Singature by Sanjeev Kapoor

Frankly, I had a number of notions before stepping into Signature By Sanjeev Kapoor, the chic Indian restaurant in the plush Meliá Dubai hotel.

For one, it was super chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s third venture in the city and naturally I wondered – how different could this one be? Secondly, I always held a grouse that Indian menus in the city rarely went beyond the tikkas and kababs. However, two delicious hours later, all my preconceived ideas were demolished, for the dinner was nothing short of a gastronomic journey that amazed and delighted the foodie in me. Simply put, Signature goes way beyond typical desi khana, incorporating elements from different parts of India, Europe and the Orient, resulting in an unpredictable yet absolutely delicious mélange.

Take for instance the starters each of which had three distinct dishes plated together. My friend and I zeroed in on the crab anari tikki, fried scallops and tabbouleh with tomato chutney. The melt-in-the mouth scallops were easily the best I’d ever tasted and even the crab tikki was succulent. Our next appetiser was the mushroom galouti (four different types of mushrooms mixed with Indian spices and shaped like a tikki, served on small parathas), potato sopaipillas (baked potaotes stuffed with cheese and corn) and zataar broccoli (mildly spiced broccoli). The mushroom won hands down for the sheer innovation and flavour.

A sip of buttermilk served interestingly on an ice-bed came next. The idea: to cleanse your palate before it welcomed the main course! In fact, where Signature scores a 10 on 10 is in presentation – each dish is so wonderfully plated that its appeal instantly rises by several notches.

However, the specialty is the Gharha cooking; a slow-cooking method where food is cooked in an earthen pot retaining the flavour of the ingredients. So be it the tantalising gharha roasted leg of baby lamb au jus and zaatar paratha or the unique slow cooked lemon grass butter chicken with zaatar served with sundried tomato olive naan, each dish is fit for royalty!

We tried the very unique dum nariyali prawns – inspired from Kerala and Bengal and served in a coconut shell! The rest of the items like a hamour curry cooked in Malabar spices and served with rice noodles (idiyappam), succulent duck stew, and nalli rogan josh seemed equally delicious though we were too full to move! But there was no way I was going to refuse dessert. Once again, it was a triple treat – gulab jamun, rasmalai and bhapa doi! A small cup of masala chai capped what had been one of the most memorable meals I had in a long time.

Take a bow Sanjeev Kapoor. Signature hits a sixer indeed!

INFO:
WHERE: Meliã Dubai, Kuwait Street, Dubai
OPENING HOURS: 12 pm to 3 pm and 7 pm to 11 pm, open daily
DRESS CODE: Smart-Casual
CONTACT: 04 386 8111