Indian Summer is a North Indian franchise of restaurants which comes to us via…um, Saudi Arabia. Yeah really. Located immediately next door to thali masters, Rajdhani, on Street 15 A in Karama, Indian Summer has an expansive, handsomely decorated, upmarket interior. This is somewhere you would be equally comfortable bringing family and friends to as you would business guests. I was equally impressed with the impeccably dressed staff who fussed over me throughout my meal as if I was a returning regular. I think one of them even called me uncle.
I tried their chicken thali which, at AED23, represents insane value. Remember, this is a top-end restaurant. Portion sizes are baby bear perfect, not too big, not too small. I was not blown away by the food though, finding it a little restrained and placid. Operations manager, Prakash Shetty, corrected me by describing the food as refined rather than restrained. Yeah, I’ll buy that. The daal, for example, could very well have come from a home kitchen. A seasoned veteran of the Taj group, listening to him reminisce about the “good old days” was as delicious as the food itself. And the best part was that it was all very spontaneous, he had no idea that I was a blogger.
I am not usually drawn to big, fancy restaurants finding them imposing, impersonal, rushed and, in some cases, pretentious. Indian Summer was none of these things. It won me over, not with the good quality of its food or its handsome interior. Indian Summer won me over with the quality of its personalised service starting from the hospitable way I was greeted at the door to the chilled clay pot of mishti doi I was surprised with at the end of my meal (somewhere in my conversation with Prakash I mentioned my love for Calcutta and he just put two and two together – unbelievable). Well done to him and his team. Highly recommended.
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Xerxes physically dines at, or orders from, each and every venue he reviews. He pays in full for whatever he and his companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts no money, gifts, discounts or free meals in return for reviews or favouritism. What you have read was NOT influenced in any way by the venue. Join me on Instagram @ravenousxerxes or email me on xerxes@dellara.com.