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Restaurant Review: Nostalgic Indian food at Roobaru

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There’s something about dinners in winter evenings in the city, it just sets you in a happy mood even before the food has arrived on your table. The indoor space at Roobaru, Downtown Dubai, is lovely with minimalistic décor in subtle colours and gorgeous patterns (reminding one of Washi tapes), but it’s tempting to enjoy the outdoors, especially when your view is the heart of the city, coupled with police patrolling carried on horses! We were sold on that, followed by the arrival of beverages — Purple Flight, a concoction of delicate sweet flavours of lavender and a tinge of sour coming from lemon olio saccharum, the latter literally means lemon-flavoured oily sugar; and What a Melon, which is freshness galore courtesy of watermelon and orange juice, with mint and basil leaves as garnish.

From there on, we went to discover a medley of flavours. Papdi Smack is your larger-than-life version of the Indian street food, and comes topped with a unique mix of pickled apricot, pomegranate and radish. Corn Hummus, a creamy, velvety preparation, did not quite remind us of hummus, but worked well with the polenta coriander khakra ((a thin cracker, popular in the Gujarati cuisine). You think you can handle the hotness quotient of a dish until you sample (and relish) the Amchi Thecha Wings — chicken wings coated with a blend of garlic, chilli and peanut (courtesy: Maharashtrian cuisine) —you are bound to break in sweat, but well, the dish would add excitement to your meal. We were happy to travel to other parts of India with our mains of Konkan Prawn Curry, a light, satisfying, and tangy preparation, which we paired up with a Truffle Kulcha. And for the sake of nostalgia, we did sample the House Dal, the atypical dal makhani bearing the stamp of the popular Dal Bukahara. And we may return for this one, especially to consume it with Mango Chunda Kulcha.

purva@khaleejtimes.com