From the street corners of Deira to fancy new hotels in Downtown Dubai, Dubai residents have never been short of Indian food. The recent boom of fine-dining Indian restaurants in the UAE has only brought foodies fresh, interesting takes on the cuisine, many with great success.
New York restaurant Junoon, at the Shangri-La Dubai, has consistently received acclaim since its opening earlier this year. So it was only natural that for its first Ramadan, the restaurant would curate some of its menu’s biggest hits for a special Iftar.
The five-course menu has a lot to offer, so I suggest you look through it carefully.
I started with a glass of buttermilk — it’s the leftover liquid after extracting butter from yoghurt — soothing to the stomach and perfect for a hot summer’s day. And very tasty. Where I grew up in South India, it was considered to have medicinal properties.
The starters were an interesting take on Indian street food fare: The Eggplant Chaat, which comprised eggplants fried into crisps, doused with chaat masala and served with tamarind chutney, was a weird combination I thought. But I quickly reached for more. The Vegetable Pakora platter, which is basically vegetables fried in a batter of gram flour, reminded me of vegetable tempuras in Thai restaurants, but tasted as good.
The next set of starters took it to the next level. the Murgh Tikka Mirza Hasnu, served on a bed of broccoli puree, was really interesting in that it was marinated so well that the chicken almost melted in your mouth.
For mains, don’t miss the Home Style Fish Curry. You can have it with the assorted bread, but you will enjoy it much more with basmati rice. Then, if you’ve still got space, try the Goat Biryani. It’s the royal way to end a meal, with a flourish.
And hey it’s not an Indian meal if there’s no kulfi, or Indian ice cream, for dessert. But here, it’s not kulfi as you know it. There’s the more traditional cardamom flavour, yes. But curry leaf? Guava?
With attentive service and very nice décor, there’s no sense of self-aggrandisement at Junoon. It just serves Indian realness, with a modern twist.
The details
Where: Junoon, Shangri-La Dubai
Price: Dh220 per person
Call: 04-4052717
