Confusing name aside, Kulfiholic – The Mumbai Social, ticks all the ‘I am a trendy, modern interpretation of Indian street food’ boxes. It is one of a growing number of such restaurants to have opened in Dubai in recent years, The Bhukkad Café, Bol Gappa and Once Upon A Bite included. I find it amusing walking into each of these eateries, they all look like they were designed by the same person; red brick walls, epoxy floor, exposed ceiling, colourful chairs and a heavy-handed cluttering of ‘cute’ memorabilia. The Mumbai Social’s is without doubt one of the best interiors.
I am a self-confessed Indian street-food junkie, yet I love a good thali too, so I was very excited at the prospect of having a combination of the two – a street-food thali. Interestingly there are two distinct parts to their 33 Dirham thali, the starters and the mains. I found the starters, which comprised of a mini samosa, sev puri, dahi vada and an aloo pakora, more identifiable as what I consider street-food. I would have liked a pani puri in there, but the existing selection was really good too. The rest of the thali promised much but only really delivered on the masala kichdi. I was disappointed that there was no pao bhaji. But all in all, the food was good (not fantastic but good).
Starters 
Sweet 
Starters 
The main thali
Although the restaurant is not that big, the single waiter struggled on his own and as a consequence service was slow. Whilst I felt our waiter was pleasant and friendly other reviewers have had issues, namely Poornima Mundra who not only had a problem with her waiter but was also charged AED 2.00 for parcelling a promo meal. Really? Perhaps it’s incidents like this which has resulted in The Mumbai Social’s ratings slipping below a 4. But who am I to judge such things? I liked the food and the ambience and that’s all that matters. Will I go back? Well, I haven’t yet tried their famous, in-house made kulfi…
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Xerxes physically dines at, or orders from,
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companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts
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