Ravi restaurant

There is one place that I have heard so much about, that its been on my list of places to go to ever since I have come to Dubai.

Its not a 5 star spot, in fact a far cry from that, and probably one that most likely only the people from the subcontinent would appreciate. So it was a very pleasant surprise when a Brit friend of mine mentioned that she had been there, of course in the cooler months.

The cooler months is understandable when you reach Ravi restaurant! Located in Satwa, almost at the edge, is a slightly dilapidated looking building with bold green and white sign proclaiming "Ravi Restaurant". I believe its been around since 1932 at exactly the same location, and, I suspect with exactly the same infrastructure, lol!

There is seating inside but I would not recommend it, its preferrable to sit outside on the wooden table and benches / chairs provided. Hence the cooler months. As the man behind the counter very produly told me "our food does the talking, we dont need fancy chairs and tables" Seriously, out in the open, under the skies in the cooler months is actually much nicer. The inside has a old small town crowded eatery feel which is warm but cramped, and, remniscent of a workers' canteen.

Like I said its a far cry from 5 star or even a PF Chang or Asha's or the likes of those restaurants but the food is good. We ordered a haleem - a slow cooked dish of wheat, meat and lentils - cooked to the consistency of porridge and the meat was absolutely soft. In fact, my mom-in-law remarked, when I took her subsequently, that even many of the so called fancy restaurants dont serve meat so tender. Another must order is the nihari - a mutton preparation that is so tender that the meat just falls off the bones.

Being a vegetarian, all of this was wasted on me, but mercifully help was at hand. They serve the most divinely cooked dal along with a potato and aubergine curry.

Both the dal and the curry were really spicy, wonderful to mop up with an unimaginably large roti! However, its best not to look at, or at best ingnore the oil floating on the dishes! There has to be a price paid for taste, right?

To make the evening interesting you will have an occassional feline visitor walk by rather hopefully, but by and large they leave you alone, and as the waiter assures us, they are not allowed anywhere near the kitchen or inside the restaurant. Plus it was reassuring to see that they appeared to have a guy whose only job was to keep cleaning and mopping the floor inside and outside the restaurant.

Someone ordered a biryani and some seekh kebabs and said that they were rather nice. It was a whole load of food that we ordered for 8 hungry people and the bill was an amazing Dhs 127 including water and the desserts! I saw a huge number of parcels being despatched - believe takeaways are a big business! I can imagine, the food was quite wholesome and delicious.

Its not a fancy place, no fancy seating, but I think I liked Ravi for good simple food, for its rustic earthy feel and for the pleasure of eating at some place that was not the biggest, the largest, the best, the most expensive or the most exclusive. Simple pleasure, simple joys!

Location: Satwa, Dubai

Tel: 04 331 5353

Cuisine: Pakistani

Timing: 5am-3am