Claypot – CityMax Hotels – Burdubai

Here I am again at a second North Indian restaurant this month. Like I always say I can never get tired of Indian food specially north Indian. Claypot restaurant is found inside CityMax Hotels which is located at a nice location in BurDubai away from traffic. Keep in mind you need to search for CityMax hotel while you drive on the mainroad and not Claypot. Parking is not an issue as it’s taken care by CityMax Hotel itself.

This restaurant is a big one. Spacious with nice comfortable seatings. I love those lifted cabins next to the curtains. Nice and cozy. We visited this restaurant for lunch and we had the option of going for buffet or a la carte. We opted to order from their menu. The restaurant had mainly Indian diners while I was there.

Their was something nice about their pappads that came complimentary. Their pappad along with their spicy green chutney tasted one level up compared to other restaurants. For the drinks we ordered their mocktails such as:

• Cindrella – Lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, ginger Ale
• Fruit punch – Pineapple, Orange, Mango, cream along with a dash of grenadine

Fruitpunch was my favourite here specially the cream in it but my guests enjoyed the Cindrella. I couldn’t taste the fresh juice in Cindrella Mocktail it was more of a flavoured fizzy drink. Mango Lassi looked very attractive but it was not tasting pure and that’s when i find out they’ve added a pinch of grenadine syrup which I thought was unnecessary 🙁

I am not a big fan of chaat normally but this one was a premium chaat with tandoori chicken, onions and chilli in a tangy dressing. It came to our table and the whole plate got empty in a minute. It’s from their menu called chaat – e- claypot. Really good and if you are coming here it’s a must starter that you don’t want to miss. You won’t find this kind of a chaat even in the legendary Bombay chowpatty chaat house 😉

Then came to our table the sizzler platter of starters. It was a combination of prawns, fish, chicken and lamb. It’s 4 pieces of each which makes it 16 pieces on the platter.

• Chicken tikka marinated in yoghurt and cheese.
• Lamb – Mala Maal Kebab – Minced Lamb coated with cream cheese and saffron cooked on a slow fire.
• Mahi tikka – Fish marinated with yoghurt and ajwain cooked in a charcoal oven
• samundar – e – khaas – Prawns marinated in a spicy red masala white ginger and garlic extract.

All that meat that came on this platter was outstanding. Lovely spice and well cooked. The chicken tikka marinated in youghurt and cheese was the children’s favourite. They would quietly ask for more and this white chicken would easily melt in the mouth. The prawns was the next deadly one. The secret to the taste is the spice they use on them. If you enjoy spice, you are sure to enjoy at claypot. They use some brilliant spices for their dishes.

The chicken curry which was chicken cooked on a tawa was interesting. When I ordered the curry, my assumption was it would be served in a bowl instead it came served in a flat pan with chicken pieces in the middle surrounded by thick gravy. The curry was just the type I like. Thick, limited and moderately spiced. The biriyani was delicious too. The lamb inside it was tender and nice. Their rotis were standard and my favourite was the garlic naan from this section.

It was a grand ending too. Their indian desserts were top notch and you could really enjoy any of them. One of their speciality is the Moong dal Halwa which they have mastered to make it well. I loved their rasmalai too. Soft, fluffy and had the right taste in it. Everything is made in house is what they say including the Kulfi Ice cream. Overall the lunch has been very satisfying here and surely will want to come back here again.