-plated. This family has a long and illustrious culinary tradition and is known to be loyal to it even today. It is just this passion for authentic family recipes and undiluted tradition of culinary expertise that is the highlight of the meals served here.