While you probably wouldn’t have considered French and Indian cuisine an overwhelmingly natural match, much like peanut butter and jam, Turner and Hooch or Shaq and Kobe; La Porte des Indes teaches us that sometimes, heavenly pairings can come from the unlikeliest of candidates.
Walking into the relatively unassuming entrance of The Address Dubai Mall’s latest gastronomic offering, our initial impression of the establishment was more of a glamorous bar as opposed to a fine-dining Indian restaurant, its design championing black walls, neon lights and twinkling optic cables. That said, the décor actually works nicely, offering a distinctly youthful vibe to proceedings, a strategy no doubt deliberately harnessed by the owners in a bid to attract Dubai’s young after-work crowd.
The service is good, and all staff were both enthusiastic about the menu, and uniformly knowledgeable about its contents, proficient at recommending dishes suited to your Indian pallet (and ours is quite pathetic on the spice front).
From the opening (and particularly tasty) amuse- bouche right down to your last Bombay aloo, the quality of food is excellent, delicately cooked and presented, but never veering into the pretentious. We’d advise you indecisive types – looking to sample a range from the eclectic menu – to plump for the restaurant’s sharing option, where the signature dishes are ladled out across three starters, five mains and a dessert plate.
Though La Porte des Indes proximity to the Dubai Mall doesn’t render it a particularly obvious prime dining nightspot for the region’s social butterflies, we feel the quality of the cuisine and service married with the refreshing design, make this interesting new establishment unequivocally worth a visit. Post shopping or otherwise…
Esquire recommends:
Roasted Chilli Seekh Kebab – We’re usually staunch chicken fanboys when it comes to our curry dishes, but these luscious lamb kebabs soaked in smoked chilli and herbs shouldn’t be missed.
Crevettes Assadh – An exotic French offering served up in the form of tiger prawns simmered in a mild coconut curry with green mangoes, tumeric, chillies and ginger. Absolutely delightful.
Chicken Tandoori – No matter how many fancy items on the polished menu, any Indian joint worth its proverbial salt must resolutely deliver on its chicken tandoori dish. La Porte des Indes version of the tried and tested classic is marinated in traditional spices, perfumed with mustard oil and fenugreek. Succulent and superbly satisfying.