Indian sweets in and near Palo Alto

Palo Alto has a large South Asian community and a strong set of Indian restaurants, but no dedicated mithai shop inside city limits that we could confirm in late 2026. The sweets are here in other forms. A 1956 ice cream shop in Midtown now scoops gulab jamun and malai kulfi flavors. Downtown restaurants serve reworked classics such as gajar halwa in puff pastry. For a full counter of kaju katli, jilebi and rasmalai, the nearest confirmed shop is in Sunnyvale, about 8 miles south on El Camino Real.

This guide covers each, explains the main sweets and gives tips for buying for Diwali and other occasions. Each place was confirmed on its own website or menu, in our verified business directory or, for Rick's flavors, in local reporting from January 2026. For full meals, see our Indian food guide.

Indian sweets at a glance

A short guide to Indian sweets

• Mithai. The general word for Indian sweets, sold by weight or in boxes for festivals, weddings and good news.
• Gulab jamun. Fried milk dough balls soaked in rose and cardamom syrup, served warm or at room temperature.
• Rasmalai. Soft cheese patties soaked in sweetened, cardamom-scented milk, served cold.
• Kulfi. Dense frozen milk dessert, slow-cooked and not churned, often with pistachio or saffron. Malai kulfi is the plain cream version.
• Kaju katli. Thin cashew fudge diamonds, sometimes topped with edible silver leaf.
• Jilebi or jalebi. Crisp spirals of fried batter soaked in syrup. Some shops make them with jaggery.
• Mysore pak. A rich gram flour and ghee sweet from Karnataka.
• Gajar halwa. Slow-cooked carrot pudding with milk, ghee and nuts, a winter favorite.
• Falooda. A layered drink and dessert of rose syrup, vermicelli, basil seeds and ice cream.
• Qubani ka meetha. A Hyderabadi apricot dessert, often topped with cream.

Rick's Ice Cream and Pints of Joy, Midtown

Rick's Ice Cream at 3946 Middlefield Road, in the Charleston Center in south Palo Alto, traces its start to 1956. In January 2026 the Mountain View Voice reported that Ketki Dandekar and Arshiya Shaikh, co-founders of the Sunnyvale ice cream company Pints of Joy, had taken it over. Pints of Joy makes eggless ice cream, with many flavors drawn from Indian desserts. The report counted 48 flavors, about a third from Pints of Joy, including gulab jamun, falooda and malai kulfi alongside Alphonso mango and sesame peanut brittle. Rick's originals such as Computer Chip stay in the case.

The same report gave hours of noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday and noon to 8:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with plans to extend hours in summer. Check before you go, since hours shift with the season. Our ice cream guide covers the rest of the city's scoop shops.

Indian desserts at Palo Alto restaurants

Khazana, 339 University Avenue

Khazana, the contemporary Indian restaurant from chef Sanjeev Kapoor, has the most inventive dessert list in town. Its menu includes a Carrot Pudding Puff Tart for $12, which puts gajar halwa inside flaky puff pastry. The Noor Jahan, $14, is a rose blossom and lemon-infused cream custard with soft syrup-soaked bread, apricot compote and silver leaf, close in spirit to shahi tukda. It also lists a Jamun Makhan Malai and a Motichoor Cheesecake that folds crumbled motichoor ladoo into cheesecake. Desserts are best ordered to share after dinner.

Curry Up Now, 321 Hamilton Avenue

Curry Up Now, the fast-casual chain that started as a Burlingame food truck in 2009, includes gulab jamun on some of its platters and combo meals. That makes it the easy way to end a quick lunch downtown with something sweet.

UlavacharU Sweets & Snacks, Sunnyvale

UlavacharU Sweets & Snacks at 151 East El Camino Real in Sunnyvale is run by the team behind the Ulavacharu restaurants and tiffin shops. It describes itself as locally owned. The sweet counter covers South and North Indian classics: kaju katli, Mysore pak, badusha, jaggery jilebi, sugar jilebi and kaja, plus rasmalai. Its signature is a Hyderabad apricot delight. Fusion desserts include a gluten-free rasmalai tiramisu and a rasmalai pastry.

All of its cakes and pastries are 100% eggless, from chocolate and mango pastries to custom celebration cakes, which our custom cakes guide covers. The savory side lists murukku, mixture, samosas, puffs, vada pav, pav bhaji and Bombay sandwiches. Irani chai is served Friday to Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m. The shop's site showed hours of 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. when we checked and points to its Toast page for online orders and current prices. It notes that some items contain nuts, dairy and gluten.

Buying sweets for Diwali

Diwali's main day falls on Sunday, November 8, 2026. Sweet boxes are the standard gift for family, neighbors and colleagues. Demand peaks the weekend before.

1. Order ahead. Place orders several days before, especially for large boxes or office gifts.
2. Mix dry and wet sweets. Kaju katli, barfi and ladoo travel and keep well. Syrupy sweets such as gulab jamun and rasmalai need containers and refrigeration.
3. Mind the shelf life. Milk-based sweets last a few days in the refrigerator. Dry nut sweets keep about a week.
4. Think about guests. Most mithai contain milk, ghee and nuts. Note this on gift tags for friends with allergies.

Our Diwali guide covers celebrations around Palo Alto. If you make sweets at home, our Indian groceries guide lists stores for ghee, cardamom, nuts and jaggery.

Indian sweets at home and at the market

Many families in town make their own sweets for festivals, from besan ladoo to kheer and gajar halwa in carrot season. Indian grocery stores in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale often stock sweet boxes around the big festivals, which is handy when you need one on short notice. For a family celebration with lots of guests, a mix works well: a box from a sweet shop for gifting and a pot of homemade kheer or halwa for the table.

Other tips

• Serve at the right temperature. Rasmalai and kulfi cold, gulab jamun warm or at room temperature, jilebi fresh and crisp.
• Buy small first. Shops sell by the piece or by weight, so try a few before ordering a large box.
• Combine with lunch. UlavacharU's chaat and sandwiches make the Sunnyvale trip a meal. Our Sunnyvale food guide covers Murphy Avenue nearby.

Frequently asked questions