Located at: Ground Floor, Al Huda Building, Al Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Visited on: 13 Oct, 2019

We used to pay India Palace a visit every now and then when they had their branch at Al Ghurair. However, this was our first visit to their restaurant at Al Garhoud. The place is quite large with what I took to be chiefly North Indian-inspired décor and woodwork. Of course, to welcome their diners, they bring out the usual papadam basket and tray of mint, sweet mango, tamarind, chilli and pickled lime chutneys.

I went with my usual Mint Cooler – a refreshing drink of handpicked mint and lime (AED 15), and was glad to realise that it tasted the same as it did the last time I had it – tangy with sweet notes, creating a bit of pop on the palate. We also had a couple of Lassi beverages – churned fresh yoghurt (AED 18), one sweet and one salted. Both were good in their own ways. Not too thick, and not too sweet or salty, respectively.

To start off, we thought of trying their Sunheri Jheenga – tiger prawns marinated overnight in chilli, lemon and coriander and crispy fried to perfection (AED 40). Crispy fried to perfection, it was. However, I was expecting much more flavour in the prawns from being marinated overnight. It was nice, but I was anticipating something mouth-wateringly wow based on the menu description. The mint sauce that accompanied it was a good enough match although I felt like a sweet-savoury dip or slightly spicy sauce might have paired with it better.

For the mains, we ordered a portion each of Machchi Ke Shole – chunks of hammour in lemon, garlic and light chilli marinade (AED 49) and Bhuna Murgh – chicken prepared in tomato-based gravy with ginger, garlic and bhuna masala (AED 39). The fish was quite chunky, yes, and came as a portion of six pieces. The chicken, however, was minimal in quantity. It had also been cut into rather small pieces that didn’t give the dish much of a bite. In general, both dishes didn’t have as much flavour as I remember their dishes to have – which was disappointing, as their food used to be pretty good at Al Ghurair Centre.

I felt like the same issue continued with the Lasooni Naan – garlic flavoured white bread (AED 9). It lacked both aroma and flavour. Their garlic naan is usually herbier and more full-bodied in character than this was.

Overall, this experience was below par, and not very encouraging in terms of making a visit again in the future.

Yummy rating: 2.5 / 5.0

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