Restaurant Review: Naya, Jumeirah Beach Hotel

So my food journey took me to this restaurant located on the first floor of Jumeirah Beach Hotel. As the name suggests, this is a new addition to the Indian dining experience. I had heard mixed reviews of this place and frankly I have also come out having mixed feelings. Wouldnt rate it as the best north indian food joint but its good for a try.  The place seemed more popular with the residents of the hotel, also it was a predominantly non-Indian clientele.

Coming to the ambience, it had a fine dining feel to it but on the other hand was a little noisy for a fine dining place. Extremely helpful staff, very friendly. 

For the food we ordered, dahi puri chaat for starters which was mentioned as the chef's pick, this was nice. Main course we ordered paneer khurchan, chicken tamatari tikka (although this is a starter) and bread. Paneer khurchan was quite nice - its in between a paneer kadha and paneer bhurji i would say. Chicken Tamatari tikka was served nicely on skewers kept inside a clay pot. This was decent in taste but the pieces were too big in size and slightly dry rather than juicy.  I have memories of chicken tikka that can easily be eaten with bread if there is some chutney to accompany. For the dessert we ordered Naya dessert platter which said it comes with gulab jamun, ginger kulfi and litchi ice cream as per the menu but ours dint have the litchi ice cream unfortunately. It had the kulfi with 3 pieces of gulab jamun instead -all tasted good though. 

Overall a decent experience but since I have tasted very good Indian food at other places in Dubai, benchmark is set high.

Restaurant Review: Memsaab Curry & Tandoor

I am glad I started out on my food journey coz otherwise I would never end up finding certain good eateries and this happens to be one of them. Its a medium sized restaurant located in JLT but would be a bit difficult to find if you are not already certain that you are headed here. I would say places such as these would get popular through word of mouth only. 

Interiors of the restaurant had a unique feature - one wall featured a design made by spices jars kept horizontally into the wall. Good idea. Overall the place had a combination of royal and rustic feel.

We were welcomed with a very refreshing drink and fried colourful muttar (finger chips made with flour) with green chutney. This gave a good start to our experience since it was such a terribly humid day outside.

Coming to the food, we wanted to order the tangadi kebab but were informed that it was out of stock owing to Ramadaan and iftar, so we ordered the mix platter. It came with aloo tikki, chicken boneless tikka and hot spicy wings. Aloo tikki was something different compared to the regular tikki we find everywhere else - it had aloo with stuffings inside -  was good. Chicken wings could have been a bit juicier, felt a bit dry. Chicken tikka boneless was nice and flavorful. For the main course we ordered the bread basket with chicken balti - chicken balti would score full points. It was very yummy, the chicken was soft and the gravy nice and creamy. Went beautifully with the bread.

Coming to the staff, they were also very helpful and assisted us in choosing the dishes. 

Overall we had a good experience at this restaurant and would definitely come back for more.

Restaurant Review - Jogi da Dhaba, Business Bay, Dubai

The first time I heard the name of this place was in the pamplet I got with our Gulf News paper. The name instantly struck a cord since it sounded very very desi.. Thumbs up to the owners for keeping this name. Very sadde punjab types.... 

On Friday noon, hubby and me were just wondering which new restaurant we should try this time around. So I told my hubby this name and his face broke into a smile since he is a Punjabi.. So we took off to Jogi da Dhabba. The place was a bit difficult to find considering the construction work happening all over Business Bay but we finally managed to find it.

There is outdoor and indoor seating although the restaurant by itself is kind of small. Location of this restaurant in about 18months will be very appealing since its just overlooking the upcoming Dubai Canal. Once we were seated at our tables, we got to ordering our food.  They have a wide selection of veg n non-veg food on offer. We ordered Palak ka Shorba and Button Ajwain tikki for starters; daal navratna, mili julli sabzi and roti lacha parathas for the main course. As we were waiting for our food, we chatted up with the owners and came to know this restaurant just opened. Very friendly people and they said the purpose to open this restaurant was that authentic punjabi food was not easily available and I do agree, so was hoping this place would do justice.

Coming to the food, palak shorba was very tasty, it was served with a dash of cream. I am not the biggest fan of mushroom so wasnt sure I will enjoy button ajwain tikki but since my hubby wanted to try it, went for it. Must say it was simply awesome, very flavorful and a great combination with the green chutney they served. Coming to the main course, daal and mixed sabzi both very yummy. Since I am a hardcore non-veggie, it takes a lot for me to be convinced about veggie food but my heart and stomach were fully content gobbling the food at this joint. Only one point was that their dessert selection was not much - there was just gajar halwa, kheer n ice-cream. Would expect gulab jamun and the traditional moong daal halwa to be added atleast.

I have promised the owners that I will be back for non veg food after my lental period is done and I will surely go back. Just looking at their wide choice of food got me impressed. My first impression of this place is very positive and I will surely come back for more.

Restaurant Review: Awani, Jumeirah Beach Residence

If you are in a mood for good Arabic food amidst beach settings, head right here. Situated in the heart of the Walk, JBR,  is a very nice Arabic restaurant that goes beyond the traditional fatoush, tabouleh, shish tawook and grilled hammour. 

Loved the chargrilled fish in tahini sauce - very flavorful and shankleesh salad (salad with red lettuce, walnuts, green apples, traditional mature cheese with chef's special sauce). Definitely recommend this place.

Restaurant Review: Simi's, Karama

With Dubai being a hub for so many restaurants and different cuisines, my aim is to atleast try 2 new restaurants every weekend. So in this journey of finding new places to try, I happened to come across Simi's in one of the relatively quiter lanes of Karama albeit close to central Karama. We went there on a Saturday afternoon, found parking easily. The restaurant was not crowded and we were immediately seated at our table. 

What immediately struck me about the place was that it was kept so neat and clean with good interiors. The red white and goldenish interiors gave a very nice bright look to the place coupled with beautiful ethnic wall hangings. It had a very modern North Indian feel to it.

Coming to the food, we ordered salted lassi, aloo methi, daal tadka with dhaniya parathas, also non-veg thali. Salted lassi was heavenly, especially since the weather is scorching hot outside right now. Daal Tadka was great, 10/10. Aloo methi (potatoes cooked with fenugreek leaves) wasnt as per my expectation, it definitely tasted good but had very little methi in it. When we make it at home in typical Northie style, there's plenty of methi in the dish. Coming to the thali, here again every dish tasted very good but I would expect a thali to have atleast 1 dry sabzi. What was in this thali was daal makhni, paneer tikka masala, boneless chicken curry and raita. So basically all heavy on stomach gravy dishes. I am hoping the management takes out one of the veggie gravy dishes and instead includes a dry one. The dhaniya pranthas were also nice and yummy. At the end of the thali, we were greeted with hot gulab jamun which was really yummy so we ended up ordering another plate of the same. 

All in all the food was definetly yummy, just few alterations required on the content.