DUBAI: Pondicherry (now officially Puducherry), the erstwhile capital of French territory, I am told, is a fascinating melting pot. People from different religious, linguistic and cultural backgrounds there, they say, forge a distinct legacy in the most beautiful of settings.
So if you haven’t been there, like me, you could stop by at the newly opened La Porte des Indes in The Address, Dubai Mall. Literally “Gateway to India” in French, this plush bright restaurant will charm you with some exceptional regional dishes that reflect this all-embracing marriage of backgrounds, primarily at this small union territory on India’s east coast.
“The ingredients are essentially all from India, especially from the South but the cooking style is French, who ruled Pondicherry and other parts of India, making it a unique fusion cuisine,” explains the restaurant’s Indian head chef Vishal Rane.
So the resulting menu, on a weekend brunch as in my case, was partly French, partly Tamil, slightly Créole and mostly a taste of the traditional cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the specialities of Pondicherry.
It all began at the chaat table, where assorted Indian street food specialities such as bhel puri and papdi chaat are prepared fresh to order. The chaat, just the way you want it and just the way millions swear by on a daily basis in India.
An array of appetisers – a pepper crab, barra lamb chops, achari salmon, chard pakoda and murgh malai kebab – served a la carte and showcasing Pondicherry at its best arrived on our tables next.
The crab was a great preparation – its batter deep fried and crunchy tasted great with garlic and black pepper in a ginger and green mango sauce. The lamb chops with the best end marinated with browned onions, yoghurt and garam masala (spices), was char grilled to perfection and served with mint chutney for an exceptional flavour. The meat melted in our mouths. The salmon, its steaks, rolled in mustard, fennel, chillies and aniseed, tasted like something you wouldn’t have had before.
The chard, an essence of Mediterranean cooking, too was something new to me. The pakoda or batter fry of the crunchy green and red chard with water chestnut pakodas with gramflour, green chillies, coriander, turmeric and caraway seeds was a great starter.
The murgh malai kebab was grilled in a tandoor (earthen oven) as usual, but its marination with cream cheese, mace and green peppercorns gave it a very different taste.
The main courses were even more exotic and one that blew me off was their red-hot kath kozhi mahe or guinea fowl sautéed with dry red chillies, roasted spices, shallots and curry leaves.
Also on the table was a ‘poulet rouge’ or chicken marinated in yoghurt and red spices, grilled and served in a creamy sauce, a dal makhani or slow cooked black lentils with tomato and cream in lots of butter, a special version of matter paneer or cottage cheese with peas and a Crevettes Assadh or tiger prawns simmered in a mild coconut curry with green mangoes, tumeric, chillies and ginger. Of them all, I loved the kari de mouton or homestyle goat meat curry spiked with robust spices and laced with coconut milk. The prawns reeked of south India in their curry flavour and the chicken was uniquely balanced for taste between sweet and sour. All this with a subz or vegetable biryani and a basket of Indian breads to boot and the meal is almost complete.
A rasmalai flavoured with saffron, a mango shreekhand (sweet dish made of strained mango flavoured yoghurt) made it the perfect ending.
Details:
Location:
Ground floor, The Address Dubai Mall
Timing: Friday and Saturday Brunch: Noon-3.30pm
Cost: Dh295 per person including non-alcoholic beverages
Bookings: 04-438 8610
We recommend: ‘Pepper crab’, ‘poulet rouge’, ‘Kari de Mouton’, ‘ Kath Kozhi Mahe’, ‘Mango Shrikhand’
