In search of a trendy new spot with good food and good vibes, we ended up at Hitchki last Thursday. Hitchki is a relatively new restaurant/bar that only opened up about two months ago in Grand Millenium – Barsha Heights. This hotel is already home to some of our favorite late night spots – Lock, Stock & Barrel, and Lucky Voice (possibly the most enjoyable Karaoke bar in Dubai). As a result, we walked in with high expectations, but sadly, our evening ended in a little bit of disappointment.
Given the large South Asian diaspora here, Dubai is NOT new to the concept of Indian-inspired fusion restaurants. There are many who do it right, keeping us entertained with delicious food, sometimes with great live music to go with it. Hitchki has a menu that spans pages and pages, full of creative Bollywood-inspired names. Our server gave us his honest opinions and recommendations, and was pleasant to speak to. I would have preferred a shorter menu, but hey, that isn’t really a dealbreaker. We ordered the Charlie chapli kabab, boneless chicken tikka biryani and a chicken tikka wrap. The wrap and chapli kabab were decorated with pieces of spicy crispy Oman chips – their way of integrating something that is classic Dubai (I consider it that even if they’re really from Oman!) to traditional Desi food. The chapli kabab was decent – tender and flavorful. The tikka wrap was okay, although I could probably name at least 10 other places in Dubai that do it better. The biryani was very mediocre, with my taste buds only really tasting salt. To our delight, the server offered to bring a new one, but since we weren’t hungry at that point, they had it removed from our final bill.
Also I have to say, we went in on Bollywood night ( – we didn’t know this ahead of time). I love Bollywood music, but the choice of songs on this particular Thursday night was deplorable. I did not enjoy the music at all and was hoping for something a little classier to be playing all night.
In short, happy with the service, not happy with taste and ambiance.
FilmyFarah 