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RAJ MAHAL RESTAURANT DUBAI taste genuine authentic vegetarian thali

Authentic vegetarian thali at Raj Mahal restaurant Dubai

Home style tasting Gujerati and Rajasthani specialties with Indian street food to start with at Raj Mahal restaurant Dubai.

AUTHENTIC THALI AT RAJ MAHAL RESTAURANT DUBAI

Where is Raj Mahal restaurant

The Raj Mahal restaurant is located on the ground floor of the Westzone Pearl Residence apartments building just behind the Bur Juman shopping centre in Bur Dubai.

You can park easily on the street. There is no valet at the moment but there is also free parking in the basement.

Food at Raj Mahal restaurant

Food is served to you at your table in a large, pre set thali plates. Servers bring fresh items in a particular order and always ask you if you’d like a little more or less of any item.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the variety of dishes that you’re served! Everything from the condiments, chutneys and sides all have a role to play in this special thali meal!

The vegetables themselves

Everything is strictly vegetarian at Raj Mahal and you can expect dishes made from beans, peas, lentils, corn and a variety of fresh ethnic vegetables too.

If you’re familiar with paneer, don’t worry there’s always a paneer dish on offer too! The breads to accompany your vegetables also vary on a daily basis so you can expect puris, rotis and parathas depending on the day.

RAJ MAHAL RESTAURANT DUBAI DoinDubai Monica Kapila variety of savoury sweets and breads
SPECIALITY BREADS CHANGE EVERY DAY

The desserts

Unlike many thali places we’ve tried in Dubai, the sweet section of this thali is very palatable and not overly sweet!

On the day we visited we tried kulfi on a stick, burfi a special halwa and a traditional mango pudding called aam ras. So do leave room to try dessert.

Anything to drink

Drinks are included in the price of this thali, bottled mineral water is on your table, but you also get a refreshing saffron drink as well as a mildy spiced buttermilk cooler known as masala chaas.

Prices at Raj Mahal

The thali meal including all the desserts, drinks and street food to start is priced at a very reasonable AED 52.

Do note that children aged 10 and under eat for free.

The restaurant is open every day for lunch and dinner and also caters for groups. But NOTE timings below:

MONDAY TO FRIDAY LUNCH 12 TO 3.30pm DINNER FROM 7pm TO 11.30pm

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY LUNCH 12 to 4pm and DINNER FROM 7pm to 11.30pm

Tel 04 236 0460 or 058 504 7000

I would definitely recommend this restaurant and would also not hesitate to visit again. It’s a great place to take visitors coming to Dubai.

LIVE FLUTE PLAYER AT RAJ MAHAL

NOTE

Jain meals (without onion, garlic and root vegetables) AND vegan meals can also be served on request.

Listen to us talk about Raj Mahal restaurant Dubai on Monicas Weekend Dubai Eye here

More ideas for thali meals in Dubai here and a link to an article on Indian street food here.

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SPICY BEETROOT CUTLETS – Revisited

Spicy Beetroot Cutlets

We were served these spicy South Indian beetroot  cutlets as a starter on holiday at Visalam in Chettinad in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. We all loved them, even the children so I asked the chef to do me a demo one afternoon.

spicy beetroot cutlets doindubai finished cutlet ready to fry

We make these regularly, they are a great accompaniment to any curry dish or you could have on their own with a salad for a light but different lunch.

Spicy Beetroot Cutlets finished cutlet

Fresh beetroot is extremely reasonably priced here in Dubai and widely available from the fresh vegetable section of most supermarkets and packed with vitamins and minerals. This is the only surefire way I can get my kids to eat this vegetable !

Ingredients for Beetroot Cutlets

  •  fresh beetroots, 1 large or 2 medium, peeled and grated like cheese
  • garlic cloves  3 or 4 crushed in a mortar and pestle
  • curry leaves  small handful of fresh washed 
  •  onion 1 medium chopped up finely
  • Small handful of fresh coriander leaves for garnishing
  • potato 1 large boiled and cubed

Spicy Beetroot Cutlets raw ingredients

The spices / flavourings for Beetroot Cutlets

  • 1/4 tsp of red chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Spicy beetroot cutlets doindubai spice box with curry leaves

For frying the Beetroot Cutlets you’ll need 

  • Plate of fresh breadcrumbs
  • Simple flour and water paste or some tapioca flour
  • Any vegetable oil for shallow frying the cutlets, sunflower is good

Spicy Beetroot Cutlet Doindubai raw beetroot

Method to make the Beetroot Cutlets 

  • Fry the onions till golden brown
  • Add garlic and fry into the onions
  • Add the curry leaves and fry for a minute or two
  • Add the grated beetroot and all the spices, fry for about 5 minutes
  • Add the boiled, diced potato and mix well
  • Add salt and pepper to taste
  • Leave the thickish mixture to cool for a while
  •  When cold, shape this mixture into small fishcake size cutlets or patties,
  • Dip into the flour/water paste
  • Fry for a couple of minutes on each side till dark ruby brown
  • Dry on kitchen paper, and sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander to serve on a platter

QUICK Reminder of how to make Beetroot Cutlets 

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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.

Indya Dubai DoinDubai Group Seating
nice spaces for group dining
fun bar area

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.

Indya Dubai DoinDubai mehti paneer
mehti paneer sabzi

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

Indya Dubai DoinDubai Charcoal Chaat
charcoal sev on the 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.
charcoal chaat with turmeric yoghurt

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.

Indya Dubai DoinDubai Fun Decor

Thank you, Monica. 

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CLEAN EATING DUBAI

CLEAN EATING DUBAI Where would you go

CLEAN EATING DUBAI 

There are some new Clean Eating Dubai restaurants that seem to be setting a new trend. Have you jumped on the Clean Eating Bandwagon or is it all just cauliflower rice? Just a teaser picture and location details of these new Dubai Restaurants in the post, LISTEN TO THE PODCAST below to get all the foodie details…

Dubai Eye The Ticket Radio Show

October 3rd 2017

OPEN NOW SESAME IN SUNSET MALL VERY INSTAGRAMMABLE GRUB 

Image of Clean Eating Dubai Breakfast at Sesame
I could eat everything on this menu! LOVED the coconut lime pudding! AED 38 would feed 2 easily.  It’s quiet but very cool eating at Sesame. Cashew or Cows milk for you?

Image of Clean Eating Dubai Sesame acai bowl

FILL UP ON SOME TALISE FUEL IN JUMEIRAH 

Same interiors, same delicious views, but brand new menu from Chef Gaby. Glow and Detox for AED 80 at the Talise Cafe with the Talise Fuel menu. The Rice Paper rolls are a must and raw slaw really good. 

Image of Clean Eating Dubai Talise lunch

But make sure you use the right entrance to get to Talise Fuel at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel 

Image of Clean Eating Dubai Entrance Talise Cafe DoinDubai

LOOKING AHEAD TO DIWALI ARMANI STYLE 

Loving the sound of this special menu at the Armani Amal AED 300 for veg or AED 350 for non veg between 18th to 20th of October. This would be my top pick for a classy Diwali in Dubai meal. 

BUT in the meantime try the 10 10 promotion at the Armani from the 1st till 10th of October. LAST CHANCE TODAY 4 course menus as 4 venues at the Armani AED 350. I recommend the Armani Hashi that we tried for Date Night last Friday! Million dollar setting with fab food and drink, all on offer. 

Clean Eating Dubai DoinDubai Armani Hashi

Image ofClean Eating Dubai DoinDubai Armani Dubai

FROM SAN FRANCISCO BAY TO BUSINESS BAY ITS POKE DAY

Image of Clean Eating Dubai poke bowl

Dubai has a new poke place! Fresh fish, rice vegetables and dressings all in a bowl.

Healthy, clean and  fresh. Doing a roaring delivery trade, it’s ok to sit at but access isn’t the that easy. Look for Churchill Towers and park on rough ground.

Poke is really cool and very popular in London now too..

Poke is so popular in London now! New places springing up all the time! We loved lunch at Ahi Poke in London's trendy Fitzrovia area yesterday! I've never seen it so busy, that speaks volumes for how good this place is! Very good value too, they had albacore tuna as well which is new to me as well as all the usual accompaniments of a perfect poke bowl..loved the hot ginger tea and energy ball to finish… they have seating but be prepared to queue. Good Morning London and Dubai! Where are you having lunch today then? . . . . . . . . . @ahipokelondon #ahipoke #poke #pokebowls @cali.poke #fish #hawaiian #fresh #raw #healthy #cleaneating #pescatarian #huffposttaste @bbcfood #foodtrends #popular #nextnewthing @londonsbest @theupcomingfood @londonfoodbabes #yummy #delicious #thstsdarling #sopretty #foodvideo #buzzfeedtasty @insiderfood #allthatgreatfood #doindubai #dubailondon

A post shared by Monica Kapila (@doindubai) on


 

OMNIA GOES INDIAN

A new mall meal destination, well it’s been there a while but not with this cuisine. Try the new Omnia Bharat, you’ll be surprised at how reasonable the prices are, not quite as low as Din Tai Fung, but I’d go back if I was in Mall of the Emirates.

Image of Clean Eating Dubai Mall of Emirates Omnia

Do you eat Indian dessert after Indian mains?

Image ofClean Eating Dubai DoinDubai Omnia Baharat Orange Polenta cake

MISSED THE LIVE BROADCAST?

The live broadcast happens on a Tuesday, this week Tuesday 10th of October from 3 to 4 pm, 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.

Thank You Monica.

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