Up Market Indian

May 25, 2019 by monica Leave a Comment

INDYA DUBAI

Indya Dubai by Vineeet Bhatia is a contemporary Indian restaurant serving good quality food in a fun setting. Not too expensive.

Location of Indya Dubai

Indya Dubai is located on the ground floor of the Royal Meridien hotel in the Grosvensor House complex in the Marina side of Dubai.

The Ambience at Indya Dubai

I don’t normally start with an ambience heading, but the ambience and décor of Indya Dubai is really fun.

It’s a contemporary mix of arty Indian interiors with separate bars and comfy spaces for groups.

There is a small outside terrace that wasn’t open at lunchtime on the day we visited. The view from the windows inside the restaurant is towards the pool of the hotel.

We found sitting at Indya Dubai really comfortable and it’s definitely a place to linger for a while. We asked for the music to be turned down a bit and they obliged immediately.

Food at Indya Dubai

The food standard is good overall. The menu is divided up into vegetarian, meat and seafood options. We opted for an aloo papdi chaat to begin with, some methi paneer and seekh kebabs with parantha for mains and a kulfi falooda dessert to finish.

We were intrigued by the activated charcoal element of the chaat, and understood it had been incorporated into the papdi – crispy base and the sev – shredded crispy vermicelli bit of the starter. But we asked ourselves why this had been done? Is it because activated charcoal is trendy at the moment? It felt a bit odd eating a black paapdi

Furthermore the whole dish was lavishly topped with a very deep yellow sauce that was in fact turmeric yoghurt. It looked a bit more like an eggs benedict when it arrived. But overall the taste was good, just a little too much yoghurt for us.

The mehti paneer vegetarian dish was excellent in terms of taste, appearance and portion size, we recommend you have this with a plain naan or rice. We also ordered seekh kebab – a North Indian staple with a parantha but were surprised to see it with a masala coating. Not what we expected.

However Chef Sachin who was in charge at the time insisted on quickly making us a portion of both seekh and chicken kebab. All was right with the world again.

Succulent, well flavoured, perfectly spiced morsels of meat. I will order this again. See main picture above.

A big tick to Indya Dubai for serving local water too! Great if it was free, filtered water like they serve at Bagel Yard but at least it was Al Ain and sensibly priced.

Prices at Indya Dubai

Aloo Papdi
Chaat AED 60

Mehti Paneer AED 65

Seekh Kebab AED 80

Kulfi Falooda AED 45

Is Indya Dubai worth a visit? Yes definitely. It has a good gin menu with sensible prices AED 38 for entry-level gin and house tonic, Just add AED 12 for a Fever Tree mixer. There are some Indian wines on offer too. No Happy Hours or promotions on going as yet and they are already busy at the week ends, but I suggest you opt for some drinks at a Ladies Night at Zengo or Geales and come try the food here or just come straight here. I’ll be back.

Indya Dubai website

Please show them this review if you go.

It really helps the blog.

Thank you, Monica.

May 20, 2018 by monica 1 Comment

RAMADAN IN DUBAI Best Iftars and Deals

IT’S RAMADAN IN DUBAI Welcome to the best iftars and deals in Dubai

Ramdan Kareem to all our listeners and readers, you’ve come to the right place for the best iftars and deals in Dubai. How about a floating iftar on the majestic QE2 moored in Rashid Marina? In need a classy MEAL DEAL? Then try Moombai and Co’s curry combo for AED 69 and add a dish from the Mango Memory Menu.. it’s alphonso time again! For those who aren’t fasting I recommend a pop up breakfast at mediterranean restaurant Boca in DIFC. Plus 2 of our favourite casual cafes open for lunch in JLT. All this and more on this week’s Food News on Dubai Eye 103.8.

QE 2 PORT RASHID MARINA

On the waterfront – literally

DINNER REVIEW – IFTAR

We’re about to set sail from the Rashid Marina to Mainland Britain! We’ve come on board to look around the luxury ocean cruise liner the QE2. The history of the ship is fascinating and it’s worth booking a tour.

Highlights for us were the Queen Mary apartments complete with a sun lounge and a private deck area. They’ve even had a marriage proposal (accepted of course) on this deck! The newest and most modern eating area is definitely The Lido restaurant as shown below. The poshest restaurant though would be the Queen’s Grill!

We experienced the QE2 iftar in a tent accessed directly from the Lido restaurant. It’s not possible to see the sea from the tent though.

The iftar had a large variety of salads, but there was quite a limited choice of mains for vegetarians. The traditional ouzi normally made with just lamb also contained beef which I’ve not experienced before. The iftar tent was surprisingly full, but I think many people had a combination ticket of the tour and the iftar. As we were on the iconic QE2 we had expected a grander, more luxurious ambience as well as a wider choice of dishes for this iftar.

Cost AED 250 for iftar and AED 175 for Suhoor. But if you book a tour for AED 150, you can redeem AED 100 on food and beverage.

MOOMBAI AND CO Sheikh Zayed Road at the H hotel

A special Mango Memory Menu celebrating Alphonso season.

Great curry combo deal too.

LUNCH REVIEW

We were a bit skeptical about mango with everything at Moombai and Co but We LOVED every course of our lunch from the special mango memory menu! It’s alphonso season again and that brand is synonymous with the highest quality mangoes around.

The Mango Memory Menu itself is short, that’s a good thing according to me, so we tried the very moreish crispy bhindi and tangy, but perfect mango chicken tikka to start with. The main course is a very good raw mango and coconut prawn curry which we all agreed was excellent.

If you have room you should try (maybe share) the almost tropical mango lassi to drink, or if that’s a bit heavy for you, then opt for the thirst quenching aam panna drink, that has a bit of kick to it. Everything is designed to share. I’d go back again to try this menu. Not sure how long mango season is on for so go soon.

How would you describe a mango? to quote from the article from The Guardian.. 27th April 2012…”a cross between peach, nectarine, apricot and melon with notes of honey and citrus. But better…” If you shared a large aam panna drink, both starters, one main and one thick, creamy, glorious mango dessert you’d be looking at around AED 200 per head with rice, naan bread and still water. Worth going back for.

And if you fancy making that crispy bhindi at home then try our easy doindubai recipe here, great to eat with DoinDubai’s favourite spicy red pepper dip recipe.

ALSO OPEN DURING RAMADAN are

CALI POKE – a new branch just opened in JLT Cluster J! Vegetarian or Seafood bowls of fresh goodness to eat in or take away. The eat in area is quite small, so I would opt to take out from here.

WOKYO – our favourite noodle bar also in JLT Cluster J for Japan. Every kind of noodle and broth you can think of, or customise your own. Don’t forget they have a vegan ramen bowl as well. We love Zak and Nazlie and Wokyo, but I think I love their Singapore Laksa and cappucinos more than them! Lovely vibe at Wokyo, a very cool place to sit during the day if you’re not fasting

We also think the DEMOISELLE Deal at lunch time is really cool..

A very pretty cafe in City Walk that will be serving a 3 course lunch for an extremely reasonable AED 53. You get a choice of hot soup to start then one of 3 choices for a hearty lunch and to finish you get a choice of an artisan coffee or fresh juice.

Here’s Corrado who now works at Galvin telling us about the delightful decor at Demoiselle..

BOCA in DIFC is offering a pop up breakfast every morning. So expect some avocado on toast and the usual breakfast fare at this very cool, upmarket Mediterranean style cafe in Dubai’s main financial district.

But if you’re in the media city area, then I like the sound of the deal at CERTO at the Radisson Blu Media City. Certo is a very established Italian restaurant that had a brand new make over last year. The deal is AED 199 for 2 people sharing a range of Italian dishes or AED 299 to include a bottle of wine! That’s a really delicious deal in my book, it’s open for lunch and dinner of course..

FIND OUT FIRST following the DoinDubai Instagram page

Previous posts with lot’s of good foodie ideas are here..

MISSED THE LIVE BROADCAST?

The live broadcast happens on a Tuesday, this week Tuesday 22nd May from 3 to 4 pm on Dubai Eye 103.8, but if you missed it, then you can listen to the podcast.

We’ll add it into the article here when it’s ready for uploading, the day after the live broadcast. But in the meantime, we’ve left the podcast from the last show in for you to listen to.

Those of you reading this article in your email or on RSS feed may not see the podcast here unless you click on ‘view email in browser’

Alternatively visit THE TICKET BLOG HERE.

Don’t miss the show on Tuesday Dubai Eye 103.8 The Ticket – listen live

We will post the shows podcast here when it is available to us.

If you’d like to collaborate, then click here to find out how you could work with me on Blogger Events, Food Photography, Foodie Videos and PODCASTS!

Thank You Monica.

No grilled meats on this iftar plate! We’re eating pure vegan food at Urth in Cluster J. We really liked both our soups – carrot and mint and spinach, beautifully presented too. The most interesting dish on this vegan iftar menu was the fattus hummus with vegan yoghurt made with a cashew cream base.

Warm, wholesome, real chick peas, perfect as a mini meal in itself with salad and bread. But you have more, the main courses are vegetarian stews served with rice and condiments. I would like to have tried the special Urth Style Sayadieh with fried onions, but that wasn’t available on the day we tried.

You will LOVE the desserts.. we had and highly recommend the raw carrot cake and an apple spice cake with warm apple puree icing on top.

Open for those who would like to try the vegan iftar in the evenings, after fasting time is over, but also open during the day for those who aren’t fasting. Very cool, laid back vibe. Last but not least point to note is there is a Ramadan Deal on – 2 iftars for the price of one till 28th of May, so for AED 120 you get 2 five course iftars! Well Done Urthlings!

For some vegan cooking at home this Ramadan try our brilliant cauliflower burger recipe..

November 6, 2016 by monica Leave a Comment

JAAN DUBAI

Jaan Dubai is another progressive Indian restaurant in Dubai. It joins the list of Jodhpur, Tresind, Carnival and Farzi Cafe. Is it worth going to? In a word, YES! Here’s why:

The Food at Jaan Dubai

We tried a set tasting menu but explained we didn’t eat beef. We received a selection of fish, chicken, lamb and vegetarian dishes, all of which were shared between 4 people. Some dishes were from a raw menu. There is definitely a Japanese slant to some of Farokh Khambatta’s dishes, but many items had no link to anything remotely Japanese or oriental.

Do expect a bit of molecular gastronomy, but don’t let that put you off. I was quite skeptical about how the food would taste at Jaan, but my expectations were exceeded on that front!

Farrokh has opened 5 different restaurants in India and spent the last 7 months in Dubai developing the Jaan menu.

Our Tasting Menu at Jaan Dubai

The tasting menu has 8 different courses, none of which are small or mean in portion size. Some courses come together and our meal worked well. You can choose vegetarian or non vegetarian, we had a few dishes from each. This menu costs close to AED 300 per head and I think it’s not overpriced bearing in mind the food quality and variety.

You can opt to order a la carte if you prefer.

Our stand out dishes at Jaan at the Penthouse

We all liked our tuna ceviche type raw starter, this was served over a small bowl with a goldfish swimming around. Our comments about the fish being ultra fresh were lost on our waiter though!

I really liked the spicy mustard oil dressing used to finish our street food chaat starter, but wasn’t too keen on the icy dokla on top.

If you like your chicken spicy, then you must opt for the Cherry Wood chicken, cooked over cherry wood, then finished with some very spicy boriya chilllies and cashew nuts.

I also liked the Hunter’s Poussin chicken that was much more mild and reminded me more of a Afghani chicken tikka. Or you could just opt for the butter chicken in a rich gravy.

We all LOVED our scrambled paneer, supposedly cooked with sumac and zaatar, but I couldn’t taste those herbs. I’d definitely order this again and eat with the excellent amritsari kulchas.

I think we received a dessert from the a la carte menu, that comprised of what reminded me of an Eaton Mess. Lot’s of meringue, some fresh berries, cream and pureed fruit with some cake. This was served with plenty of showmanship!

The Ambience at Jaan at the Penthouse

Jaan is based on the 31st floor of the Sofitel Downtown hotel in Dubai with Inka, the Peruvian restaurant opposite. It has a separate lounge and bar area, then 2 other dining areas.

I preferred the feel of the lounge/bar area where you can also opt to eat. We ate at proper dining tables in the restaurant part of the venue. There are full height views of Dubai from the windows.

At the moment Jaan is quite a dark restaurant in that the floors, the tables and some of the walls are all darkly coloured with a smattering of red chairs and some that have a dark zigzag pattern on them.

The waiters are dressed in black and lighting is also fairly dim, so the overall impression is well, that it’s a bit dark. Don’t let that put you off, the food is really good and that’s the main thing. Book your table at Jaan the Penthouse conveniently using Round Table.

Only open for dinner at the moment.

Thank You Monica.

August 31, 2016 by monica Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

Thank you Monica.

Welcome to NEW WAVE INDIAN CUISINE sweeping across Dubai.