The vibrant, leafy, cliché-free interiors represent a hip, modern India DUBAI: In a city with no dearth of Indian restaurants, recent arrival Masti has quickly carved out a niche for itself with its — appropriate, given its name translates as ‘fun’ — quirky, lighthearted approach. The theme is evident the moment you walk into this two-level restaurant located at one end of Dubai’s funkiest beachfront destination, La Mer. The vibrant, leafy, cliché-free interiors represent a hip, modern India, with Art Deco-inspired design, bright accents, and kitschy cool art. With expansive terraces across both levels, the indoors and outdoors meld together seamlessly here, especially in the cooler months. This month’s iftar offering is a set menu of the restaurant’s greatest hits, with six sharing-style courses offering plenty of well-paced fodder. The meal starts with a lentil soup — this subtly spiced version of that Indian staple, dal, is eminently eatable even without its regular consort, rice. This is followed by a course of cold starters: edamame chaat and a tangy cassava chaat, which are both fresh takes on traditional Indian street food — the chards of flash frozen yoghurt in the former are inspired, while a ‘tomato lace’ provides the appropriate touch of inventiveness in the latter. For hot starters, there is a choice between lamb or beetroot croquettes. You don’t notice the absence of meat in the vegetarian version, which is packed with flavor, accentuated with a red-pepper dip, and an accompaniment of very moreish crispy kale chips. Plus, you’re served a generous bowl of Masti fries — a kind of Indian-ized poutine, with a curry gravy topping on crisp stringy potato chips. Mains stick to the evergreen classic, biryani, with the option of chicken or vegetables. This dish doesn’t veer too far from the tried-and-tested, with tender chicken cubes smothered in fragrant homemade spices nestled in a bed of long-grain rice; the delicious crispy kale makes an appearance here again in a yoghurt raita. While a biryani would usually signal the end of the savory part of a meal, here they’ve saved the best for last. The bhatti-spiced brisket grilled bao sandwich is a bestseller for good reason — melt-in-the-mouth meat pairs perfectly with caramelized onion, oyster sauce, and pomegranate inside a pillowy bun, with a ‘syringe’ of tamarind sauce providing just the punch it needs. Options of pulled tandoori chicken or vegetarian snowpea-and-mushroom baos are also available. It’s a lot of food to get through but if you think dessert can be skipped, think again. Their signature ‘Lotus’ tiramisu has nothing to do with a tropical flower, but rather the popular caramelized biscuit, which tops a tiramisu-flavored ice-cream stick sitting on a pool of ‘basundi’ (a condensed-milk concoction) — an excellent example of how fusion, when done right, works really well. All of this can be washed down with a delicious Ramadan-themed mocktail. We think iftar at Masti is a must-try.