Thiptara — Restaurant in Dubai

Five of us here on a Thursday night. We made a reservation in advance as the place gets pretty busy.

This was my first time here. Upon arrival we were courteously greeted and quickly seated.

We ordered the starters and mains at the same time: fried prawns and chicken for starters and a chicken red curry, chicken green curry, cashew nut chicken and black pepper beef and vegetable noodles (all spicy to order).

The starters were served fairly quickly (in about 15 minutes) and in the meantime there were some complimentary prawn crackers with a peanut based (spicy dip).

All very nice but pretty standard compared to what I have had in fine dining Thai restaurants (Blue Elephant, Benjarong, Sukothai etc).

So far so good.

After starters, our plates were cleared away and we were looking forward to the mains.

We are starting to wonder where the main courses are (now been about an hour since order point). Haven't really had such long waits in other Thai restaurants.

The consoling factor was that the main course was totally worth it. This was by far the best meal I have had in any Thai restaurant ever!

The green chicken curry was creamy, tender, spicy and flavourful.

The beef was very tender and almost melted in your mouth, requiring very little chewing.

The spicy chicken cashew dish held its own as did the vegetarian noodles.

The poor red curry chicken was half forgotten in all the taste excitement but I do remember it as being a worthy dish as well. I think there was little left of it at the end and we were all quite stuffed.

The portion sizes are enough to comfortably share one main dish between two and if ladies are eating then between three. Since there were three guys and two ladies, the food would probably have been just enough with another female there!

The bill at the end was the price we had to pay for such an excellent meal (pun intended )

It came to approximately AED 200 a head and this was without dessert or coffee. I would have rated this restaurant 5 stars had the wait between meals (and the semi-forgot mocktail) been shorter and the price point being slightly more affordable (by at least 25%).

However, you could look at it another way and think that if it’s worth having, it’s worth paying for and save this restaurant for a special occasion where you wouldn’t mind dusting off your wallet.

Speaking of special occasions, we had told the restaurant that it was my wife’s birthday and they got us a delicious chocolate mousse/sponge cake at the end with a candle and singing happy birthday. This cake was actually quite nice.

A lot of the times when you get a complimentary cake at the end of a meal, its usually not that great tasting and ends up being more along the lines of bitter and dark/dense chocolate mousse cake just to serve the purpose of a complimentary cake.

This cake was actually one I would have happily paid for. We look forward to visiting Thiptara again….maybe in a few months or another...

Thiptara, Thai

Chef Nguyen Thanh, chef de cuisine

Set in a magical location facing the Dubai Opera, the Fountains and the tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa, Thiptara gets immediately ahead of the most Dubai restaurants offering romantic yet eclectic vibe. By the time you pass through the garden tastefully decorated with candles and lights, the expectation of an exotic night reaches its exciting point right in the front of big authentic wooden gate guarded by the resting Buddha. Behind the gate is another little garden filled with traditional aromas mixes with laughter, the heart of Thiptara the Bangkok style Thai restaurant.

“Bar to the left and the restaurant is to the right,” the voice of my hostess was lost in the sounds of music sneaking from the open door to the terrace. My eyes piers into the sudden splash of neon, water and sparkles as the famous fountains rise to the sky. Astonished I still chose to seat inside as pairing humidity with the spicy food leads to gulping icy cold water all night long. I fancied sipping a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Prior to softly placing menus on the table I was offered a refreshing wet towel scented with jasmine. Survivor of numerous Dubai summers, I’ve learnt to appreciate this gesture and smiled happily knowing I was in good hands. Lucky for me the chef de cuisine, Chef Nguyen Thanh left her kitchen for a few minutes to greet tonight’s guest providing me with a rare opportunity to order what chef recommends. Additionally, it was a real pleasure to meet yet another female chef working at the Palace Downtown. It appeared that her all time favourites included papaya salad, green chicken curry and dishes infused with lemongrass. Chef Nguyen Thanh warned to be realistic picking the spiciness level (not spicy, European spicy or confidently Thai spicy), so I complied.

The papaya salad turned out to be so fresh, sour and crisp with a tingling sweetness of tamarind sauce that I considered repeating. A platter of mixed dumplings rested only for a few seconds on the table surprising my server with the speed of my consumption. “Sooo good,” I mumbled in satisfaction. Tom Yong Goong soup to share was cooked to absolute perfection and I couldn’t wait for the main. With the curries in progress, I picked my Sauvignon and stepped outside to feel the downtown. Well, it’s fancy and very entertaining to observe.

Among my curries, the green chicken curry completely blew me away with its richness, creaminess and lightness at the same time probably achieved by adding coconut milk instead of the cream. I was tempted to inquire the recipe and was told: “Good news, everyone!” Chef Nguyen Thanh conducts cooking classes from time to time....

We went here on our Dubai Trip (December second week) for Dinner. We wanted to see the Burj fountain and was looking for a quieter and less crowded spot. Ordered a veg Tom yum soup 1/2,pad thai noodles, plant based protein gravy and one more veg mains.

Food - 5/5 It had so many vegetarian options. Everything tasted delicious. Server asked us for spice levels.. We went with spicy. Our soup literally blew our mind and we had to ask for medium spice levels for our mains. The complimentary rice chips (veg) were yummy. Portion sizes were quite decent.

Location - 5/5 Located in Downton Palace Hotel. Google maps kinda takes you around and difficult to locate the restaurant entrance. The place has a deck directly looking at the fountain and burj khalifa. It was a beautiful setup. However there is a minimum spend limit to sit outside. We sat inside but went out for some pics and burj/fountain show viewing.

Ambience 5/5 Had an indoor & outdoor seating area. Inside seating and decor was also beautiful. Lots of plants and cosy lighting. Hostess gave us a table close to the glass window where we can have the fountain view.

Pricing 5/5 It is a fine dine restaurant so prices are a bit steeper. But we felt it was justifiable for the service,location and the food. We had an Entertainment voucher which they happily accepted.

Service 5/5 We had an Indian server who was polite and helpful. The entire staff experience had been pleasant. From the reception lady who sat us down as per our request to the servers.

We had a wonderful evening. The food was yummy. Location was perfect. We got what we came for ( a good fountain & Burj view away from the crowds).

Just go the Palace Downtown hotel entrance and enquire about...