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Proud to present absolutely authentic Indian cuisine as it really is.

At The Dhabba we offer absolutely authentic Indian cuisine that has evolved over centuries. Our chefs strive to combine fresh ingredients with the full range of wonderful herbs and spices, using traditional and time-honoured recipes.

The result is a fanfare of truly great food from this most astounding, panoramic massive area of North India, where history and legend blazes across the plains, mountains, and fertile valleys like bright flags unfurled before you.

All the food on this menu are prepared without using nuts, peanuts, sesame, mustard, celery, lupin and sulphites. Our standard operating procedure ensures that all the ingredients we use in our kitchen are free from these allergens. However, please note that some of the products we procure may have been packaged in facilities that also handle some of these allergens.

Chaat Pakodi

Indian street food or chaat does not mean mere snacks or hors d’oeuvres. The very concept is almost a way of life, eating in a style which becomes almost compulsive — flavours which encompass sour, sweet, tangy crunchy, spicy and irresistible.

Dahi Papdi Chaat

Spiced chickpeas and potato on crunchy wafers with a dash of tamarind, mint and yogurt. Clean, clear and fulfilling. 5.95

Gol Gappa

Enhanced with spicy tangy water — this crispy pulled bread with spiced potato, and chickpeas laced with freshly ground cumin, is a splendidly refreshing dish. 5.95

Samosa Chaat

Samosa pieces, chickpeas, crisp salad and sweet and sour yogurt. Seemingly simple, this is wonderfully subtle yet arresting. 6.50

Bhel Puri

A dish of puffed rice, sev, potato, mango, with a drizzle of tamarind chutney. Touches every point of the palette. 6.50

Dahi Bhalla

Spheres of lentils stacked in well-spiced sweet yogurt. Savoury fresh and tantalising. 6.50

Aloo Tikki Chaat

Deep fried potato patties served with tangy chick peas drizzle with tamarind, mint chutney and yoghurt . 5.95


Starters

“The beginning of a fabulous meal should set the tone for the rest of it, just as the end of it should be the flourish of an ample repose; a belief that the world is nearly perfect”. So wrote the author, philosopher and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in 1812, and it surely applies today. Certainly The Dhabba would agree. So to start:

Shuruvaati Thal

Serves Two
A superb display of king prawns, lamb, chicken and vegetarian starters which does what starters should do — start you off!
16.95


Tandoori Oven

The tandoor is an oven made in earthenware pottery and is traditional throughout all civilizations but is still widely used throughout Asia, especially in India where it has produced mouth-watering roasts for over five thousand years. In India — and certainly The Dhabba — it has reached perfection. Because the tandoor uses as its fuel slow-burning wood charcoal, the results, whether it be bread, vegetables or meats are healthy and avoid high cholesterol and fats. It also imparts a marvellous wood smoked flavour of the outdoors. More often than not, the various meats are marinated in Indian cookery which means the flavours are sealed into them, ending up with a succulence you will remember. The Dhabba has the luxury of an expert in its chef who knows all there is to know in this most arcane of cooking methods.

Achari Tikka

Tandoori Sangam

Serves Two
A huge mixed platter of tandoori monkfish, lamb and chicken. An ideal dish. Ideal that is, for greedy people.
39.95

Sauce

Recommended when a tandoori dish is ordered as a main.

Masaledar

This blend of onions, tomatoes and chillies is quite hot but refreshing at the same time. 4.95

Salan

An aromatic medium sauce with herbs, khus khus and melon seeds. Fresh and flavoursome. 4.95

Palakdar

A wonderful panoply of herbs and fresh spinach leaves. Popeye would go from strength to strength on this. 4.95

Maskawala

A very rich but mild sauce of tomatoes, mixed melon seeds and cream. Great with any dish. 4.95

Biryani

This delicious rice celebration can be as simple as well as amazingly complex in its widely differing forms.

Slow-cooked in a sealed pot, it takes to robust meats, or vegetables with sumptuous opulence. It can be beautifully enhanced by subtle, or complex sauces.

Historically the food of kings, all the vibrant tastes, and colours of India make this, almost a genre, a palatial dish and one of the most regal experiences of world food.

Gosht Biryani

A splendid lamb dish. Rich and satisfying. 19.95

Murg Biryani

Cooked with succulent chicken breast pieces. 18.50

Subzi Biryani

With seasonal vegetables and homemade paneer this is a meal of great flavour; an India created in the very heart of its homeland. 16.50

With a choice of sauces —

The beautifully aromatic Salan, herby and spicy. Or perhaps the smooth, springtime-like famous Raita with yogurt, spices and fresh cucumber.


Seafood

Note on fish dishes: Many imagine Indian recipes for fish as masking the flavours of the fish itself. Yet, India does not take its fish cookery lightly. Great care has been paid to enhance fish cookery with some of the most sophisticated cooking techniques ever designed. The Dhabba chefs are enormously skilled in the subtlety of the cookery of the products of one of the most magnificent bounties of nature known to us all.

Nisha Lababdar

Fresh jumbo tiger prawns, creamy, mixed melons seeds, velvety. 28.95

Ajwaini Macchli

Monkfish in a thick preparation with beautiful flavours of carom and onion. 23.95

Panch Phoram Macchli

Grilled Scottish salmon flavoured with a unique blend of five different spices. 23.95

Rasedar Macchli

Sea bass fillet with khus khus and melon seeds. Gently sauced and very refreshing. 23.95

Baowli Jheenga

King prawns, peppers and potatoes tossed in a sauce with wonderful aromatic spices. 21.95


Lamb, Goat and Venison

There are areas of world cookery in which the herding of sheep is unknown. But in India, especially in the North, lamb has been cultivated as a meat acceptable to all. It is a meat treated with enormous respect from the great chefs of this amazing world cuisine.

Laal Maas

Fiery dish with caramelised onions, poppy seed paste and crushed red chillies. For the most ferocious Bengal Lancer. 18.50

Rogan Josh

The original and best Kashmiri dish traditionally prepared with goat on the bone. 18.50

Bhuna Gosht

Sautéed lamb with onions, tomatoes, and peppers. Perhaps the most famous Indian lamb dish of all time. It is especially splendid at The Dhabba. 18.50

Dhania Gosht

Lamb simmered with coriander. Fragrant, smooth and silky. 18.50

Raan-e-Sikandari

This is a leg of lamb cooked with dark rum, herbs and spices. For this favourite of the great Sikh soldiers of the British Raj, now, much enjoyed by connoisseurs, you must allow thirty minutes for this to be served. 25.50

Jungali Hiran

Succulent venison slow cooked in its own juices and a special blend of spices. 18.50


Chicken

In North Indian cuisine poultry was bred to feed the massive armies from history. In the following dishes, you will discover the past, from Samarkand to Macedonia, yet with a touch of the domestic hearth.

Dhabba Khas

Traditional dish with onion, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. 16.50

Murg Kadai

Every Dhabba throughout India, has this chicken tossed with mixed peppers and onions. Comfortably succulent. 16.50

Methi Murg

Herby with fresh fenugreek and cream. Rather rich. 16.50

Murg Maskawala

Tandoori cooked chicken with cream, tomatoes and mixed melon seeds. Buttery, gentle with the strength underlying its superbly mild flavour. Long-lasting and peaceful. 16.50

Murg Daal Palak

Chicken breast pieces simmered in lentils and shredded spinach. 16.50


Homemade Paneer

There is a Scottish version of this ancient means of cheese making called crowdie, as there probably is everywhere there is milk, but paneer is something else. Rather like cottage cheese, it has a crumbly texture and dense freshness that gives strong flavours — a tendresse and a richness all of its own. At The Dhabba this paneer is made in the traditional, and, it has to be said, painstaking way.

Paneer Shimla

Paneer with peppers and onions. Think of cool hill stations during the British Raj, a bit of a cuisine long since developed since then. 15.50

Paneer Makhani Masala

Tandoori roasted cottage cheese in a tomato-based rich, creamy sauce. onions and peppers, in a herby cream sauce. Puts Welsh Rarebit back into a 1920’s Lyon’s Corner House. Whatever that means. 15.50

Palak Paneer

A robust preparation of paneer and spinach leaves. Popeye’s eyes would pop at this! 15.50

Malai Kofta

Magnificent dumplings of cottage cheese simmered in khus khus and cream. A veggies heaven! 15.50


Vegetables

All throughout India there are some magnificent dishes for many who practice vegetarianism. Here are some of them:

Subzi Tak-a-Tak

India itself comes to your table with this medley of sautéed Indian vegetables —round melon, bitter gourd, cauliflower, aubergines and okra. A costume drama of a meal. 14.50

Aloo Gobi

A traditional tumble of potatoes and cauliflower and garden peas. This is a dish common throughout the world but with a spicy Indian take. An Indian bubble squeak. 12.95

Daal Makhani

A very rich and buttery concoction of black lentils, kidney beans and split chickpeas. A taste of an India full of hill stations and summer retreats. 12.95

Aloo Bengun Shimla

A classic medley of potato aubergine and peppers.  12.95

Methi Khumb Mutter

A herbaceous dish of mushrooms peas and fresh fenugreek. 12.95


Rice

Indian basmati rice is the best in quality of this amazing food, coming straight, as it were from the fertile pastures in which they were grown. From this is added the tricky methods of preparation which produce such amazing results.

Makai Aur Mattar Ka Chawal

Basmati rice with green peas, sweetcorn and coriander. Fresh, fragrant and flavoursome. 4.50

Jeera Chawal

Cumin flavoured basmati rice. 3.95

Ubla Chawal

Steamed basmati rice. 3.50


Bread

Tandoori Roti

The classic whole-wheat bread baked in the tandoor. 2.95

Missi Roti

Made from gram flour. Gluten-free. 3.95

Lacchedar Paratha

Whole-wheat, buttery, flaky, multi-layered. 4.50

Aloo Paratha

A whole-wheat stuffed bread with spiced potato. A very superior large ‘tattie scone’. 4.95

Naan

The quintessential Indian refined flour bread. Deeply satisfying. 3.95

Lehsuni Naan

Naan topped with fresh garlic and herbs. For those who love garlic, this hits the spot. 4.50

Peshawari Naan

An unusual naan, this is stuffed with a sweet filling of semolina, coconut, dates, cardamom and fennel. 5.50

Kulcha

Paneer filled refined flour bread. 5.50


Sides

Bhendi Do Pyaza

Okra and red onions with cumin, ginger and a hint of green chillies. Hottish, yet subtle. 7.50

Pahadi Aloo

Peeled potato diced and tossed with shreds of spinach and fenugreek. 7.50

Cholé

A traditional Punjabi spiced chickpea delicacy 7.50

Pilee Daal Tadka

Yellow lentils simmered with tomatoes, ginger, garlic and coriander. This classic North Indian staple brings with it a breath of the mountains of the North West. 7.50

Salads

Raita

Incredibly refreshing smooth yogurt, spices and fresh cucumber. 4.95

Laal Pyaz

Sliced onions, lemon wedges and green chillies. 2.95

Kachumbar

This beautifully seasoned salad has a splendid jumble of tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and red onion. 4.95

Seedha Sadha Salad

Slices of fresh tomatoes, red onions, cucumber and carrots on a bed of crisp green lettuce. 4.95

Pickles

Dhabba Achaar

Our own homemade pickle of mango, lime, carrots, garlic and chillies. 3.50