TAMBA SHOULD BE ON YOUR MUST TRY OUT RESTAURANTS IN ABU DHABI

It took almost 3 years for the owners to come up with this fancy homegrown concept. Tamba proposes a Indian-inspired cuisine with a lot of world influences mixing varied techniques such as robata, wok, teppanyaki or sous-vide techniques.

At a first glance, the menu may look short and is divided between bites, salads, raw, vegetarian and meat (from fish & sea food, to chicken & duck or beef & lamb) with 4 to 5 dishes in each section.

But actually, as soon as you start having a detailed look, there are a lot of surprising and tantalizing options and you may wish to taste them all. Priced between 40 to 80 AED for the starters and 100 to 150 for the mains, Tamba’s concept is about enjoying a dinner in a sharing-style way with people usually ordering 5-6 dishes to share all together.

In case the menu is too overwhelming, just ask for help to the Tamba team who is very knowledgeable and was happy to assist us and share some insight about the menu.

Tamba which means ‘bell’ in Indian is a sleek new venue that has a lot ofcharacter. The huge bells that overlook the bar had us impressed, golden open panels from floor to ceiling astutely divide the restaurant into intimate corners which reminded us somehow of Hakkasan in Abu Dhabi.

Brown chocolate, gold, beige and copper are prevailing with delicate touch of turquoise or blue here and there. If you are into decor, you’ll also fancy the copper cutlery that accompany the dishes.

A multi-sensory first experience

Invited to experience this new comer, we were given a sneak peak of the menu and were absolutely in awe of all of the dishes we were given to taste. As dishes come to your table as soon as they are ready in the kitchen, avoid the beginner’s mistake and make sure you don’t order all your dishes in one go.

Every  dish looks like a piece of art. We enjoyed the way our waiter acted as a storyteller, explaining the way each dish was cooked, the ingredients used and most importantly how to best enjoy each. This really adds to a pleasant experience as all your senses are engaged; a feast for the eyes, the ears and the palate!

Some of our preferred options

The Chicken 65 is great to start with. Served in an individual cast-iron pan inside a red cabbage leaf, the deep-fried cooked are coated with a flavorful and spicy yogurt sauce with mustard seeds and curry leaf.

We adored the colorful Spicy Tuna Chur-muri that was topped with dehydrated egg yolk. It had a welcome spicy kick, was refreshing, flavorful and the crispy rice mixed with the different ingredients added a playful note.

For our mains, we had a crush for the Roasted duck, Kumqat, Korma.Kind of an Indian & Asian reinterpretation of the French ‘duck à l’orange’, this dish will certainly become a winner. The roasted duck is already sliced and served with a korma sauce underneath. It is topped with a mix of roasted nuts and quinoa with slices of kumqat all around. Just make sure you get a spoon of all of these together and we promise an explosion of flavors in your palate. A must-have!

If you are fans of scallops, their Pan Seared Scallops were light and tasty and came with Butternut Squash salan and a scallop chutney.

The vegetarians are not left out as there are great options. Our preferred one was definitely the Okra Kurkure, Lababdar. Looking like a bundle of sticks, the thinly fried cut okra and potatoes straws were nicely arranged and could be either enjoyed on their own or mixed with the Lababdar which mixes garam masala, onions, tomatoes, cashew nuts and yogurt.

Leave room for the desserts !

For the design, we loved The Bride, a totally white dessert mixing chili meringue, chantilly cream,raw mango and coconut sorbet.