Tandoori Tadka Dubai Marina Review: Indian Restaurant Near JBR
One slightly disappointing part of traveling in the UAE? A lot of the Middle Eastern food I tried just wasn’t my thing.
But on the flip side, because so many expats from all over the world
live here,
you can find Indian food, Chinese food, and Southeast Asian restaurants
that taste genuinely local and authentic.
Korean and Japanese food aside,
whenever I’m in Dubai or Abu Dhabi,
I end up eating Indian curry, pho, or hot pot pretty often.
Anyway, the place I’m introducing today is also an Indian restaurant —
tucked behind JBR Beach in Dubai,
and close to Dubai Marina Mall, this is a great spot for Indian curry in Dubai Marina.
It’s called Tandoori Tadka.
With a strong 4.7-star Google rating,
It’s easy enough to get to the area if you follow the map,
but once I arrived, I actually wandered around for a bit because I couldn’t spot the restaurant.
And honestly, there’s a reason it’s hard to find:
the sign looks like this…!
That repeating purple logo off to the side
is Tandoori Tadka, but seriously, how are you supposed to notice that? ^^
So if you go, just look for the building that says
TPH LAKWIL.
There’s outdoor seating too, but in summer there was no way I was sitting outside.
The restaurant also has parking,
and you can use the parking garage in the TPH building.
We figured that out too late, so we ended up using paid street parking instead.
For a place that’s not exactly ultra-fancy, it even has a dress code,
and they ask for smart casual.
Still, once you walk in, the restaurant is pretty clean
and doesn’t really feel like your typical Indian curry spot.
Like a lot of places in Dubai, though, the dining room was pretty empty.
Once you sit down, they bring over the menu.
On Google Maps, the category is listed as North Indian restaurant,though I can’t really say what makes it especially North Indian.
There’s a wide variety of tandoori dishes on the menu,
plus biryani, curry, salads, and more.
Compared to the Indian food menus you usually see in Korea,
the selection here is much more varied.
There are also plenty of vegetarian options, so vegans could eat here too.
We’re definitely meat people, so we started with tandoori prawns.
Since the restaurant is literally called Tandoori Tadka,
I had to try at least one tandoori dish.
I’d usually only had tandoori chicken before,
but the prawns were really good too.
For naan, I think we got garlic naan and butter naan… I can’t remember exactly,
but that’s what we usually order,
so I’m pretty sure it was garlic naan and butter naan this time too.
Then there was the palak paneer, which was kind of an ordering mistake.
I honestly don’t know why I picked it, but since it’s a vegetarian dish,
a spinach curry, it wasn’t really for me haha.
And then there was the reliably good classic
chicken tikka masala curry.
Honestly, at pretty much any Indian restaurant in Dubai,
chicken tikka masala is usually a safe bet.
It’s also a flavor profile that works really well for Korean palates.
Once everything arrived, of course I had to take a full table shot.
Like most of the restaurants I tried in Dubai,
this wasn’t one of those unforgettable, can’t-stop-thinking-about-it meals,
but if you’re nearby, it’s absolutely a solid place to stop for a good meal.
Dubai definitely has some truly bad restaurants,
but surprisingly few that feel like total knockouts. ^^
Still, Tandoori Tadka Dubai Marina
has easy parking, a clean dining room, and food that comes out neatly plated,
so it’s also a comfortable place to bring your parents
if you’re looking for a dependable Dubai Marina restaurant in Dubai, UAE.