House of Curry

Indian food rotates in my top 3 of cuisines with Mexican and Japanese. The food is almost always full of flavour and tradition, you enjoy it immensely and you know what to expect. Garlic, coriander, spice, rich sauces and lentil - it can be a meal made of perfection.

House of Curry is a new place that opened up in Downtown in one of those little shacks on the boulevard. It's a charming place and easy to get to. It was empty when we visited, but I really hope that it gets popular enough soon, because this restaurant deserves it. 

I almost always order the same things whenever I go for Indian food. For the curries, I usually get some Butter Chicken for something creamy and flavourful, and Mutton Rogan Josh for the meat and something a little spicier. Both did not disappoint in this case, and the chicken was the winner of the two in this case. My only criticism of the mutton is that it contains bones, though really in all honesty I accept that all the flavour is in the bones. Still, if you like me don't really enjoy picking through bone I'd advise you to watch out for that. We did ask for the mutton to be spicy but we didn't find it to be particularly so.

The Tadka Daal, on the other hand, was a great compliment to the meal and provided the heat that was missing elsewhere. And, as always, I like to scoop everything up in my garlic naan, which did not disappoint and was just the right amount of garlic, butter and crispy. The mango lassi, too, gave a nice balance to the heat and helped extinguish the fire a little bit.

It's a nice little place and has a fair price. The service is friendly and the food is flavourful and plentiful. Obviously there are many other well-known Indian places that are far cheaper and more authentic (I'm not even going to mention Karama), but compared to its peers I think this place is great. The location helps too, and you could easily visit after some shopping and then head somewhere else to digest.

The bill:

- Mango Lassi: AED 22

- Mutton Rogan Josh: AED 60

- Butter Chicken: AED 55

- Tadka Daal: AED 35

- Garlic Naan: AED 8

- Plain White Rice: AED 25

For a total of: AED 205 for a group of 4, AED 52 each.