Living to EAT: De Thali - Indian Restaurant - LuLu Hypermarket

Samundari Thali - Sea Food Thali - Dhs 42

De Thali was a restaurant that was launched last year. Funny I noticed them so late. This restaurant is a part of LuLu Group and to be more precise it was initiated by the daughter of the most successful keralite business man Mr. M. A. Yusuff Ali(Managing Director of EMKE group). Hence I am no more surprised to see this lovely restaurant located inside lulu hypermarket.

Me and my family enjoy Thalis so we thought why not give it a try here. It was our first time. The walls of the restaurant had this typical drawing that you would find in indian streets and singer Rafi's voice was heard on the background while I enjoyed my meal. I only wished this restaurant was detached from the hypermarket and was a standalone which would have made the experience even more immersive.

website: www.dethali.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DeThali

Continue scrolling to read my lunch....

Watermelon(left) - Dhs 15, Sambharam(center) - Dhs 7, Mango Lassi(right) - Dhs 12

The overall lunch was wonderful. It started of with thirst quenchers.

Sambharam - Spiced buttermilk with green chillies and coriander leaves.
Mango Lassi and watermelon juice.

Sambharam gave me the right start and it just got me ready for that thali. The mango lassi turned out to be very useful when I met with a spicy kabab appetizer called Murgh Angarey. Infact so spicy that I thought my tongue went on fire but nevertheless they had some item or the other to compensate with it.

Mint raitha(complimentary)

Murgh Angarey Kebab (front) - Dhs 22

For the appetizers we had

Masala vadai - lentil fritter served with coconut chutney
Paneer Tilwala - sesame seeds flavored cottage cheese, splash cooked in tandoor
Jhinga Nisha - prawns marinated in a cardamom flavored cream marinade cooked in the tandoor
Murgh Angarey - tender chicken marinated overnight with chilly, garlic and yoghurt with tandoor
Seekh Gilafi - minced lamb encrusted with peppers and cooked on a skewer in a tandoor

Out of all this I enjoyed Murgh Angarey and Paneer Tilwala the most, even though my tongue was on fire while I kept eating it. My wife loved the Seekh Gilafi and yeah I agree with her too it was very well made and we could see some effort put in that making. The paneer and the prawn had it's own glam. We enjoyed every bit of the appetizer except I ignored masala vadai as we come across that quite often.

From the tandoor - Jhinga Nisha(left) - Dhs 28, Seekh Gilafi(right) - Dhs 29

Mocktails Dhs 15 - Mojito - Mango & mint(left) - Watermelon(middle) - mojito - strawberry(right)

I can't forget this scene. There was a stiff competition between Mango&Mint and Strawberry mojito where me and my wife continuously argued whose mojito was better. Both of them were killer drinks. We really enjoyed them. I never expected an indian restaurant to excel here.

Samundari Thali - sea food - Dhs 42

We ordered 3 types of thali just to ensure we covered all their specialities:

Shakahari thali (veg) - Paneer lababdar, vellai kuruma, hing dhaniya ke chatpate aloo, karamani kootu, maa ki dal, rasam, kachumber, papad, curd served with choice of zeera pulao/nei choru and a choice of naan/tandoori roti/idiappam/mlabar parotta.

Samundari thali (sea food) - Prawn masala, meen mulakittathu, urlai sodhi, keerai masial, sambar, rasam, kachumber, papad, curd served with nei choru, idiyappam and malabar parotta.

Masahari thali (non-veg) - Bhabhi murgh, mutton ishtew, urlai roast, lehsooni moti palak, tomato pappu, rasam, kachumber, papad, curd served with choice of zeera pulao, nei choru and a choice of naan/tandoori roti/idiappam and malabar parotta.

All their thalis came with quality curries in it. Each curry had it's own quality taste. Curries such as mutton ishtew, meen mulaittatihu tasted homemade. I loved their parottas, it came thick and crispy. It was actually in demand on our table. Koth parotta was interesting too. Idiyappam biryani was unique. It also felt less heavier than the rice. Also note their menu keeps changing every 6 months.

Koth parotta - pieces of parotta mixed with chicken and vegetable masala.

Mashari Thali - non veg - Dhs 40

Idiyappam Chicken biryani - Dhs 25

Shakahari Thali - vegetarian - Dhs 35

Kesar Kulfi Falooda - Dhs 15

You shouldn't forget to try their desserts when you end your thali. Their kesar kulfi is made by them and it rocks for sure. Both Basundi and Gajjar was a pleasure to have. Surely whatever they made they made sure it tasted well. Oh and how can I forget their filter kaapi. I normally ignore coffee and have tea but here it was the other way around. Even though their masala tea was prettier, it was no match with their filter kaapi(authentic south indian coffee).