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Restaurant review: Hitchki

Enjoy Indian street food at a fine dining joint - that's the concept behind Hitchki in DIFC. Karen Ann Monsy discovers she quite likes how the twain meet

A restaurant within a restaurant - there's a concept that's bound to get people's attention. Indian street food restaurant Hitchki is a fairly well-established name in Mumbai. In Dubai, however, you'll find it nestled within the restaurant Bazxar at DIFC: with its own kitchen and menu - although you can order freely from both menus... which is what we did!
Always a sucker for the personal touch, we loved the thought that's gone into everything from the names of the dishes to the quirky decor. Take the name of the restaurant itself: Hitchi means 'hiccup' in Hindi, and it plays on the familiar yarn that you hiccup when someone is thinking of you. The food, therefore, seeks to evoke that sense of nostalgia - which it does quite well, with favourites like Mangalore Chicken Curry and Patrani Chilli Poppers. Other dish names that made us smile included Bro Code (pit-roasted broccoli), Butter the Chicken and Charlie Chapli Kebab.
It felt like a bit of a chocolate overdose for us towards the end, what with the Chocolate Chilli Chicken, the Hot Date Bomb and the Truffle Gulab Jamun - all as delicious as they sound. We're certainly not complaining!

Taste: Pretty good - they didn't blow us away, but they were all true to taste. Some very interesting starters to check out are Wagyu on the Rocks (served over hot coal!) and their version of Dynamite Shrimp, which could well give PF Chang's most popular dish a run for its money.

Ambience: Energetic and loud, your partner may require you to repeat parts of your conversation a few times, but the venue was packed on a week day; clearly, folks didn't mind! Tables were a tad too small, but score for great wall art and quirky knick-knacks to explore between bites.

Service: We liked that the servers were well-informed about each dish and could tell us exactly how they were prepared. The recommendations were good, and though we had to wait a bit between courses, we didn't mind, as it gave us a chance to digest our food.

Presentation: No matter how great the taste, food has got to look good and smell good in my books. And the restaurant ticks both those boxes for almost all the dishes that were served that evening. Desserts, especially, were plated very well, making you want to tuck right in.

Value for money: Hitchki offers some of the best staples known to Indian cuisine that you would, for sure, get for less at other venues. But the prices seem par for the course, considering it's a licensed venue. We appreciated the three hours complimentary valet parking too!

Factbox
Hitchi, within Bazxar restaurant, Gate Precinct, Building 4, DIFC
For reservations: 04-3551111
Average cost for 2: Dh350
Rating: 4/5
karen@khaleejtimes.com