PUNJAB GRILL ABU DHABI

A gastronomic journey of Indian ambition and flavour

Like all fine art, gastronomy works best when it connects with you personally, when there’s a coherent story informing the design, an interplay of themes, passions, and a well-executed narrative behind the chewing. There has to be an element of, and we apologise in advance for this terminology, a journey.

And our culinary voyage at Punjab Grill began with us throwing down a challenge to the restaurant. This What’s On writer suffers from a relatively severe nut allergy, which can be quite restrictive with some forms of Asian cuisine.

Chef Sandeep Ail was undeterred, however, saying that the restaurant is happy to cater to specific dietary requirements with just a few hours’ notice.

So here we sit, in this stylish modern Indian brasserie, a few steps away from the postcard waterfront of the RitzCarlton Grand Canal’s Venetian Village.

A palate-warmer arrives at the table, a selection of poppadoms alongside eight individual house-made condiments. Chef Ail tells us the restaurant aspires towards a zero food-waste policy, and with dips like the superb orange chutney which is made from left-over orange peel, a strong subplot is already starting to form.

Plate number one is farm-fresh burrata, served with Punjabi aubergine bharta, red pepper chutney and a South Asian interpretation of cornbread. It’s a declaration of intent, a complex series of nuanced flavour layers. The UAE-made burrata is the delicate dairy centrepiece around which the dish is staged, the aubergine croquette pairs perfectly and the lightly-spiced cornbread is a creative win all of its own.

We try a modern interpretation of a mughal chicken dish, which arrives in wisps of wood chip smoke and is flanked by apple curry and raita; then a malwani duck breast with sol kadhi and narangi sauce; a signature biryani; and a final savoury serving in the form of tandoori lamb chops, with daikon chutney and rogan jus.

It’s a glorious cacophony of intelligentlycrafted mouthfuls. It’s hard to pick a winner, but the slithers of rose-pink duck breast are probably the climax of the meal, lightly courted by the sweet, citrus of the narangi sauce.

Verdict: Every single culinary element on each dish is plated with purpose, it’s designed to be evocative of a direction the chef intends to lead us. It is a journey, and it’s up there with the best in the capital.

Venetian Village, The Ritz-Carlton Grand Canal, daily 12.30pm to midnight. Tel: (0)2449 9839. venetianvillage.ae