Curry with class

Calling this stuff ‘curry for girls' wouldn't be quite right, but you know sometimes when you're digging around for a way to describe something, and you just can't think of a better way to say it? I mean... the rice delivered to our table last night came patted into heart shapes! HEARTS! Made from RICE! We turned the plate round in all manner of directions and posed with silly photos and then realized how ridiculous we were acting. Children play with their food - not groups of civilized twenty-something professionals (ahem).

Anyway, not only were the rice portions cuter than cute, the mains came in lady-sized portions - easy to handle and beautiful to look at. Don't get us wrong, they're not too small to stop you staggering like a bloated fool back out onto Jumeirah Beach Road afterwards (if you don't maintain your lady-like poise), but there's something very Sex And The City about dining at the brand new Curry On - just behind Coffee Bean, opposite Jumeirah Beach Park. In fact, if SJP was in town, asking for a recommendation, we'd have no qualms about sending her here for some curry with class.

It's a small, café style affair with hues of yellow and orange giving it a fresh-as-a-daisy feel. We loved the dangling lights as well, and the atmosphere on our visit was relaxed and friendly - the waiters only too happy to explain every single dish on the cube shaped menu (as only fussy girls will ask them to do). Apparently, we'd just missed the crowds, but that was fine by us. As if we needed extra people watching us getting excited about rice.

We mixed it up a bit, in order to stuff our faces with as many flavours as possible. If you haven't heard the concept, this is curry from absolutely everywhere and we're not talking the usual biryani/tikka/vindaloo either. Like the restaurant/grill on board Noah's Ark, the dishes come in twos. Two portions from every place - designed to be sampled together. The coconut dip stood out, served with yummy mini poppadoms. The spiced lamb satay skewers were so delicious on their own that it was almost a shame to dip them in the garlic and saffron dip - but the combo was fabulous! In fact, we used the dip for everything - all the crisps, all the poppadoms, even the crispy vegetable samosas got a dunk. Greedy? Us??! The Thai beef and glass noodle salad also got the thumbs up.

Along came the mains, and pretty quick smart actually. Perhaps the mini portions and limited menu mean they can whip things up faster. For these we ordered from Delhi/KL (the butter chicken came recommended and when you try it, you'll see why), Rangoon/Columbo, for the heavenly combo of Burmese chicken curry and Ceylon smoked beef, and Zahedan/Viramgam, which was the only veggie option but featured a bright yellow Persian paneer saffron yogurt curry. A mouthful to say, as well as eat, obviously. We'd never seen that one before, but it got an enthusiastic nod from our resident vegetarian (‘cause her mouth was full).

We were all too stuffed to sample the desserts, but washed it all down with a cup of jasmine tea each, patting our bellies like satisfied Buddhas. We loved the teapots too - little glass ones just like Alice had in Wonderland.

The only thing we didn't really like were the toilets. You have to leave the restaurant and walk through Coffee Bean to some rather nasty public loos if you feel the urge to pee whilst in here. Not very pleasant unfortunately. Still, take your own toilet paper and maybe close your eyes when you're in there. You'll soon be back with your curry.

What a great new place for the girls to sit and catch up over interesting, colourful and totally tasty food. And the boys too, of course - only we don't think they'd get as excited over heart shaped rice portions.

Curry On - just off Jumeirah Beach Road (behind Coffee Bean)
Call 800 287 799