Hitchki - Global Indian fusion

 I had visited their other outlet and totally loved it. I was invited to try this outlet which was launched recently.

The place has a nice decor and feels upmarket. They have a wide variety of dishes whose names are a play on words; a lot of them being Bollywood / desi references (you can click below) and a twist to them. 

They have some desi drinks as well as some healthy and fusion ones. 

We started with the punjabi lassi. This is a kesar flavoured lassi served in a tall glass along with a malai pedha. There is a lot of foam on the glass too and it makes it look royal. It was perhaps my favourite beverage here. Definitely try it out. 

For the health freaks, the mission mangal will surely appeal. It has beetroot, organic raisin, and cranberry slush in it, and is served to look like a rocket launch with a lot of smoke around it. It did taste good, but it was a bit too "healthy" for my liking.

Kuch khatti much meethi is a combination of tamarind, melon, and cranberry served in a conical flask. I really liked the tangy hint that it had to it. 

For those who like Hawaiian flavours, the Palm Island is a good option. It has coconut extracts, pineapple, and basil in it, and is served in a coconut. The way it is presented gives the feel of a beach.

Not many places have a honey based drinks, but here we had Honey I'm Home. It has fruit and nutty flavoured natural honey, along with cane sugar. There's cinnamon on the rim of the glass. It is served with a honey comb and lots of smoke around.It is good and a little different. I wouldn't say I was a big fan though.

Next, we had something which you can eat and drink. It's called smoky fruit-tails. It has a fruit salad inside a watermelon, topped with some black honey, and chaat masala. It is served along with 2 watermelon based tangy shots which I really loved. The fruit salad itself was okay though. 

Another tropical drink was the My Thai - It has a base of coconut water, along with lime, black honey, galangal, lemongrass. It has nice Thai flavours to it, and a simple presentation.

A nice yet simple drink is the Shake it 50-50. It has strawberry, mango, and yogurt inside. Nothing fancy, but tasted good; just like the classic.

Pea Tea Usha is a mocktail that has Thailand's Pea Tea Ice Blob. This is a piece of ice made from the colour changing butterfly pea flower. It changes colour from blue to pink. The drinks also has ginger ale and a sweet & sour mix. The ice blob was quite big so the part that you could actually drink is over in a few sips, though it tasted good.

For appetisers, we started with prawn jaaye par which is butter garlic prawns with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. The description sounds super yum, doesn't it? It was a bit of a let down though. It had a bit of a sweetish undertones to it and we could barely taste the pepper. 

The pav bhaji cone was definitely my favourite starter here. It is the bhaji from pav-bhaji but served in a ajwaini samosa cone. The bhaji tasted great, and the cone too had a nice taste and a good texture to it.

Next we had the t.icken chikka which is their version of chicken tikka served hanging on a skewer wrapped around with a naan. The tikka did taste good although I wouldn't say it was great. 

Since I love spicy food, the bhut jalokia wings really caught my attention. Bhut jalokia is one of the hottest chilli in the world and I expected these wings to be really spicy. These were bbq flavoured wings that were a tad bit spicy. They're served with gems on top! By itself they tasted really good, but the name was a bit misleading for me. They're served along with onion rings and a smokey presentation.

I'm a fan of rice based dishes, and there was the dum pukht arancini. It is a desi take on the Italian snack. These are cheese biryani fritters on a bed of dal makhni, and topped with a cheetos puff. I really liked this whole combination, especially the dal makhni. THe whole combination of flavours as well as textures was lovely.

 

An interesting take on the famous South Indian food was the dosa poppers. THese are fritters made with dosa batter with a stuffing of shallot and tempered potatoes. They're served with chilli coconut cream (a creamy chutney). The taste is homely and really nice. 

An all time favourite appetiser is tiger zhinga hai which is basically dynamite prawns. You can't go wrong with this one!

I was really looking forward to the tandoori zaytun lobster. This is lobster tail that is smoked in tandoor and prepared with olive labneh, cashew cream, turmeric hollandaise. The good thing is that it is deshelled and easy to eat; the tail is kept on top for the visual appeal. The flavour was good, but the texture could have been softer. 

For our mains, we had the peshawari lamb chops which were delicious. They are rubbed with garam masala, and served along with wilted spinach, bhutta (corn on cob), and baby potato.

A desi dish is the paneer ale lababdar - Paneer koftas made in an orange coloured kaju kishmish curry with fenugreek. It is served with crushed butter paratha and tasted delicious.

Cheese and aubergines are two things I'm a fan of and that's exactly what's there in the makhni baingan burrata. A smokey eggplant bharta that is served with burrata on top. Totally loved this combination. It is served with zaatar naan on the side. 

Something that will bring back memories of school days is the dabba gosht. This is bohri style lamb made with macaroni pasta and ghee fried egg. It was really creamy and perhaps my favourite main dish here. It is served in a tiffin with kalonji (nigella seeds) naan.

Then we called for the hyderabadi paneer biryani - Made Nizami style with lasooni paneer tikaa with some saffron. It is served with cucumber raita and it tasted really good.

I had seen the potli biryani all over social media and couldn't wait to try it out. We had the Hitchki butter chicken potli biryani. The biryani is encased in a puff pastry, and has tandoori chicken inside it. I found it to be a bit dry, and it could have had some more masala too. It is served along with cumin raita.

There is another one of their mocktails, which seemed a bit different from the rest and we chose to have it at the end instead. It is chocolate raja which has half white and half dark chocolate in it along with espresso. I was expecting something a little more thick; it tasted average. 

You also have some interesting freak shakes. The Ultimate freak shake comes loaded. It's got a bourbon biscuit, candy floss and more. Apart from looking freaky, it also has blueberry and acai chocolates and dark nutty brownie. It tastes fabulous. 

The freak shake that is really different is the Roasted peanut butter & nutella freak shake. It looks like a tub of popcorn when served. Inside is a mix of almond milk, nutella, peanut butter, and crushed peanuts. It is topped all over with caramel popcorn. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like it but it is definitely enjoyable. Also, it is really huge so make sure there are 3-4 people to have this.

They've got chocolava kulfi which is basically molten chocolate in which they dip a stick kulfi in front of you. The kulfi tasted good, although the combination of molten chocolate along with it wasn't something that I relished. 

If you like Indian desserts, then you should try the Mr. India. It is served in a red dome that you break. Inside is gulabjamun cheesecake as well as gajar halwa. Both of which tasted amazing. 

The dessert that we all liked was the baklava. This famous phyllo pastry desert come with Iranian pistachios, gulkand ice-cream inside, and rose brittles on top. The presentation too is smokey. It has a crunchy texture and the sweetness of the rose definitely accentuates the flavours. 

Another really good dessert is the saffron creme brulee. This has gulab jamun, poached peach, blanched pistachios and raspberries too. 

If you're someone who loves bling, then you should try the gold souk. It has malai milk, rose vermicelli, pistachio kulfi, and saffron pearls. It also has a huge ruby chocolate inside shaped like a flower and plated with 24k edible gold which I really liked. It looks royal when presented. 

The names and the descriptions made the dishes sounds super interesting. Most of the food was delicious, though there were a couple of dishes from which I was expecting more. The food has fusion flavours, which are far from the true desi flavour, but the presentation is visually appealing. 

Click here for interesting places around Dubai.