Last night I dined at Sanjeev Kapoors Signature restaurant, for those who don’t know him he is the most famous indian celebrity chef and judges Master-chef India. I suppose knowing this fact arouses high expectations and I was expecting an exceptional culinary experience. I suppose Indian cuisine is the one that I am most critical of as nobody is ever going to be able to cook a curry like my grandmother and I have always found in the past that the fancier an Indian restaurant, the less I enjoy the food. I suppose the cheaper hole-in-the-wall style restaurants cater to the working class and make food using simple street food and home recipes, for example Ravi’s in Dubai is my favourite no frills Indian restaurant. I feel that the more decadent restaurants always manage to lose this authenticity by over catering to a more sophisticated palate. There are too many alterations and fusions to try to please the foodies and travellers of the world but honestly Indian food is beautiful when it is left the way it is. I also find they over-spice food, they think Western people love the spiciness of Indian food to the point where they add so much spice you lose all the delicacy of the flavours.
We ordered potatoes that were just so spicy you couldn’t taste them. The Patthar ke Kebab was beautifully presented, lamb kebabs served on hot stones with a pot of haleem as a sauce, it was random to use such a heavy staple food as a sauce but it was interesting. The flavours were fine but they didn’t leave me wanting any more. For mains we had a black lentil dhaal which was nice and also a ground chicken and aubergine curry served in a pot which had a piece of charcoal in it to smoke the food. I could really taste that smokiness and it was a nice touch. Everything was nice but nothing made me want to go back to have it again or recommend it, it was very average food, it wasn’t bad just not what you pay for and you would never think it was the recipes of a celebrity chef. I think Mr Kapoor needs to make a visit to Dubai and give his chefs a little refresher as I am sure he too would be disappointed with the standard of food.The restaurant is beautiful, the food was well presented and the service was immaculate, the waiters were so attentive and were very helpful with making recommendations however the food was disappointing.
Zizzle 