Rajasthan Al Malaki, also known as the Rajasthan Restaurant is, as its name suggests, an authentic Rajasthani thali restaurant. It is located in the Muwailih Commercial District, behind DPS Sharjah Primary School. Driving in from Dubai, I would have found it near impossible to find without Google Maps. Inside, you would not mistake this for anything but an Indian restaurant; there are traditional Indian styling cues everywhere.
This is one of the few thali restaurants which serves a full-on thali, complete with an additional portion of Dahi Vada and their starter speciality, Dal Baati. And it’s their unique dal baati I’d like to highlight first and foremost – it’s got a beautifully smoky, earthy taste which sets it apart from anything I’ve had before. The other standout for me was their Besan Kadhi which, tempered with roasted whole coriander and cumin seeds, was nothing less than sensational. Best of all though, I liked the Kitcheree. It was simplicity itself and needed no more than a drizzle of ghee to reach divinity.
The problem with this thali though, was that for every dish I loved, there was one which was…meh. Plus, a 4.4 rating and a AED30 price tag automatically brought Rajasthan Al Malaki into direct comparison with the three thali kings of Dubai, Rasoi Ghar, Maharaja Bhog and Rajdhani. And whilst I’ll be the first to acknowledge that this is a thali which occasionally shows sparks of greatness, as a whole, it’s not yet in the same league as the big boys. That said, I’ll give it best of the rest for now. Worth a visit.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.
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Looks great!