This was an outing we had planned for a long time. My friend and colleague, a cook of no mean stature herself, was going to accompany me in my search for the perfect masala dosa. So we co-ordinated our busy schedules and turned up at this restaurant one crowded week-day evening.
We made our fiat mistake while ordering. We decided on a North Indian meal, giving up the dosas and vegetable noodles in favour of he perfect vegetable biryani. A good look through the menu - a whole lot of dishes very affordably priced - and we chose our starters. Vegetable cutlet and paneer (cottage cheese) tikka. The cutlet arrived promptly, a spicy patty of minced potato, carrot, corn and cashew with a reasonably crunchy cover. Good to eat but only for those who munch through chillies without a sigh or tear.
We then waited, and waited, for the paneer tikka. Tried catching a waiter's eye in vain and, when we did manage to corner a server, was signalled we had to wait for the
right one. Finally, our waiter arrived. We want to order more, we said. Your tikka is
coming soon, he said. We sorted out the cross-talking and got him to repeat what we
wanted. What is the Pineapple Fashion, asked my dining companion. A pineapple
raita, he said. So we ordered, expecting something sweet and cold and yoghurt-y.
Our second mistake.
Anyway, we'll get to that later. Let me begin with the paneer tikka: It was worth the wait.
Neat slices of tangy, tandooried paneer alternating with bands of grilled onion, tomato and capsicum, served with rings of raw tomato and cucumber and some shredded mixed salad. The paneer was really tasty, although a little dry. I suspect it had been frozen.
Then our main courses turned up in a rush. First the kashmiri biryani and the Pineapple Fashion. The biryani was a generous portion of saffron-orange mound of slightly fat rice choked with diced apples and pineapples, sliced beans and halved placed cherries. There was also a very light sprinkling of thickly grated cheese. We liked it very much, especially its sweetish taste. But the Pineapple Fashion sparked a mini debate.
It was not, let me put it politely, a raita. It was a full-blown curry, chunks of pineapple
and bits of cashew cooked in a cream and nut gravy. The taste? Hot and sweet. Weird, I said. Different, she said. We didn't want to argue too much, so promptly went on to the next dish, the Kaju Makhanwala.
This was a rich red concoction of cashew, chopped onion, tomato and coriander. This time l agreed. It certainly was different, different but nice. But frankly, bath of us voted the Palak Paneer the best. Creamy, pureed spinach with soft cubes of well-cooked paneer. Delicious.
We then ordered our desserts - listed puzzlingly under "beverages" - and waited again.
The "cassatta" was a generous slice of the ice-cream cake freely available in supermarkets and my fruit salad had again, horror of horrors, the pineapple. But, I must admit, the fruits were fresh, even if sour.
The Venus offers great value for money - our meal cost a total of Dhs 55. The interior is clean, if unambitious, and the cooking good. Its South Indian fare, many people have told me, is outstanding. The North Indian could improve. So could the slow, inattentive, slapdash service. But overall, worth a visit. Especially if you're searching for a good masala dosa.