De Thali - Indian Restaurant - LuLu Hypermarket - Al Ghusais

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).

Gajjar Halwa(left) - Dhs 12, Basundi (right) - Dhs 12

Masala Chai - Dhs 6

Filter Kaapi - Dhs 6

From left - Myself, Balpreet Singh(Chief Chef), Sajan Alex(General Manager)

Kao Pad LemonGrass - Dhs 35 - Lemon Grass, next to Lamcy plaza Dubai

Pad Thai (chicken) - Dhs 38

It was a warm afternoon. We were close to Lamcy and there we see a Lemon Grass restaurant. One of the nice thing about Lemon grass is they have a well designed menu with pictures of each of their dish and its pricing, so it makes it a lot easy for someone new to order.  We tried the following:

Pad Kee Mao(Beef) - Dhs 34: Stir fried flat noodle with chili and holy basil

Pad Thai (Chicken) - Dhs 38: Wok-fried rice noodle with bean sprout, tofu and chille served in egg wrap

Kao Pad Lemongrass: Dhs 35: Fried rice chilli paste with chicken and seafood

Pad Khing(Lamb): Dhs 44: Stir fried wild mushroom in ginger sauce.

The most attractive dish out of the three was Pad Thai. It came covered in an abbaya of it's own which was an Omlette. Looked very attractive but tasted the least. The winners cup was actually taken by Pad Kee Mao. Pad Thai was decent. Interestingly the Pad Khing we ordered last time (you can read about my earlier post on lemon grass here) was looking and tasting a little different this time but Pad khing gave that rice that extra juice and something more to much upon.

Lemon Grass website: http://www.lemongrassrestaurants.com

Complimentary - Prawn Crackers - Dhs 10

Pad Thai (chicken) - Dhs 38

Pad Thai (chicken) - Dhs 38

Kao Pad Lemongrass - Dhs 35

Kao Pad Lemongrass - Dhs 35

Pad Kee Mao (Beef) - Dhs 39

Pad Khing(Lamb) - Dhs 44

Kids menu - Dhs 22

Waiting area - Normally you end up here first if you come on weekends without reservation

Fish meal - Dhs 15, Calicut Paragon Karama Dubai

Fish meal - Dhs 15

So i went for lunch today at Paragon expecting to eat some onam special but it turned out that it's happening tomorrow only. So i ended up eating their regular Dhs 15 Fish meal which comes with 8 items. You can either have rice or chapathi. Honestly their meal isn't that great compared to other restaurants. It's better to try their rotis(valappam, chapathis, wheat porota ..etc), individual curries(sea food curries), fries. In other words besides their meals anything else you try should taste better. Even their desserts are good but the taste is not always consistent. The first time i tried their falooda was mind blowing, the next time i didn't get the same taste. Never the less I enjoy eating at paragon, the sound of plates, rush, noise of people all get's your appetite going. I would recommend everyone to try their sweet n spicy raw Mango Carrot Salad - Dhs 10 only. Mutton varattiyath - Dhs 22 was a little spicy but people who enjoy such curries would like it. It comes with only 2 piece of mutton though. Wheat porota is exactly same as what we get in kerala today. 

https://www.facebook.com/calicutparagon

 close up of the Fish meal curries.

Appam - Dhs 1.50

sweet n spicy raw Mango Carrot Salad - Dhs 10

Mutton varattiyath - Dhs 22

wheat porota - Dhs 2.50

Close up of Fish meal items - Dhs 15

Chapathi - Dhs 1.50

Hot water served at paragon

BIG CHA CHA - Dhs 65, Rain Forest Cafe - Dubai Mall

BIG CHA CHA - Dhs 65

BIG CHA CHA! - Large flour tortilla filled with seasoned chicken, onions, bell peppers black beans served with Mexican rice and sour cream. 

It was a true experience eating in a forest. They have done a good job in converting the restaurant into a forest with live sounds, animals in motion, lighting and thunder. You definitely get a forest experience. 

 Whatever we ordered came out good and it's definitely worth an experience. Surely your food is priced with a premium for that forest experience. It's even interesting if you take kids in there. It was the first time my son actually sat properly on his seat and ate very silently just watching around. No jumping, no noise except this time it was the restaurant doing it for a change. I've also posted a video for you to get a feel of this forest cafe.

One of our orders was BIG CHA CHA which came loaded with vegetables and chicken. The mexican rice was nice as well. The Rasta Pasta thought looked simple, tasted lovely.

https://www.facebook.com/RainForest.Dubai 

RASTA PASTA - Grilled chicken, penne pasta, pesto, broccoli, red peppers and spinach tossed with garlic Alfredo sauce and topped with shaved parmesan cheese.

Rasta Pasta - Dhs 69

Lamb Biriyani - Dhs 55, Zafran - Mirdif City Center

Lamb and chicken Biriyani

Here i am again writing after a long time.  Its my first visit to Zafran - Contemporary Indian Cuisine.

Lamb Biriyani - Lamb with mint, cardamom, caramelised onion and saffron basmati rice. Chicken Biriyani - Boneless chicken cooked oriental spices with saffron basmati rice.

To begin with it's indian but not spicy. This restaurant is more focused on tourists. so don't expect it to be authentic. Perfect biriyani for my son rather. Ambience was nice (family oriented, quiet). More arabs were in while I was there. The lamb biriyani tasted much better than chicken biryani. Overall the biryani had less flavour and no spice at all. They give you a pickle(you might need to ask them) which helped. I forgot to take the picture of the pickle but I would hight recommend to ask for it if they didn't serve you cause their pickle was interesting to me.