- Tajnuma, 2nd Floor, Jobaaj Complex, Fatehabad Rd
- For Booking: +91 90688 89658
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- Tajnuma, 2nd Floor, Jobaaj Complex, Fatehabad Rd, opposite Howard Plaza, Bansal Nagar, Tajganj, Agra, Uttar Pradesh 282001
- Timings - 12:00 pm – 12:00 am
The Tajnuma Journal
Agra, for People Who Are About to Visit It
Itineraries, monument timings, seasons and food — written from Fatehabad Road, in the neighbourhood the Taj Mahal stands in. No invented distances, no ticket prices that will be out of date by the time you read them.
Diwali in Agra: Inside the Mithai Box
Kaju katli, laddoo, barfi and a little silver. The sweet box that changes hands by the thousand in Agra every Diwali, opened piece by piece.
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The Mosque and the Jawab: The Taj Mahal's Two Red Buildings
One of the two red buildings beside the Taj is a mosque. The other is its answer.
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Gluten-Free in Agra: A Survival Guide for Coeliacs
Bread on every table, flour in the spice tin. How to eat well in a wheat-loving city without getting caught out.
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Before the Mughals: How Sikandar Lodi Made Agra a Capital
The Mughals did not choose Agra. They captured a capital that was already there.
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Sur Sarovar and the Bears of Agra: A Wildlife Half-Day
Agra's most hopeful sight is not a monument. It is a sloth bear that used to dance on a rope.
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Mariam-uz-Zamani's Tomb: The Quiet Monument Next to Akbar
The mother of an emperor lies in a building that was already old when she died.
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Guru ka Tal: Agra's Sikh Shrine on the Delhi Road
Most travellers pass it on the highway into Agra. It holds one of the most important stories in Sikh history.
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The Great Gate: How to Read the Taj Mahal's Entrance
The gate is the first great building you walk through, and the one almost nobody looks at.
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Tajganj: The Town That Grew Up Around the Taj Mahal
The lanes south of the Taj were not an afterthought. They were planned with the tomb, and they were meant to pay for it.
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Soya Chaap: How North India Built a Kebab From Soybeans
It is shaped like a chop, cooked like a kebab and made from soybeans and flour. The vegetarian's answer to the tandoor.
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Vegan in Agra: What to Order, and the Questions to Ask
Vegetarian is everywhere in Agra. Vegan takes a few questions. Here is where the ghee, cream and paneer hide, and how to ask.
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Mathura Peda: The Milk Sweet of Krishna's Birthplace
Milk, sugar and patience, cooked until it turns the colour of toffee. The sweet of Krishna's home town, and the one Agra sends you to Mathura for.
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Seekh, Shami, Galouti, Tikka: Every Kebab Explained, Without Meat
Skewered, griddled, melted or charred: the kebab families of the Mughlai table, and how a vegetarian kitchen cooks every one.
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Korma, Kofta, Shorba: A Diner's Glossary for Agra
Handi, khamni, sheermal, dum. The words on an Agra menu, explained in plain English so you can order like you live here.
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Chole Bhature, Agra Style: The Plate Built for a Big Appetite
A bread that balloons in hot oil, chickpeas dark with spice, and a raw onion on the side. North India's heaviest happiness, Agra-style.
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Why Chai Tastes Better in a Clay Cup
Unglazed, hand-thrown, used once and smashed. The humble kulhad does more to a cup of tea than you would think.
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How to Eat Agra's Street Food Without Regretting It
The food is rarely the problem. The water, the ice and the timing usually are. A field guide to eating Agra's streets well.
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Dalmoth: The Crunchy Agra Souvenir Hiding Behind Petha
Petha gets the fame. Dalmoth, the salty, crackling lentil mix sold beside it, is what Agra actually snacks on.
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The Charbagh: How to Read a Mughal Garden in Agra
Four quarters, two channels of water and a wall around it. The garden plan behind every Mughal tomb in Agra, and where to see it.
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Agra's Old City: Jama Masjid, Kinari Bazaar and the Lanes Between
Behind Agra Fort there is a city that most visitors never enter: a seventeenth-century mosque and lanes of shops that have sold the same goods for generations.
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Pulao and Biryani: What the Difference Actually Is
One is cooked together in a single pot. The other is cooked apart, layered and sealed. The rest of the argument follows from that.
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Dum: The Sealed Pot and the Slow Fire
A pot, a lid, a strip of dough and a low fire. How dum cooking works, and how much of its famous origin story is true.
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Nur Jahan: The Empress Who Built the Baby Taj
She had coins struck in her name, shot tigers, and built the most delicate tomb in Agra. The most powerful woman of the Mughal court.
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Mathura and Vrindavan: A Day Trip From Agra
The towns where Krishna is said to have been born and raised are on the road to Delhi. They are living pilgrimage places, not monuments, and need a different approach.
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Sherbet, Lassi and the Cold Drinks of the Mughal Table
The first Mughal emperor complained that Hindustan had no ice. His grandson's court had it carried down from the mountains.
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Naan, Khameeri, Sheermal: The Breads of the Mughal Table
Leavened or not, oven or griddle, plain or enriched. A short guide to the bread basket at a Mughlai meal.
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Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal: The People Behind the Taj
A prince, the woman he married, nineteen years, and the tomb that followed. The history behind the building, without the embroidery.
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Keoladeo National Park: The Bharatpur Day Trip From Agra
Past Fatehpur Sikri, just inside Rajasthan, there is a wetland full of birds where you travel by cycle rickshaw. It is the quietest day out from Agra.
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Bedai and Jalebi: The Agra Breakfast
A fried lentil bread, a sharp potato curry and a jalebi straight from the syrup. The most local meal in Agra is over by mid-morning.
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Saffron in Mughal Cooking: The Spice That Came From Kashmir
A few threads colour a whole pot. What saffron is, where the Mughals got theirs, and how it is used.
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Parchin Kari: The Marble Inlay of the Taj Mahal
The flowers on the Taj Mahal are not painted. They are cut from stone and set into the marble, and the craft is still practised in Agra.
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Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra: A Visitor's Guide
The emperor who built Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri is buried on the edge of the city, in a tomb that looks like nothing else the Mughals made.
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Akbar's Vegetarian Days: The Emperor Who Gave Up Meat
The most powerful man in India spent a growing share of his days eating no meat. What the records say, and why.
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Agra Fort: A Visitor's Guide
A walled city, not a fort. Akbar's sandstone, Shah Jahan's marble, and the room where he watched the Taj for eight years.
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Jain-Friendly Dining in Agra: No Onion, No Garlic
No onion, no garlic, no root vegetables. Which Mughlai dishes adapt easily, which do not, and how to ask.
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How to Read the Tajnuma Menu
The section names on our menu are Persian and Urdu. Here is what each one means, and how to build a meal from them.
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Mehtab Bagh: The Best Sunset View of the Taj Mahal
The whole Taj Mahal, across the river, in evening light, with almost nobody between you and it.
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The Royal Spice Box: 10 Spices of the Mughal Kitchen
Mughlai cooking is aromatic, not fiery. Ten spices do most of the work, and one famous one is missing.
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Two Days in Agra: A Complete Itinerary
One day is enough to see the Taj. Two is enough to see Agra. A day-by-day plan, with the Friday closure built in.
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Where to Eat After Visiting the Taj Mahal
A sunrise visit ends at breakfast time, a late one at lunch. What to eat, and where, depending on when you come out of the gate.
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An Entirely Vegetarian Kitchen: What It Means at Tajnuma
Not a vegetarian menu alongside a meat one. What it actually means when there is no meat, fish or egg in the building.
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Itimad-ud-Daulah: A Guide to the Baby Taj
Smaller than the Taj, older than the Taj, and in some ways more beautiful. The tomb that taught Agra to build in marble.
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Mughal Desserts: Shahi Tukda, Phirni, Zarda and Kulfi
Milk, saffron, cardamom and patience. The desserts of the Mughal table, and which ones you can still order.
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Delhi to Agra: Train, Car or Expressway?
Fast train or car on the expressway? How to choose, what to book, and whether a same-day trip is worth it.
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Chef Mukesh's Mughlai Tasting Menu, Course by Course
Eleven courses, from the amuse bouche to two desserts. What each one is, and why it sits where it does.
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Agra With Kids: A Family-Friendly Guide
Early starts, short visits, long lunches and a garden to run around in. How to do Agra with children without anyone melting down.
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From Persia to Agra: How Mughlai Cuisine Was Born
Pulao, naan, kebab, sherbet. Which parts of the Mughlai table came from Persia, which came from India, and which came later.
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Agra Shopping Guide: Marble Inlay, Zardozi and Leather
Marble inlay, zardozi, leather and petha. What is worth buying in Agra, how to tell good from bad, and the shopping trap to avoid.
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The Room: Inside Tajnuma's Mughal-Inspired Dining Room
Arches, carved screens and Mughal-era artwork. A short walk through the room, and what each part of it borrows from.
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The Mughal Kitchen: What the Emperors Actually Ate
The Mughal kitchen was an administered department with its own accounts, not a legend. Here is what the records say the emperors ate.
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Why Vegetarian Mughlai Is Not a Contradiction
The assumption is that Mughlai means meat. The court's own records, its Jain visitors and its Rajput households all say something more interesting.
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Dastarkhwan: How a Mughal Feast Was Served
A Mughal meal was not a sequence of courses. It was a spread, laid on a cloth, and the cloth gave the whole thing its name.
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Petha: Agra's Own Sweet
Translucent, candied and everywhere in Agra. What petha actually is, which kind to buy, and why the Taj Mahal story attached to it is a legend.
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Beyond the Taj: Agra's Quieter Monuments
Almost everyone gives Agra one monument and one day. The city has four more worth the time, and they are all quieter than the Taj.
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Fatehpur Sikri: The Half-Day Trip From Agra
Akbar built a capital, used it for about fourteen years, and walked away. It is roughly 40 km from Agra and largely intact.
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One Day in Agra: A Sunrise-to-Dinner Itinerary
Most visitors get one day in Agra. Here is how to spend it without spending half of it in a queue or in the afternoon heat.
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Visiting the Taj Mahal: Hours, Closed Days and What to Know
The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, opens at sunrise, and will turn you away at the gate over a tripod. The rest of what is worth knowing before you go.
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The Best Time to Visit Agra, Season by Season
October to March is the easy answer. The more useful answer depends on whether you mind heat, crowds, fog, or paying peak-season rates.
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A Vegetarian's Guide to Eating in Agra
Agra is one of the easier Indian cities to eat vegetarian in. Knowing the vocabulary, and the local specialities, makes it easier still.
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12 Vegetarian Mughlai Dishes to Try in Agra
Mughlai cooking has a vegetarian repertoire far older and deeper than the menus suggest. Twelve dishes to order, and what each one actually is.
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2nd Floor, Jobaaj Complex, Fatehabad Road, opposite Howard Plaza, Bansal Nagar, Tajganj,
Agra, Uttar Pradesh 282001
Open every day, 12:00 pm – 12:00 am
Reservations: +91 90688 89658