Spice Mela’s new dishes include must-try lamb like you’ve never had before

Rajasthani lamb kebab with yogurt chutney. Courtesy Spice Mela

Spice Mela, the upscale Indian restaurant at the Rosewood Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island, has just launched a new menu. Among the new dishes is the Rajasthani lamb kebab and I am not exaggerating when I say it’s the best lamb I’ve tasted in the capital.

The Rajasthani lamb kebab is made from lamb neck fillet. Lamb neck is a tough, inexpensive cut of meat, but when it’s cooked correctly, it’s magical. Because it’s so tough, it needs to be cooked slowly and Spice Mela’s head chef Siddharth Krishna braises the neck meat for five hours to create this masterful dish.

Krishna says he’s the only one in the market cooking lamb neck this way in chargrilled/tandoori dishes. The three palm-sized chunks of meat you get are rich, silky, moist and so tender that they barely require chewing.

Other notable dishes on the new menu include roasted butternut squash and coconut soup with cumin croutons; tandoori duck and watermelon salad with masala cashew nuts; grilled hammour with turmeric and sun-dried fenugreek and the masala oven-roasted black cod with toddy vinegar, honey and palak dhokli.

After devouring chef Krishna’s new flavour-packed tasting menu last week, it’s official: Spice Mela is my favourite Indian restaurant in the capital.

Spice Mela is open from 6:30pm to 11:30pm and closed on Saturdays. For reservations, call 02 813 5552.