Restaurant Review: Vaishali's Bombay Bites, JLT, Dubai

Had heard that this place is very popular for its vada paavs. So on a lazy Friday evening, we decided to go to this place to put that to test. Being a Mumbaikar, vada paav is obviously one of our staple street foods. Had been to a few places to taste it and havent yet found a perfect 10 on that.

Coming to this place, its a newly opened restaurant in JLT so the set up is yet not complete. So we decided to place our order for ragda pattice and vada paav, both common Mumbai street food. We were in for some disappointment since there wasnt any ragda pattice available. So we ordered samosa chaat instead along with tea. Had my mother in law along who wanted sugarless tea but when we asked the waiter for it he said they dont have it coz the place is more popular with office goers. Was a bit wierd since they should have atleast had the option.

Coming to the food, vada paav hands down the best vada paavs in town- hot, crispy and spicy. Reminded me of my Mumbai college days when we used to have this regularly on our way to Parle station. It was served with 3 chutneys. The samosa chaat was just fine since it was jus samosa thrown in with onions tomatoes,sauces and sev. It felt more like a sev puri/bhel puri. But it was fine, not top notch like vada paav. The tea was nice and felt very home- made. 

All in all a decent match to our expectations.

Restaurant Review: Masala Bay, Karama, Dubai

If I were to define this place in one sentence, it would be - Masala Bay is a simple, neat, quiet place for a quick Indian, preferably Kerala meal. There is nothing very fancy about this restaurant but few things that struck me - one of them being the table mat the waiter kept on our table. It had few unique things mentioned on it like they dont serve fizzy drinks, food is prepared in transfat free oil, ingredients are all real, food would remind you of your granny's food, etc. The best phrase I liked on it was Practise order when you order i.e avoid wasting. Good one.

The waiter who served us was very helpful and assisted us in ordering our food. So finally we ordered traditional chicken soup, tomato soup, chicken kizhi, daal tadka and kerala parathas. Chicken soup was outstanding, nicely spicy and very flavorful. Just loved it. Almost true to what the restaurant claimed, I did remember my mother's cooking. Tomato soup which hubby ordered was also good but much milder than its chicken counterpart. Then for the main course, the chicken kizhi came wrapped in banana leaf and had a great mix of spices and masala, chicken meat could have been softer though. The gravy was thick but went quite well with parathas. Daal was very homely in taste but a bit bland for my taste, could be since I was already riding a high on spices with the soup and kizhi chicken.

For dessert we ordered coco malai since a friend had recommended this dish and said it was a must try. It was quite good and different from the regular desserts we normally eat at Indian restaurants. 

Overall it was a good experience and I would come back considering I dint taste their traditional bamboo biryani.

Restaurant Review: Punjabi Khu, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

We went to Punjabi khu which means Punjabi well, a nice decent restaurant in new Dubai over the last weekend for dinner. As we enter we see a waterbody in the shape of a well, this gives a nice rustic look to the place.. And when you see sardarjis running the place, this adds to the authenticity and expectations you have from a North Indian restaurant. I feel some lanterns, charpaiis, bit of hay arrangements here and there would have added to a more dhaba look. 

Coming to the food, we ordered tomato soup, punjabi fish fillet, chicken tikka masala, dhaba daal and roti basket. The food was quite nice and in very good quantity. Individual ratings for the food would be:

Tomato shorba - 5/5 - nice and tangy

Punjabi fish fillet - 3/5 since it had slightly more salt than required

Chicken tikka masala -4/5

Dhaba daal - 4/5 for all daal lovers

Roti basket had too many rotis and since we were just 3 of us, there was slight waste there. We did mention this to the lady serving us that she should have mentioned to us while taking the order that there would be 7 different types of breads in it. But nevertheless the rotis were good too.

All in all a good restaurant and it did get quite busy as time passed by. 

Restaurant Review - Nom Nom Asia, Barsha, Dubai

Great example of big things in small packages :-) We were on our way for a quiet weekend dinner and felt for Chinese. Since we were in the Barsha area, i searched for places nearby and chanced upon this place. Its not a very big restaurant but very clean and nice interiors. I think it was the owner who was sitting at the cash counter and greeting each person who left the restaurant after dinner. Gave it a nice personal touch.

We jumped straight to the menu and ordered chicken wantons, veg hakka noodles and chilli chicken. Ratings for each of the items as follows:

Chicken wantons - 3.5/5

Veg hakka noodles - 4.5/5

Chilli chicken - 4.5/5

All in all the food tasted really nice , just one thing that the hakka noodles quantity was barely enough for the two of us. Generally when you order this dish, its more than sufficient for 2 persons and sometimes even 3 so we were a bit surprised at the quantity. Hopefully the management looks into serving a bit more of this. 

My overall experience at this restaurant was quite nice and I will come back for more.