[Review] Kinara Kitchen, Ranelagh, Dublin 6

We've just spent a week on the Algarve in Portugal where we enjoyed lots of fantastic grilled fish and meats. However, as we arrived home in Dublin, the one thing we bemoaned was the lack of our beloved spicy food. For a week, we had denied ourselves Chinese or any other form of Asian food. Something had to give.

Thanks to Boards Deals, I had purchased a voucher for Sunday lunch (3 courses and cocktails) for €33 at the very tasty Pakistani Kinara Kitchen in Ranelagh. We've eaten there before shortly after it opened and enjoyed it immensely, so it seemed a good idea to finish off our holiday with an indulgent lunch. The last time I dined there, I had just come off the evening flight from Amsterdam and had navigated my way through the empty tunnels of Pier D at Dublin Airport, baggage reclaim and the city centre to arrive at Kinara. The food was very tasty, but I was worried that it was a case of "Is maith an t-anlann an t-ocras". Well now was the chance for the return visit.

The split-level dining room is beautifully decorated with dark green tones and dark leather seats with strap detail.The restaurant makes a feature of its cocktail menu, with a bar located the left of the entrance. Dark wood tables with copper inlays add to the elegant room, which looks as good in the daylight as it does at night. We were presented with the shortened lunch menu. Once we had ordered, we received a portion of poppadoms on which to graze while we waited for our cocktails and starters.

Sauces for poppadoms at Kinara Kitchen

The same attention to detail that exists throughout the dining room also extends to the delph and serving ware. Our poppadom dips came served in chilled, heavy-bottomed shot classes, which were inset into a slate plate. The dips were simple and tasty with the fresh chopped salad making the greatest impact.

For starters, I had chosen the Champ Kanddhari  (grilled lamb chops) which I had enjoyed previously as a main course in Kinara. Yet again, they didn't disappoint. Two lamb chops came served butter soft and covered in spices. I found myself picking up the bones and cleaning off every last morself of flesh and tasty spice coating.

Champ Kanddhari

His starter of chilli chicken came served in a similar style to my lamb chops. These succelent little strips of chicken were beautifully soft and juicy coated in a spicy chilli sauce. The chicken appeared to be lightly battered underneath the sauce, which gave them a slightly crunchy texture, but was softened by the tangy, spicy sauce.

Chilli chicken starter

For mains, I had decided to go vegetarian with the Mutter Mushroom Paneer. This consisted of peas, mushrooms and paneer cheese cooked in a tomato, onion and garlic sauce. Paneer cheese was cooked into the sauce, and the dish arrived with an additional sprinkling of paneer cheese pieces on top, served in a little red casserole dish. This was a beautiful dish, rich and buttery with which mixed gentle, delicious flavours with the sweet pop of green peas.

Mutter Mushroom Paneer

Himself has always been a fan of fish curries, so it wasn't a surprise when he chose the Ethnic Fish curry which featured fillets of red snapper in a curry of pickles, curry leaves and vinegar. The sauce here was a buttery as mine, but the flavours were very different. The curry was rich with the flavours of curry leaves and black mustard seeds. The use of pickles and vinegar gave the curry a mild tang which kept the sauce light and tasty. This type of curry would be a great dish for those who would like to experience a new type of curry and move away from the more "usual" flavours.

Ethnic Fish Curry

Our main courses came served with pilau rice, which we embellished with a garlic naan, which came to the table piping hot and buttery with ghee. After clearing our plates, we literally couldn't face the dessert course, which we had to politely decline. Thanks to our voucher, this was an excellent value lunch, but it you're contemplating a visit, lunch starters all cost €6.95 while mains come in at €11.95 and cocktails cost €8.75.  There is live music in the bar area on a Sunday, when lunch runs from 12 to 5 pm. Evening time prices are a little steeper at Kinara Kitchen, but it definitely does deliver tasty, authentic Pakistani food in an elegant, sophisticated setting. Very much recommended.

Kinara Kitchen, 17 Ranelagh Village, Dublin 6. 

Tel: +353 (0)1 406 0066