FIRST LOOK: MOOMBAI & CO.
Time Out Dubai checks out the new modern Parsi café at The H Dubai
Moombai & Co. is due to throw open its doors this Friday (September 15) in The H Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road.
It’s billed as a “modern Parsi café, featuring all of Auntie’s favourite Indian dishes”.
Parsi cafés are well-known in Mumbai and were established by Persian settlers in the 19th century, who would gather in the evenings and chat over chai and bun maksa (bread and butter).
The décor is reminiscent of this, too, featuring ceiling fans, exposed brick, mahogany furniture, Italian marble tabletops, bent cane chairs and pendulum wall clocks.
There are also vibrant old Bollywood posters, memorabilia and more that have been sourced directly from Mumbai.
“Moombai & Co. revives and relives a rich part of Mumbai’s cultural narrative and rewrites it, right here in Dubai,” says the team behind it. “It’s like visiting your auntie’s house back home where everyone is welcome and no one leaves hungry.”
The kitchen is headed up by chef Ashish Kumar who has rolled out an interesting and delicious-sounding menu.
The extensive list has some exciting-sounding dishes including keema pao, a traditional café delicacy of minced meat with buttered pao bread and patra ni macchi, white pomfret marinated with green chutney and wrapped in banana leaf before being steamed.
There are also lamb shanks cooked in a traditional copper tiffin and the signature chicken berry biryani, made with mixed berries and cooked in authentic earthenware.
And as a nod to “Auntie” that the restaurant refers to throughout, there’s Auntie’s bhuna gosht, a slow-cooked goat curry.
A separate bar called the Permit Bar also features, so if you’re after a chilled-out drink a daily happy hour with various offers will run from 5pm to 8pm.
Head down there from Friday September 15 to see it for yourself.
Open daily 11am-midnight. The H Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road,
11 September 2017