The colours and flavours of India are at the heart of what Chef Sandeep Ali is cooking up at the recently opened Punjab Grill at The Oberoi Dubai in Business Bay, its second venue in the UAE, joining its sister restaurant found at Ritz-Carlton Grand Canal in Abu Dhabi.

Every part of a dining experience here is an exploration of Indian culture, from the spices to the interior design aesthetic, given a contemporary twist. The restaurant is light with a modest number of tables, loaning it an exclusive feel and boasts an open kitchen, shielded by glass, allowing guests to really feel part of the process with sizzling and flaming pans creating suspense of what’s to come.

Chef Sandeep’s approach to food is like that of an artist, the presentation so perfectly curated in colour and depth, each dish with its own story to tell–this is dining to pay attention to. The Dibba oysters, a nod to the region, arrive on a show-stopping plate of sea-blue ice, covered in black makhni sauce, topped with coconut pearls and a slither of gold leaf.

His take on the global trend for fried chicken comes with an Indian twist coated in a papadum crust replacing the panko. The Kashmiri lamb chops with walnut and radish chutney melt in the mouth, and the curries are exceptional. Dinner at Punjab Grill isn’t dinner at all, it’s an escape to India.

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