At Dubai, we stayed at Copthorne Hotel Dubai which is sited just 5 minutes walk away from the Deira City Centre (shopping mall) and the Deira City Centre Metro station. In addition, the hotel is located just 10 minutes drive away from the International Airport. To sweeten the deal further, we were upgraded to the Dubai Suite. As it was already past 2pm by the time we check in, we decided to quickly pop by the Deira City Centre for lunch. There are many restaurants located in the mall and the food there was generally quite expensive. (The cost of living here is very high too!) As we wanted something quick, we headed over to the food court.
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There were many stalls offering different variety of food in the food court such as Western, Italian, Middle Eastern and even Chinese cuisines! In the end, I decided to patronise Shamiana. Shamiana specialises in serving a wide variety of Indian cuisine such as tandoori, curry, biryani, kebab and naan. I found out later that it is also available in food courts at other shopping malls such as The Dubai Mall, Dubai Festival City and Mall of the Emirates. It then occurred to me that it may not be so authentic after all. If I really wanted something authentic, I should have gone to explore the 'street food'.
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| Chicken Tikka Biryani 28 AED (S$9.44) |
I ordered the Chicken Tikka Biryani which cost 28 AED (S$9.44) and was served with a yogurt.
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| Chicken Tikka Biryani 28 AED (S$9.44) |
Three pieces of chicken tikka were served along with the biryani. The chicken tikka with its aromatic blend of seasonings were outstanding - soft fragrant tender meat. Whereas the basmati rice was just average. Some parts of the rice were in lumps and were not fragrant enough.
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| Yogurt |
The Yogurt was watery and sourish. It had a very weird taste as if it had turned bad. We took a sip each and left it untouched. I wonder if this is their version of raita which is made from yogurt and complement as a sauce to the biryani.
Overall, I thought this was just average. The chicken tikka was great, however the basmati rice (an essential component of a biryani meal) was disappointing. Even though this was a food court, I thought that the prices here were on the high end compared to Singapore.
Overall, I thought this was just average. The chicken tikka was great, however the basmati rice (an essential component of a biryani meal) was disappointing. Even though this was a food court, I thought that the prices here were on the high end compared to Singapore.
ps: the currency used in Dubai is called Dirhams (AED). Not all money changers in Singapore carry this currency.
Shamiana Tandoori & Indian Cuisine (UAE, Dubai)
Food Court
Deira City Centre
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: 04 2954393
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