Gypsy Chinese - Indianized Chinese Restaurant in Al Karama

I was recently invited by Gypsy Chinese restaurant to visit for a review. I chose to visit the restaurant on a weekday for dinner.

I was well received by the head waiter Chandrakant a GC veteran who has worked with the brand for the past eight years and was part of the restaurants first UAE team. He has also served in the parent restaurant in Mumbai.

Gypsy Chinese I was told is quite popular in Mumbai among lovers of Chinese Food and is even visited by celebrities from Bollywood and other walks of life.

After eight years of functioning out of Grand exelcior hotel in Mankhool, Gypsy Chinese very recently opened in karama to capitalize on the huge expat indian population in the locality. They also have a branch in Dubai marina and an outlet in Dalma Mall abu dhabi.

The ambiance is quite well laid out for a small restaurant and they have tried to make the best use of the space. The restaurant is strategically located close to the food hub lining karama street and thus has a steady flow of regulars from the locality as well as walk in customers.

When we had dropped in at seven in the evening, there were hardly anyone there, but in one hour the restaurant had almost ninety five percent occupancy. All tables were full. That indicated something.

Now for the food we did not order anything of our choice and we left it with the good judgement of Chandrakant to serve us whatever he felt was their top and popular dishes to try.

In starters we were served with prawns pepper chilly, chicken with burnt chili dry, dynamite chicken, lamb chilly spring onion, crispy corn pepper chilly, panner chilly dry, cracking spinach.

The items had a very indian touch to it which has made it popular both at home and abroad among the indians. It was spicy but not extreme and it had a good flavour of chinese as well as indian spices.
Cracking spinach was a very unique dish that we had never tried before. It had a hint of sweetness which was subtle and not too strong.

The lamb was tender and nice to eat. The chicken too was nicely cooked and well seasoned with the indochinese sauces and spices.

In the main course we had Vegetable chili coriander rice, vegetable manchurian, fish steak green garlic, and washed down the spiciness with mohito and peach ice tea.

The corriander rice was quite good and flavoursome. fish steak was quite simple without much to offer in terms of taste, Veg manchurian was okay not standout.

In terms of pricing, i think some of the items are not priced fairly for instance mohito at 44 dhs and prawns pepper chili at 56, fish steak at 48 dont quite justify. Their vegetarian dishes in my personal opinion are better than the non veg dishes.

I would rate the restaurant 4 for the good service, nice ambiance and great menu selection. If you go there expecting authentic Chinese you will be highly disappointed.  Great bet for indians who are used to the indianized version of Chinese food made back home.