Raidan is a mandi restaurant on the Sharjah fringe of Dubai in Al Nahda. It’s an expansive eatery with traditional floor seating extending on either side of the entrance, and table-chairs in the middle. As customary, there’s is also a dedicated family area. The restaurant is bright and airy and doesn’t suffer from the overbearing stink of grease, meat and masculinity some mandi restaurants are notorious for. And whilst you won’t see pictures of the interior of Raidon in a copy of Architectural Digest, it isn’t an eyesore either. In fact, it’s actually quite pleasant and comfortable.
As with all mandi restaurants, the dining experience at Raidan starts with a piping hot bowl of meat broth. The fact that, for some unfathomable reason, it was served in a psychedelic orange melamine bowl complete with Chinese soup spoon, unbalanced the traditional aspect of the meal. But the broth itself was meaty, hearty and savoury.
We ordered Mandi and Madfoon, both mutton. They came served together on a bed a beautifully auburn freckled rice, in yet another melamine dish, with only the madfoon on the side wrapped in aluminium foil.
The mandi was not the best I’ve had, flavoursome but a little dry for my taste. But the madfoon – OMG! Fantastic! and without a doubt one of the best I have had – ever.
Service at Raidan is good. A team of young, clean-cut Egyptian boys play an impressive game of tag between the tables and the kitchen. We got one of the smiliest and most accommodating. It was interesting to see the number of parcels being trollied out for delivery; I’d say for every one dine-in, there were between five and ten deliveries. No wonder there was such a buzz about the place.
Melamine overkill aside, thanks to the superb madfoon, I really enjoyed my meal at Raidon and have absolutely no reservations in wholeheartedly recommending this restaurant.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.
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