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DUBAI: In a city with no dearth of Indian restaurants, recent arrival Masti has quickly carved out a niche for itself with its — appropriate, given its name translates as ‘fun’ — quirky, lighthearted approach.<br />
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The theme is evident the moment you walk into this two-level restaurant located at one end of Dubai’s funkiest beachfront destination, La Mer. The vibrant, leafy, cliché-free interiors represent a hip, modern India, with Art Deco-inspired design, bright accents, and kitschy cool art. With expansive terraces across both levels, the indoors and outdoors meld together seamlessly here, especially in the cooler months.<br />
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This month’s iftar offering is a set menu of the restaurant’s greatest hits, with six sharing-style courses offering plenty of well-paced fodder. The meal starts with a lentil soup — this subtly spiced version of that Indian staple, dal, is eminently eatable even without its regular consort, rice.<br />
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This is followed by a course of cold starters: edamame chaat and a tangy cassava chaat, which are both fresh takes on traditional Indian street food — the chards of flash frozen yoghurt in the former are inspired, while a ‘tomato lace’ provides the appropriate touch of inventiveness in the latter.<br />
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For hot starters, there is a choice between lamb or beetroot croquettes. You don’t notice the absence of meat in the vegetarian version, which is packed with flavor, accentuated with a red-pepper dip, and an accompaniment of very moreish crispy kale chips. Plus, you’re served a generous bowl of Masti fries — a kind of Indian-ized poutine, with a curry gravy topping on crisp stringy potato chips.<br />
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Mains stick to the evergreen classic, biryani, with the option of chicken or vegetables. This dish doesn’t veer too far from the tried-and-tested, with tender chicken cubes smothered in fragrant homemade spices nestled in a bed of long-grain rice; the delicious crispy kale makes an appearance here again in a yoghurt raita.<br />
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While a biryani would usually signal the end of the savory part of a meal, here they’ve saved the best for last. The bhatti-spiced brisket grilled bao sandwich is a bestseller for good reason — melt-in-the-mouth meat pairs perfectly with caramelized onion, oyster sauce, and pomegranate inside a pillowy bun, with a ‘syringe’ of tamarind sauce providing just the punch it needs. Options of pulled tandoori chicken or vegetarian snowpea-and-mushroom baos are also available.<br />
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It’s a lot of food to get through but if you think dessert can be skipped, think again. Their signature ‘Lotus’ tiramisu has nothing to do with a tropical flower, but rather the popular caramelized biscuit, which tops a tiramisu-flavored ice-cream stick sitting on a pool of ‘basundi’ (a condensed-milk concoction) — an excellent example of how fusion, when done right, works really well.<br />
All of this can be washed down with a delicious Ramadan-themed mocktail. We think iftar at Masti is a must-try.
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