PEPPERMILL Indian outlet adds new dishes to its menu, but how good are they?

eppermill isn’t new to the UAE or Abu Dhabi, but their menu certainly is now. Some 27 dishes have been added across all sections of it, including soups, starters, grills, mains and desserts. What’s On visited the branch in Eastern Mangroves for our review (there are also branches in Al Wahda and Bawabat Al Sharq malls) and it’s a great venue for a spot of lunch or dinner.

The alfresco area is big and offers lovely views of the mangroves (and there’s also heaters outside for these cooler months for evening visits). The indoors is plush, with regal touches everywhere, nods to a colonial past and flashes of pinks and purples in the furniture.

But does the food live up to the fine surroundings? Yes and no. While we didn’t get round to trying all 27 new dishes (we’re serious about our food reviews but not that serious), we tried courses from all those parts of the menu – and were faced with a very mixed bag.

The meal started well with a prawn shorba soup, with red apple and tomato. While we missed the taste of apple completely, the other flavours were rich and hearty. A portion of aloo tiki (fried potato cakes) also delivered – they were cooked perfectly, neither too soft nor too crunchy. The dahi ke kebab (hung yoghurt stuffed with cheddar cheese and fried in breadcrumbs) were tasty but too rich to revisit. A prawn tempura also delighted.

PThings then took a turn for the worse. A chicken cutlet tasted good but was soggy, the pan-fried dakshin fish cakes (minced king fish) were dry and fell flat, while a portion of salmon tikka wasn’t just soggy when cut in half, it was wet. A broccoli tikka also didn’t work – the flavours were overwhelmed by too much mustard. A tasty, delicate dish of lahsuni murgh tikka (chicken with garlic and coriander) was moreish and did go some way to rescue the grills section of the menu, though.

Things improved with the arrival of the mains. The Mangalorean lobster masala looked the part (served with the complete shell) and the coconut, tomato and mustard flavours worked extremely well together. The veggie tawa khata paneer pyaaz is also worth trying – pickled onions made this cottage cheese dish slightly sour, but in a good way.

Want dessert? Try the rose and black pepper kulfi – it was light and refreshing – but avoid the flourless chocolate torte. It was heavy and the addition of a strawberry compote and ginger didn’t quite gel – it made it taste of overly sweet cherries.

One thing worth mentioning about Peppermill is the service – our waiter was brilliant and his knowledge of the fare on offer second to none. He was one of the best we’ve encountered in the UAE.

It’d be unfair to expect a person to like every dish on a new menu, but while there is good grub to be had here, we’d want the food to be a bit more consistent before making it our regular Indian haunt.

Eastern Mangroves Promenade, Abu Dhabi, daily 11am to 11.30pm. Tel: (02) 4413582. Taxi: Eastern Mangroves. peppermill.me