D'fusion

Good quality Indian food with entertainment 1 Reviews

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The concept behind d’fusion was a little scary. Billed as Indian food fused with ‘exotic tastes from around the globe’, it was one of those ideas that could go either way. Experience dictates that these twists can work as well for food as they would do for, say, an ankle – and they can carry just as meek a pleasure quotient. But buck the trend, and fusion food can occasionally throw up moments of creative genius.

It must be said that the atmosphere at d’fusion is far from jovial: the lighting is dour and the decor is dull. The lounge singers belting out audience requests (Willy Nelson and Simon and Garfunkle on my last visit) just add to the venue’s seeped-in shabbiness. It’s not the sort of place you picture selling Voss water at Dhs28 a pop. And while the menu was not grossly overpriced, it was still more expensive than you’d expect from a place that looked as this one did.

But still, there was something quite endearing about the restaurant. The menu was the first thing to win me over. In addition to offering up ‘good old-fashioned Indian chutzpah’ (for those not in the know, this is Yiddish for cojones, or daring, if you will), they served Indian takes on lasagne and shrimp scampi. Cojones, indeed.

My date and I didn’t quite feel ready for these daring dishes, so we started with an alcoholic spin on the classic pani poori – crispy, fried shells stuffed with tamarind water, puffed rice, and in this case, vodka. It marked the first time that I had ever got tipsy on fried bread. We moved on to a starter of murg joujans, mozzarella sticks with a Subcontinental spin.

The fried cheese came stuffed with brilliantly juicy slices of chicken, while cumin, coriander and other masala-mix spices were added to the bread crumbs. Surprisingly, this mix worked together beautifully. I was equally impressed by an order of prawn dim sum. The minced interior, also given a classical Indian boost with the addition of a few choice spices, was everything you’d wish a dumpling interior to be: fresh, moist and with enough ingredients to make for an interesting bite. Rather than your standard soy dipping sauce, the dim sum came with a light salsa, and this too only served to improve the dish.

I was feeling relieved, and amazed. D’fusion had actually pulled off exquisite fusion fare. We decided to test its traditional dishes and ordered a fairly standard lahori murg, tender chicken chunks in a fiery tomato sauce. An excellent dish, though served in a somewhat small portion. Still, it paired nicely with the some vegetable biryani, cooked traditionally under a bread layer, a method that results in an especially fragrant batch of rice. To finish, my date and I were eyeing an apricot pudding to split, but our waiter emphatically stirred us towards the gulab jamun. Traditionally, these milk dumplings (for lack of a better expression) come in a large ball, but these were more like tiny pellets, and were the lightest I’ve ever encountered. The waiter almost caught me licking the remaining sugar syrup from the dish.

While the food at d’fusion is a pleasant surprise, it’s difficult to overlook the vibe. While it’s the type of place you could love in a kind of ironic, hipster sort of way, for the prices they’re charging (a notch above average), the atmosphere should be a little less chintzy.

The bill (for two)
1x Voss water Dhs28
1x Vodka pani puri Dhs35
1x Desi dim sum Dhs40
1x Murg goujans Dhs40
1x Lahori murg Dhs38
1x Dum subz biryani Dhs48
1x Assorted bread basket Dhs30
1x Gulab jamun Dhs28
Total (service included) Dhs287

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