we had a top class iftar feast in this new restaurant of 4 months at the 25h dubai one central hotel in trade centre area yesterday. the cost is 175 dhs per person with minimum two persons at the table for this menu, from sunset to 2100 hrs.
it is a large restaurant with a courtyard open area for outdoors and a brilliant indoor setting. the interiors really impressed us with lot of shrubs, herbs, paintings, subdued lighting and wood works. they had a prize for best restaurant from timeout dubai in 2022.
mr. rajat welcomed us after entering and patiently explained the menu with lots of background and other stories of the hotel. he knows well how to entertain the guests properly and arranged the for the food to be served at the right time and even pack for the extra portions to be sent home too. appreciate his hospitality.
one interesting thing is that they give two distinctly different plates to the two diners- quite attractive ones.
the set menu starts with on table dates, walnuts, dry apricots etc to break the fast. i must compliment the quality of the fruits and nuts- the dates were plump, juicy, large.
then a qamar al din juice which is a mix of orange, apricot and some other condiments- a nice refresher drink. the hot lentil soup/dal, is a lovely addition to start the next part.
snack's thali follows and it's a large sharing thali. around 12 items are available. i loved the cauliflower croquets, tandoori beetroot on a base of yoghurt, chicken samosas, cheese chicken salad a lot. there small coin sized arabic breads, naans, grape leaves stuffed with beef, turmeric hummus, carrot kosambari- keralite dish, radish cucumber and cherry tomato salad, pickled onion, coconut raita and mint dips. it takes a long time to finish all of these.
after these comes the main course. the items are butter chicken, chargrilled lamb biriyani, okra salona, chargrilled broccoli and chargrilled sea bream fillet. the butter chicken is perfectly prepared and with large quantity to be paired with basmati rice. okra is with tomato sauce , a bit tangy but very well cooked- one of the best. the broccoli were also done very well- loved it.
finally the best of the lot for me was the chargrilled sea bream fish fillet. a super delicious item with perfect marination of mint and some crunchy cashew nuts probably, it was wonderful. highly recommended for ala carte dining too.
we signed off with some arabic desserts, an umm ali and an unique fusion item - nutella naan topped with a coconut ice cream. they were very well presented with small flowers and chocolate art and quite tasty.
the overall dining experience was very nice and i savoured my time here. recommended to have a hearty and tasty iftar meal here.