I have been to “Junoon Dubai” located at Shangri-La a few times earlier .Once for a business lunch and other time for an Indian Street Brunch weekend. This time it was for a dinner with family.  It’s a nice fine dining restaurant that you will surely love.The restaurant has a dim light ambiance with an open kitchen/ bar and English lounge music. Bar is very basic as the restaurant is mainly made for sit down fine dining experience. I felt adding contemporary Indian music would uplift the spirits and add to the culinary experience.

Menu features set options and à la carte. We opted for à la carte and shared the dishes, a mix of veg and non-veg dishes.

As my family settled and placed our order, we were offered Phela Swad as complementary pre starter. It was a pakora served with mint /pineapple chutney. I am not sure if it was supposed to be served cold but we didn’t enjoy the cold pakora though the presentation was great.

For starters we ordered for Eggplant Chaat: crispy eggplant served with Tamarind Chutney and chaat masala, utterly delicious. We loved it a lot so went for another round. This definitely is their signature dish and no one else offers it in Dubai. Shakarhand (Sweet Potato) Tikki was good and my husband totally enjoyed the Piri Piri Shrimp. Next, we ordered for some Kebabs. Peshwari Khumb (crimini mushroom) was decent. For Non Veg , Murgh Chicken Tikka was a hit, even Kadak seekh (crisply lamb kebab) was scrumptious.

Some of the drinks I highly recommend : Watermelon breeze (light on the tummy) along with Caramelized Zombie : a great tikki crafted drink recipe with aged rums, strong one! If I have to pick the best cocktail it will be hands down “Tandoori Tequila”. As for mocktails, the best is The Sandalwood Grenade served in coconut shell, fancy and tasty.

For main course, we had Paneer Palak (looked great like ravioli) , Nadru Kofta (I am not a great fan of this as it’s a bit sweetish) but my family liked it. Even Paneer Dum Anari (close to Paneer Makini)  was presented well and tasted great . I also loved the Junoon Black lentil and black channa biryani .

Well the best for the night was yet to arrive.  We had the most exotic Falooda : Really luscious (The Chocolate matka is filled with rose flavor paired with almond milk sorbet with flavours of saffron, red currant jelly). The tableside Kulfi was a delightful experience and with the magic of liquid nitrogen we had some super tasty live ice-cream. It costs AED 100 but a total fun experience with family.

JWD ratings: 4/5

Cost for 2 with a few drinks : AED 600