Zafran has been a favourite to many. An award winning Indian restaurant which focuses on North West Indian cuisine and famous for their Tandoori kebabs and grills, Biriyani and beautiful tasting Indian curries. Love the way they present the food. We usually visit their branch at Mirdiff which is more spacious compared to their other branches. They have a limited edition menu launched every season to excite frequent diners and this time we were here to experience their Arabian Adventure menu consisting of hot and cold Mezzeh, along with a selection of mains and a special dessert to end the Arabian Adventure.
They didn’t have any dedicated drinks from the Arabian Adventure menu so we went for the classic pick, Jal Jeera Soda. The drink felt great in the throat being little tangy, bit of spice, and easily quenches your thirst. The best part about this drink, the taste remains till the end of the drink and doesn’t change with melting ice such as the mocktail experience. As we waited came there standard complimentary pickles and salads. The chutneys are worth a mention as they are homemade and tasted wonderful. The homemade chutneys would be the Beetroot chutney with orange juice, mint coriander chutney with yoghurt, ginger, green apple and lastly Dates Tamarind chutney. It’s a joy to have these chutneys with pappad.
Both the hot and cold Mezzeh is a must try from the Arabian Adventure limited menu. The cold Mezzeh is also accompanied by puffy naan which was really good. We thoroughly enjoyed these 2 dippers especially the hummus which felt thick and creamy. There wasn’t much of a difference from the hummus and baba ganoush which we’ve been eating otherwise, but these were definitely of great quality. We wouldn’t mind visiting the restaurant more often just to have these cold dipper set along with their fresh Zaatar naan, rocca leaves, pickle olives and tomatoes. Good enough to satisfy your cravings. I personally enjoyed the Kachumber fattoush more than the original version of the Arabic Fattoush as they were cut neatly and had a pleasant taste to it. The pickle olives tasted very different, more tangy. The hot mezzeh platter was an interesting one too. Although we’ve tried these starters elsewhere many times, they still tasted amazing here. The samoosa was a surprise which came stuffed with spinach and cheese and was simply irresistible. The halloumi couldn’t be disappointing anywhere and the shammi kebab meat was literally melting in the mouth.
Clearly the Middle Eastern Masala Raan was looking as the no.1 favourite from the Arabian Adventure menu for the mains. The raan has always been part of their original menu but the succulent lamb this time was accompanied with mashed potatoes and vegetables on a bed of spicy masala rice. Interesting the yoghurt is not included as a side for this dish. The marinated lamb was definitely juicy and any meat lover is going to love this dish. Ofcourse, it was deep in masala so you could definitely feel the spices running in your tummy as you ate more. The exciting bit would be the appearance which was in a clay pot covered by a baked roti on top, which is then cut open to reveal the mouth watering main inside. The baked roti on top is also edible. We also tried the lamb curry which had a nice flavour to it and biriyani rice is served as a side. I thought the rotis should been a better combo for the curry. Also found in the curry were pure meat cubes with no bones which made it easy to eat. We ended our meal with their pistachio flavoured rice pudding. I thought the rice pudding was an over kill because after having plenty of rice for mains, we again have a dessert with rice. So they probably should have included a different sweet ending.
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