Iftar at Junoon (Vikas Khanna)

Unlike Himesh Reshamiya's Junoon Junoon x 1000000000, this is a Junoon that you might actually enjoy.

Located on the 2nd floor of Shangri La is this Michelin Star chefs restaurant. The Michelin star I'm talking about here is Vikas Khanna who not just is a world renowned chef but has also been voted as the hottest chef by the New York Eater blog and also featured in People magazine’s 'Sexiest Man Alive' list *gulp* Yes the dream.

Yes the shirtless picture was intentional!

But moving on from Vikas Khanna to his restaurant, Junoon.

Firstly thank you team Deja Vu for inviting me to try out your special Iftar menu, it was an absolute delight being there.

Before you start wondering what's in this special Iftar menu, let me take you through it, for all of AED 220 you're bombarded with food, lots of it. Right from Pakoras to Kebabs, Tikka to Chaats, be prepared to reward your taste buds with a lavish 5 course meal. Click here to read full menu

Starting off with the Iftar, 

You're first handed over a plate of delicious dates and a menu to choose your drink from. In this drinks menu you have the option to choose between buttermilk, sherbet and roohafza.
 

The Food 

Eggplant Chaat - Honestly thank god it's called eggplant chaat and not bhaingan ka chaat, because that in itself would have been such a turn-off & me being me, I was a little reluctant to have it, but it surprisingly looked very inviting & hence I decided to give it a try. It basically was thin, crispy slices of eggplant, tossed with onions, mixed with chaat masala and tamarind chutney & without a doubt is the answer to the frequently asked question 'Why would somebody have Chaat at a fine-dine' well folks, this is why. 

Assorted Pakoras - From an Indian lehman perspective this was basically bhajiya which for some odd reason tasted more like Vegetarian Tempuras. So it was rather interesting to have something as desi as bhajiya that tasted pretty good & like a tempura *yes I was almost as confused as you're*

Rajma Ki Shammi -This is definitely a vegetarian delight, a tikki of smoked kidney beans that was served with a hint of green papaya achar and ketchup chutney.

Murgh Tikka Mirza Hasnu - This was basically chicken tikka that was served on a broccoli puree. The chicken was very well marinated & hence juicy. Also it blended perfectly with the broccoli mint chutney.  

Lamb Seekh Kebab - The Seekh Kebab looked very appetizing however it was slightly bland in taste & could have been slightly more juicier and spicier. 

For the mains, there was the Home Style Fish Curry, Lamb Biryani and Haleem and assorted bread. 

The Home Style Fish Curry was in an onion ginger curry with fenugreek and coriander leaf. Even though I could have never imagined having a fish curry without rice, I decided to try this out with naan for a change & wasn't disappointed at all. The fish was tender and the spiciness level was spot on. 

Haleem - A little confession I would like to make is that, I've only tried out Haleem once before this & absolutely hated it & since then I automatically refuse to try it out, but on being forced I decided to taste the Haleem & let me tell you the Haleem I had previously and the Haleem I had here were poles apart & just made me believe in Haleem all over again (just being dramatic) no but really, it was very good.

Lastly what’s an Iftar without some lamb biryani?  The Lamb Biryani was extremely rich in flavour with the right amount of spiciness and on just one single bite of this biryani, one could make out the quality of ingredients used in the preparation of this lamb biryani was on the top-most level. 

Now that we are done with the mains, let me take you through the biggest highlight of the day, the desserts.

We have all had a variety of kulfi and faloodas over the years, but Junoon brings in innovation to this & how.

The Kulfi were in 3 were bizaree sounding flavours, Cardamom flavour, Guava flavour & Curry leaf flavour. As whacked out as it may all sound, all the three flavours were in true blue sense, toothsome. It may take you a while to adjust to the taste, but it was quite refreshing & will definitely recommend you to give this a try. 

The Chocolate Matka Falooda – You know before I go ahead & explain this to you, I would like to call this the Desi version of a molten chocolate cake, because you literally have to break into it to enjoy it. It’s basically a chocolate pot that has a very metallic look to it, placed on some ice-cream & filled with rabri that literally flows out of the edible chocolate matka. This chocolate matka is surrounded by some falooda, saffron and jelly discs. Absolutely loved it & it just made me completely ignore the mango sago (the other dessert that was offered)

Unfortunately the Chocolate Matka is not a part of the Iftar menu, but do yourself a favour and order for this along with your Iftar. 

Staff and Ambiance - Be prepared to be served by some extremely friendly and well informed staff, who shall definitely pamper you while you're at Junoon. Also not trying to sound inappropriate, but the ladies at the reservation counter are stunning, apart from the fabulous food, they could also be the reason for you reserving a place more than often *wink*

The decor at Junoon is very modernized, nothing very Indian about it. But that seems to be a growing trend amongst Indian fine dine restaurants these days. Looks like everyone's done with the cliched Rajasthani teapots, jootis and other decor that was once upon a time a must in every Indian restaurants decor.

Pricing – You know I usually have a very standard thing to write with regard to pricing, while reviewing an Indian fine dine, however this one time, I feel AED 220 is absolutely worth the experience for an Iftar as lavish as this (because most other places just serve you 3/4 dishes) but Junoon doesn’t compromise on the quality or the quantity. 

Phone number - 04 4052717

Location - Junoon - Shangri-La Trade Centre Area, Dubai, UAE address

Shangri-La, 1, Sheikh Zayed Road, Trade Centre Area, Dubai 

Follow them on Facebook 

 

5 things every Food Blogger goes through

As a food blogger, there are certain cliched questions you're always asked & certain typical things you always have to go through as a food-blogger. 

1) The urge to murder somebody who takes a bite of the food before you've gotten a good picture of it. 

Why...why...why? I'm as hungry as you're but WHY can't you just wait a minute longer till I get the perfect shot? It's for a good cause. 

2) People are never tired of asking you, 'Is your food always free'?

As much as I wish it was always FREE. It isn't...trust me, half my salary goes in trying out all these fancy places, sigh!

3) Post every giveaway on the blog, you get messages like these - I've shared your post 1000000000 times, why didn't I win the giveaway?

Thank you for sharing my post a gazillion times, that indeed is very sweet of you, however I don't remember mentioning that being a criteria for winning. 

4) You are used to the judgmental looks you get while experimenting with different angles to get the right picture of the food you've ordered. 

I'm sorry if I'm bothering you by clicking pictures of MY food, from MY camera for MY blog. Hope so it didn't hamper the duck-face selfie you've been trying to click since the past one hour. 

5) Your friends will always ask you for suggestions about where should they go eat, inspite of you having an entire blog talking about it.

Also in my case, there is 1 extra question that I'm genuinely SICK of answering - DO YOU EVEN EAT FOOD? You're so thin. 

And my reaction almost always is...

Iftar At Biryani Pot

Ramadan started about 2 weeks back & since then everyone's been on a look-out for good Iftars in the city, however the issue with iftars is that, they are usually not very reasonable & the best you would get is around AED 75 - AED 80 Per Person. Though thankfully for Biryani Pot, you can actually step out with your family or group of friends and have a wonderful Iftar for only 180 AED (Total) which is suitable for about 4 - 5 people. 

Firstly I personally think, Biryani and Kebabs are perhaps the most suitable Iftar meal & which is why I would recommend Biryani Pot as they master at both.

The Iftar package though includes two biryani’s, Two items from the Grills, one starter, four naans (Plain or Butter), one chicken gravy, one lamb gravy & daal.

Post ordering your meal, you are offered complimentary Dates and Tang & don't judge me, but Tang had never tasted so good, I do realize there is nothing to tang other than powder & water, but trust me, it’s an art to make the perfect Tang. 

Moving on to the food we ordered,

For our starters, we ordered for the Roasted Lamb Samosa which was graciously stuffed with lamb and peas. The outer crust was crispy and the stuffing of the minced meat was well cooked. 

From the grills, we opted for the Mutton Seekh Kebab and the Chicken Seekh Kabab, both were extremely juicy and succulent & don't forget to dip the Seekh in their tamarind chutney; it shall give you double the happiness & double the pleasure ;)

As far as the Biryani was concerned, it was served fresh & hot in a clay pot (wow I like how that rhymes) I managed to try out both, the lamb and the chicken biryani & while both the Biryanis were very well cooked, surprisingly the chicken biryani stood out a little more, reason being, the chicken was so tender, that it almost confused us to believe that it could probably have been fish (just kidding) it was chicken, mouth-watering tender CHICKEN! Also for the health cautious folks, they have something called the Quinoia Biryani, which is an organic gluten & cholesterol free biryani, with the highest protein levels. Yes, this is the first time I’ve come across a HEALTHY biryani too.

Coming to the main gravy dishes, the Chicken Tikka Masala was a thick tomato onion gravy with pan seared roasted chicken. Even though this tasted more like Kadhai Chicken & less like Chicken Tikka Masala, it was good nonetheless.

The Lamb Rogan Josh had a very home-style feel to it, which was good, however I wish it was slightly spicier. 

Me having the Daal Makhni, inspite of so much non-vegetarian food being on the table, speaks a lot. The slow cooked black lentils in butter & cream was very well made & we honestly were considering calling in for some steamed rice to enjoy the Daal all the more, but we obviously didn’t do that because our biryani was staring at us furiously. 

Ambiance: Even though Galleria in Abu Dhabi (The branch I visited) is located in a mall food-court setup, it doesn't feel like it. Because there is a small separation from the other restaurants & rest assured, the crowd at Galleria is always right out of a fashion magazine, so there’s no reason to complain ;)

Unfortunately that day, Galleria Mall had their test fire alarm ringing continuously, which was slightly scary, but I shall ignore that & let it pass.

Staff: Well technically it's a food court, so they obviously follow the self-service pattern, however the staff was kind enough to bring the water we ordered mid-meal to our table, as they didn't want to disturb us while we were eating. 

Overall we had a great time at Biryani Pot & would definitely recommend each one of you to visit the place. However having said that, I don't think it would be wise for a Vegetarian to have their Iftar here, because there is very limited option to choose from. 

Location : Abu Dhabi Dubai