Located in Mirdif City Centre, the Zafran Indian Bistro feels like a pleasant attack to your senses as soon as you walk in. The restaurant is elegantly designed, following a theme of blue and gold. A blend of Arabic and Indian instrumentals adds to the semi-traditional feel of the restaurant, giving it a relaxing ambience.
We arrived around 12.30pm. After being shown to our seats, we were presented with two menus — the regular one and the new Regional Flavours of India menu, which is on offer until the beginning of Ramadan.
As is common in most Indian restaurants, we were first served papads along with three types of chutney. The third chutney changes on a daily basis and the restaurant offers an innovative variety including ones made of papaya and watermelon skin. Every chutney we tasted was refreshing and went very well with our starters.
We ordered our appetisers from the regular menu, choosing one vegetarian and non-vegetarian dish each. While both were delicious, the kebab platter was definitely the better choice — although that might be due to my bias towards anything non-vegetarian. The platter included a choice of 4 different types of kebabs, each flavourful and practically melting in our mouths. However, it was too much food for a party of two.
Our main course was entirely from the Regional Flavours of India menu. The newly introduced menu seeks to offer diners with a taste of flavours from different parts of the country and includes dishes from Goa, all the way to Rajasthan. It is very popular among the local crowd, who can’t seem to get enough of their Baingan ka Bartha- a brinjal dish. We ordered the Kerala fish curry, Paneer aur Papad ki Subzi and were also given the Dhabbe ka Murg to try, as it was their most popular dish.
My personal favourite was the Kerala fish curry which was a slightly different version of the traditional South Indian dish. The paneer dish was similar to the North Indian paneer butter masala, with pieces of papad in it and the chicken dish seemed like a classic curry. While all of them were delicious, the heaviness of the latter two meant that we couldn’t actually finish any of the curries.
To sweeten our palette, we were given a platter of four desserts — Pistachio Kulfi, Gulab Jamun, Gaajar ka Halwa and Angoori Rasmalai. The kulfi was a refreshingly light treat after a hearty meal, and the winner. The rasmalai and halwa weren’t as sweet as is generally expected of them and were therefore slightly disappointing.
If the dishes themselves aren’t enough of a reason for you to go here, the service definitely is. The food was ready quite fast and our server talked us through everything we were trying, checking on us often enough that we didn’t have to wait too long but not so much that it was overbearing.
With its relaxing ambience and quality food, you’ll definitely lose track of your time at Zafran.
The details
Cuisine: Northwest Indian
Good for: Families, business lunch
Credit card: Yes
Average cost per person: Dh100
Location: City Center Mirdif
Opening hours: Open for lunch and dinner from 11am — 11pm on weekdays and 11am — 12am on weekends
