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JODHPUR ROYAL DINING DUBAI

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai will have you eating like a king

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai serves really good Indian food with little modern twists. I loved this melt in the mouth, slow cooked lamb dish. A bit of New Wave Indian but not too much.

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai DoinDubai melt in the mouth lamb

Where is Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai located 

This restaurant is located in the grounds of the Al Murooj  Rotana complex near Dubai Mall. Go to the lobby and ask for a buggy to take you down to the restaurant. Then walk back up to burn off some of the calories you’ve consumed!

What to expect Food Wise at Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai

We visited for dinner in August and sampled a comprehensive tasting menu of both vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes. The main chef Pradeep Khullar is extremely passionate about his craft and seems to really want to take constructive criticism on board to improve the overall experience for diners.

A bit of molecular gastronomy, lots of play on presentation, food arrives on little scooters and miniature pressure cookers, but still some traditional bits of serving, so larger sharing bowls of food for daal and chicken dishes.

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai DoinDubai Crispy Kakri

Stand out dishes for me were the Black Lemon Pickle Prawn that was came with a beetroot carpaccio. AED 95 for 3 pieces seemed like good value.

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai DoinDiubai Lemon Pickled Prawn

I loved the kaffir, cranberry and mango sorbet and the presentation was really cute. But it would have worked well as a light dessert as opposed to a palate cleanser in the middle of this very Indian meal.

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai DoinDubai palate cleanser

Our party all agreed the melt in the mouth lamb dish that had been cooked slowly for 8 hours was also excellent in all respects.

Room for improvement at Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai 

I know Chef Pradeep is working on a new menu so we’ll be reporting back on that once it’s ready, it may include a nod towards Rajasthan too! But what I felt let the restaurant down was the decor. The heavy furniture and dark ambience really didn’t seem to complement the genuinely innovative and tasty food, so it’s not a place I’d like to linger at for now.

But do go for the food. It’s open for both lunch and dinner every day. This restaurant was fairly full with mainly Indian diners on a quiet evening in August, that says a lot for the food!

Jodhpur Royal Dining Dubai DoinDubai decor

Do you think palate cleansers are necessary within Indian meals? Let me know in a comment

Thank you Monica.

 

 

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TOTORA DIFC

Totora DIFC is the latest Peruvian eaterie to open (June 2016) in Dubai’s Gate Village in DIFC. It’s the second time we’re reviewing a Peruvian restaurant in Dubai this week! So should you give it a whirl?

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI Prawn skewers close up 800

Introduction to Totora DIFC 

The word Totora means a type of very versatile Peruvian natural grass, every part of it is used for something. That’s where the name comes from.  The staff are keen to ensure you understand that Totora DIFC really is an authentic Peruvian restaurant. So the food is as close to the original Peruvian dishes as can be.

Unlike Mayta Dubai, Totora Dubai is a home grown concept.  This is the first Dubai branch and it boasts 22 Peruvian staff, most of whom work in the kitchen, that’s pretty authentic! But will you like authentic Peruvian food?

What to expect food wise at Totora DIFC

We’re all quite familiar with ceviche now, and Totora doesn’t disappoint. There are very distinctive flavours between the ceviches (“cebiches”) plates here, so that’s good. We tried the clasico seabass with leche de tigres lime and coriander marinade and the Nikkei with it’s sesame and soy marinade. Both were very good.

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI Ceviches selection 800

The maki rolls were wrapped up with sushi rice on the outside, but the rice was a little more densely packed than in Japanese maki rolls we’re used to. There was a also a slight sweetness to the whole dish too, but as we said earlier, this is all about authentic Peruvian food.

Totora DIFC maki rolls DoinDubai 800

We LOVED the barbecued, smoky plump prawns on sticks cooked to perfection in a Josper oven. We ate these accompanied by asparagus and yam chips on the side.

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI Choose this 800

The restaurant presented us with their maristo mixed seafood with rice to try as well.  The scallops, prawns and squid were all perfectly cooked and sat on a base of a tomato flavoured rice, a little like a risotto.

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI sseafood signature 800

Dessert was made of a very typical Peruvian ingredient: Lucuma. Lucuma is a fruit native to Peru that looks a little like a raw mango from the outside but it is yellow and fleshy and slightly sweet inside. It’s often added to smoothies and puddings, we had ours as a type of mousse.

Apparently it’s highly nutritious and contains beta carotene, iron, zinc and vitamin B3! But the best bit about this dessert – apart from the thought of you having a healthy dessert – is that’s covered in very good Pisco flavoured chocolate sauce.

The mousse sits on a bed of roasted quinoa, sesame and linseeds!

Totora DIFC Lucuma dessert

Ambience of Totora DIFC

This is a design lover’s dream restaurant. In fact there is a group of hotels called the Design Hotels, this would be in the Design Restaurants book of Dubai when it’s published.

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI Internal ground floor 800

But the very smart, contemporary, elegant design is subtle, look at how the ceiling features panels that are almost sliced and pulled apart. What do you think of the mini golden gate bridge you cross when you enter the restaurant?

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI entrance design 800

The colour schemes makes use of bold Amazonian colours so there’s lots of deep turquoise blue and lime used on the uphostery upstairs.

The dining tables are subtly inlaid with geometric brass patterns. We visited during Ramadan so the blinds were drawn but natural light still came through making this a dining space bathed in natural light. That’s always good.

Look at Intersect by Lexus if you like to eat in well designed spaces.

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI Entrance flowers 800

Top picks at Totora DIFC

The Nikkei ceviche with fresh tuna (from Japan) and avocado with sesame and soy AED 50

The Classic ceviche AED 75

The prawns on sticks AED 95

The asparagus AED 35

The Yuca fried AED 35

The Lucuma pudding AED 45

Coffee (with a divine little, lucuma biscuit) AED 15

So if you had all the above, perfect for a good lunch or dinner in my view, that would come AED 182 if 2 people shared, very reasonable for this kind of food and location. I will be back one evening..

TOTORA DIFC DOINDUBAI Nikkei Ceviche 800

Currently waiting for it’s licence. Go try it for lunch, open during Ramadan 2016.

Tel 04 399 9666 to make a booking.

And here our review of Mayta a few steps away, also in DIFC and we talk about Inka here. Did you know there are soon to be 17 Peruvian restaurants in Dubai!

Thank you Monica.

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MAYTA DUBAI

Mayta Dubai is a stylish, authentic Peruvian restaurant, lounge and bar in DIFC. We visited for dinner during Ramadan 2016. We’d also had drinks on a previous occasion. Find out what to eat, drink and exactly how to find Mayta Dubai in this honest review. Mayta Dubai is a branch of a successful Peruvian chain.

Mayta Dubai Bar DoinDubai drinks

Where exactly is Mayta Dubai located within DIFC

Mayta Dubai is in the iconic Gate Village in DIFC, so it sits on the board along with Cipriani, Zuma, La Petite Maison, Intersect by Lexus and the rest. However it’s not obvious to find the entrance! It’s located on top of the Capital Club, so ask where that is, take the lift to the 3rd floor and then you’ll be there.

What to expect food wise at at Mayta Dubai

Mayta Dubai serves authentic, Peruvian food and drink in an elegant, modern setting. We LOVED the ceviches that they selected for us.  Puro was our favourite and apparently the most classic type of ceviche that all good Peruvian restaurants should serve. We also tried the Chifa, that’s salmon cevice with soy and peanuts, as well as the mercado tiradito.

MAYTA DIFC DoinDubai Salmon Ceviche 800

The last ceviche was very new to me, as it also contained parmesan cheese and avocado!

MAYTA DIFC DoinDubai Salmon Ceviche 800

We had some ‘small share’ plates of crispy squid, quinoa salad and chicken croqetas to follow. The croqetas looked very similar to a dish we had recently at La Luz, but tasted quite different. The Mayta ones focused on chicken. The crispy squid was a little too sweet for our party, as it was coated with a spicy honey and pineapple salsa. This would have been better with a little more chilli we thought.  From the hot main courses we liked the Cod Rostizado the most.

MAYA DIFC Roasted Cod DoinDubai 800

The flavours were punchy and the combination of ingredients was excellent.

Their signature dish of Arroz con pato looked very impressive and the confit duck leg literally fell off the bone and was very tasty. We were underwhelmed with the flavours of the rice though and thought this was a little pricey at AED 309. The portion size is excellent for sharing.

Mayta DoinDubai Aroz Con Pato 800

Desserts were superb and we were all thrilled with our greedy selection of 3 desserts for 3 people!

Order the Chocolate Volcano with amazonian organic fondant, the Suspiro with Peruvian dulce de leche and lime cream.

You shouldn’t miss the impressive sounding but amazing tasting Quinoa Bread Pudding! I LOVED this dessert most of the all and am grateful that our waiter insisted we try it. Don’t miss it, even if you’re not a dessert person.

MAYTA DIFC QUINOA BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING DOINDUBAI 800

The ambience of Mayta Dubai

It’s slightly dark, so the ambience is more of a lounge/bar which I think suits evenings more than the day. But I haven’t been for lunch as yet.  (Mayta Dubai is closed for lunch during Ramadan)

I really liked the vivid South American colours of the bar tiles and the beautiful orchid pots dotted around. There’s a real sense of space in the restaurant and there are different seating options for dining depending on how you feel and the number of people in your party.

My top picks for food at Mayta Dubai

All the ceviches we had, but in particular the Puro, the cod rostizado for mains and all the desserts mentioned above.

Mayta Dubai Chocolate Volcano 800 DoinDubai 800

Drinks at Mayta Dubai

I thought Pisco sour was the classic Peruvian drink, well they have plenty of those at Mayta and I liked the classic one, but this is made with egg whites so can be a little heavy.

Apparently its the Chilcano liquor that’s more authentically Peruvian and Mayta Dubai has a variety of these on the menu, but you can also choose to customise your Chilcano with a variety of fruit, I recommend the strawberry and passionfruit added to the Clasico Chilcano.

Is Mayta Dubai worth a visit 

Yes definitely, I will be back and would suggest it as a venue to meet for drinks and snacks or dinner in the Gate Village area.

+971 4 514 8774 for reservations.

It’s much less formal and showy than Coya at the Four Seasons in Jumeirah. We’re going to review Totora and Ceviche, also both in DIFC, so you can choose the best Peruvian restaurant in Dubai! Question How important is authenticity to you in restaurant? Did you know Dubai is set to have 17 Peruvian restaurants in the next 2 years?

 

Thank You Monica

 

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FARZI CAFE

What’s Farzi Cafe all about

Farzi Cafe Dubai is a new restaurant that’s the first international branch of a successful chain from India. It’s a bright, contemporary space in the newest part of Dubai, the extension of City Walk. It was full on a week day lunch time when we visited.

The Farzi Cafe opened at the beginning of April 2016 and is already buzzing with Ladies who Lunch, business men and a few bloggers! Admittedly most of the Ladies who Lunch were from the subcontinent, but if Indians are coming to an Indian restaurant, that speaks volumes for it’s food!

Farzi Cafe sign at City Walk DoinDubai

Where is Farzi Cafe located

Farzi Cafe is located in the new bit of the City Walk extension, so that’s past the Sephora shop towards the Cafe Brass, take this service road and park underground. You come up into a newish, small mall, then take any back door out of the mall into the pedestrian street with restaurants and shops on both sides, look for Farzi, or the red London phone box, you’ve found Farzi Cafe!

Farzi Cafe is not on Google Maps at the moment, but Bubo Barcelona is, so if you find this, you’re very close to Farzi Cafe.

What kind of Food and Drink to expect at Farzi Cafe

There is a fair amount of molecular gastronomy happening at Farzi Cafe, so it’s really quite contemporary in it’s approach to cooking and presenting food. Shivankit the manager of Farzi Cafe describes the word Farzi as being connected to an illusion. I think the best way to describe Farzi as it applies to the cuisine here, is Interpretation. 

Raj Kachori Farzi Cafe DoinDubai

So I recommend the Raj Kachori to start with, a tangy, yoghurt based filling in a crispy pastry shell, it’s served with a tamarind foam on top instead of the usual dollop of imli chutney together with some slivers of crispy bhindi. Seemed well priced at AED 24.00

We got a smoking amuse bouche to start with! Farzi’s interpretation of a bite size morsel of sweet lassi, all in one smoky molecue, have a look here. I would have liked a salty one of these but apparently the sweet version was more popular in Gurgaon in India so that’s what’s come across for the moment.

Smoking Amuse Bouche at Farzi Cafe

I don’t eat beef but was assured by my fellow diner that the pieces of wagyu in the Shepherds pie, served with mashed potatoes and beetroot crisps were of very high quality and well seasoned. Again, this was Farzi’s interpretation of how the main ingredients of a classic dish – Shepherds Pie could be put together. The mashed potato and beetroot crisps were delicious. The aloo chaat potatoes could have been a bit spicier for me though.

Alternative Shepherds Pie Farzi Cafe DoinDubai

You can also choose from a variety of tapas style starters and make your entire meal from these, but do try some of the main courses as well. I recommend the spicy, but not too spciy South Indian lamb with flaky paranthas (more paranthas please Farzi Cafe) and the biriyani which seemed to be very popular.

The vegetarian Khao Swe was also a favorite at many tables around us, and comprised of a coconut creamy vegetable curry served with a bowl of rice and a combination of crispy Bombay mix type toppings to sprinkle over.  Another vegetarian favourite seemed to be the arancini type rice and daal (lentil) balls with a tiny rolled up poppadom on top.  I’d love a baked version of this please! AED 27 for a few arancini balls.

Arancini Rice and daal Farzi Cafe DoiinDubai

Puddings at Farzi Cafe

I didn’t see many puddings going out while we were lunching at Farzi Cafe, maybe the ladies were watching their waistlines, but they were missing out. I really liked the puddings here and highly recommend you leave room for some when you come and try it.

Their interpretation of the Middle Eastern classic Bakkalava was Goldilocks right. So instead of a very compact square of pastry stuffed with nuts and drizzled with quite a bit of honey, expect delicately layered squares of filo pastry. Still bite size with a pinch of pistachios for filling, drizzled with a bit of honey and finished with more pistachios and dried roses on the side. I loved it. I didn’t need the vanilla ice cream on the side, it would have been fabulous to have had a dollop of kulfi instead though! Well priced at AED 29.00

It was a perfect accompaniment to my very good Americano. They will have a barrista on site soon at Farzi Cafe.

Bakalava Farzi Cafe style DoinDubai

More molecular gastronomy going on with their Tres Leches dessert. A large clot of moussey cream is frozen at the table using liquid nitrogen, and this is one type of milk product that’s then added to the very good rice kheer. The frozen cream is then smashed up like a meringue, again garnished with pistachios and dried roses on the side. Single cream is then drenched over it, the third of the the tres leches I think, but it all seems to work quite well.

A very innovative interpretation of the tres leches pudding that we’ve had at Burger Lobster and La Tablita. I thought this clever dessert is definitely one for sharing.

Tres Leches at Cafe Farzi Doindubai

The Farzi Details

Farzi Cafe has no alcohol licence as yet, unlike it’s branches in India. But they do have a wide variety of mocktails and juices, and more molecular gastronomy going on with these too. The coffee is really good. I’m not one for mocktails unless they involve elderflower and soda, and really don’t like my drinks on the sweet side so Shivankit brought me a Curry Leaf Martini to try!

Curry Leaf Martini Breakfast shot DoinDubai

Well it tasted like a curry leaf/wheatgrass shot and possibly would have gone down better in the morning as a breakfast shot, but it certainly wasn’t sweet!

No alcohol at Farzi Cafe yet DoinDubai

There is a gorgeous looking bar, but no cocktails as yet. We’ll ask them for a competition meal so you can try it and see what you think.

Thanks Monica

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