Thrill behind the grill

Foodies who are big fans of barbeque specialities and have an endless appetite can now make their way to the newly opened branch of Barbeque Nation in Al Karama. The restaurant is renowned for bringing together different barbeque techniques and offers a delicious multi-cuisine menu.
Ritam Mukherjee, Head of Operations - GCC, Barbeque Nation tells Khaleej Times: "The Al Karama branch is our second international store that opened on November 12. This branch is strategically located and there is an instant brand connect with customers who have dined at our branches in India."
He adds, "We recently completed the first anniversary of our Al Barsha branch on November 2. It was our first international store and we are excited to be celebrating a year of barbecuing in Dubai. The response has been great and has exceeded expectations."
Art of barbequeing
Barbeque Nation specialises in 'do-it-yourself' cuisine. It offers a fixed meal concept and the menu consists of starters, main course, desserts, a welcome drink for lunch (available only on weekdays), and a bottle of water. The whole package is priced at Dh59 for lunch and dinner costs about Dh65 to Dh75. Mukherjee says, "It is affordable and at the same time gives value for money, and that's our USP."
The restaurant has contemporary interiors with a wood finish and orange hues, which resemble pit fire cooking. They serve 10 barbequed starters that include everything from unlimited chicken, mutton, shrimps, as well as vegetarian options. These are all served on the live charcoal grill that is on every table.
The diner gets the opportunity to play around with the dishes. The starters are 90 per cent cooked on the kitchen grill, and the rest 10 per cent is for customers to enjoy the art of barbecuing on their table. There are also some dips and marinade on the table to experiment with.
The starters keep coming to the table unless diners put up the flag that says 'I Give Up' upside down. Then they can move to the main course, which is served buffet style and consists of a soup and six to seven salads. The vegetarian option offers vegetarian biryani, koftas and mixed vegetarian curries. The restaurant also has two different types of dal on a live station, a roomali roti station, a pav bhaji station and a vegetarian teppanyaki (a Japanese style of cooking food with an iron griddle) where you can choose from vegetarian noodles or rice, with various toppings.
The non-vegetarian option includes chicken and mutton biryani, along with chicken, mutton, fish and crab dishes on the main course buffet. There is also a live station that serves lamb chops and keema kaleji. Plus, they offer exotic meats such as rabbit, turkey, quail, and squid, all cooked on the live station so diners can customise it according to their tastes.
The icing on the cake is the dessert station that offers a mix of Indian and continental options. Its signature kulfi station offers six variants, which are homemade and can be paired with a number of toppings. "The bestselling starters include Tandoori Tangdi, Chilli Garlic Prawns and the Caribbean Chicken that is served on the skewers. In the main course, the biryanis are well liked, while desserts such as kulfi, gulab jamun and phirni are known to tantalise taste buds," adds Mukherjee.

Themed specialities
Recently, Barbeque Nation launched an anniversary special menu at their Al Barsha branch and introduced new dishes such as Tenderloin and Lemongrass Drumsticks for the occasion. "Weekends are mostly packed but we have seen that whenever we host events, we have gotten a positive response," says Mukherjee. "These events have given us great results in terms of footfalls and have received a lot of appreciation and this encouragement has helped us expand."
In the past they have hosted themed events for Ramadan, a Thai Food Festival, a Mango Mania festival and recently concluded a Kashmiri event called Grill Masters Live, which featured the grills of Kashmir, where chefs from the Indian state demonstrated their cuisine. For New Year's, the restaurant is planning to do a 'Desserts of the World' festival.
He highlights, "We have certain plans around Grill Masters Live; it is not a food festival, it is a property that has been created by Barbeque Nation. Basically, we pick up a particular cuisine and create dishes. The advantage in barbecuing is that it is not a cuisine in itself and is a method of cooking. Through Grill Masters Live, we plan to do a sequence of barbeque events in the next few months with themes such as Mongolian, Brazilian or Thai barbeque.
"Currently, we are in the process of developing Middle Eastern flavours on the menu. We are also planning to introduce a Brazilian churrasco station, for steaks we are planning to integrate a lava stone grill and are also planning to introduce nitrogen ice cream. So all these developments are in the pipeline."
He concludes by saying, "Barbeque Nation would endeavour to take the legacy forward and therefore we plan to expand our operations in the UAE in coming months."
-deepa@khaleejtimes.com

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