What’s cooking in the kitchen at Rasoi Ghar?

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There’s no dearth of Indian restaurants in the Bur Dubai side of town, but the long queues outside this relatively new restaurant belie this fact. Set amidst a busy strip of restaurants on the main drag across the road from Bur Juman, Rasoi Ghar specialises in vegetarian cuisine from the western Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The restaurant is spacious and designed in clean, contemporary lines with polished wood flooring. The color scheme is quite neutral, though brightened up with splashes of turquoise in the overhead lights and the plastic glasses on the tables. There is a special floor seating area along one side, for those who want to truly experience authenticity, but for the main part, tables are lined along the walls and in the middle of the room in a way that they can be easily joined together.

There isn’t much point talking about the menu here, as it changes every day! Each day of the week is themed using a fun alliteration, such as Swadisht Sunday and Wah Wednesday. A couple of signature dishes remain on the weekly menus permanently, while the other dishes change. The thali style concept offers a set menu every day, at a fixed price.

As soon as you are seated, the experience begins with a table-side hand washing ceremony, where a server pours out warm water from a vintage copper urn.  On the day that we dined, the welcome drink (included in the set menu) was nimbu paani (lemonade), that we were offered promptly.

The first of our starters, served on individual platters was dal baati churma, a specialty from Marwar in Rajasthan.  These fried dough balls are crumbled into lentils or served with jaggery as a sweet alternative, but we opted for the savoury version. Alongside this, there were corn and cheese tikki (fritters), and dhokla (steamed fermented chickpea and rice batter savoury cakes) with two types of chutney. The fritters were nice and crunchy, and the dhokla tender, although the dal baati was disappointing; I’ve had better before.

Then comes the main event: the thali, a large steel plate with numerous small bowls placed along its edge filled with various curries and dals. That day's selection included palak paneer (cottage cheese in spinach sauce); baingan bharta (roasted and mashed spicy eggplant); gatte ki subzi (another Rajasthani specialty of gram flour dumplings in a spicy sauce); and kadhi (a yoghurt based curry). These are served with freshly baked flatbreads, pooris (fried flatbreads), and jowar roti (gluten-free mini flatbreads made from sorghum flour).

As with any thali style meal, the food is refilled continuously, depending on what you want more of, and the serving staff is genuinely hospitable, gently encouraging you to eat a bit more.

The dessert offering changes daily as well.  We had gajar ka halwa (carrot pudding), a classic favourite, and ghewar rabdi, a delicate aerated fried pancake, topped with a sweetened flavoured milk pudding. They also do an excellent rendition of mango shrikhand (a Gujrati-style sweetened yoghurt), and gulab jamun, the quintessential Indian dessert of fried syrup-soaked dumplings.

All the food is fresh, light, and subtly flavoured, with a focus on natural, authentic ingredients and simple, home-style cooking. After all, the name Rasoi Ghar literally translates to kitchen.

While the flavours in all the dishes may not be as robust as you would find in certain specialty restaurants, it is a refreshing alternative to the typically over-spiced fare found in those places. And it’s always commendable when a restaurant strives to focus on the diversity of vegetarian food available in regional Indian cuisine.

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