Mumtaz Mahal: 24605907

Top of Qurm Park waterfall
This popular restaurant has won Best Indian in the Oman Today Restaurant Awards six times. The restaurant is smartly decorated in a palette of crimson and gold, and has a charismatic live band that plays unobtrusively in the corner, but what Mumtaz Mahal has that no other place can compete with is location – and the Terrace Barbecue takes advantage of the setting with a fresh menu and concept that involves picking at plates of kebabs. The cyclic menu is chalked on a blackboard and meat and vegetables are prepared over the fire. The non-vegetarian grill offers at least eight different kebabs (chicken, quail, lamb and seafood) and costs RO12; vegetarians can pay RO8 for their grill and guests can also have a mix of the two (RO10). Mumtaz Mahal is open 12–3pm and 7–11.45pm; the Terrace is open only at night.
RO8

Al Bashasha Restaurant
Al Amerat, Wadi Hatat 24875848
Wadi al Alwami, Seeb 24425314
Al Bashasha serves Chinese as well as Indian food. It recommends its Kasturi Kebab (boneless chicken kebab flavoured with cumin and cardamom) and murgh tikka methi (boneless chicken skewered and cooked in a tandoor with tomato gravy and fenugreek leaves). Among the Chinese offerings are stir-fried prawns with orange, and beef in oyster sauce. Al Bashasha is open daily, 12–3pm and 6pm–1am.
RO5

Anand Bhavan: 24799166
Near Ruwi Cinema

Tucked away in a little niche of a compound, the restaurant opens out onto an extremely clean dining area with plastic chairs and ten tables. The space is utilitarian but comfortable and serves south Indian food. Try the kurma and tamarind rice. The first is a mix of vegetables in gravy, simply done and with an aftertaste of spice. The rice, strangely the same colour as the curry, is interesting and has lots of fried peanuts. The clientele is made up of single, middle-aged men who seem to be regulars and always know what they want, with the occasional family walking in. The orange juice is light, cool and sweetened. The best snack you can have here is the fried sabudana vada. A chola batura is a good idea if you are hungry.
RO1

Ananthapuri: 24706226
Darsait
Located opposite Muscat Municipality near Khimji’s Mart, this is a south Indian restaurant with a special focus on Malayalee cuisine.

Annapoorna: 24810396

MBD
This little vegetarian restaurant next to Pizza Muscat is a favourite haunt for lovers of south Indian food. The menu here features a wide range of dosas – the Indian take on crêpe – with specialities for each day of the week. We went on a Monday evening and sampled the house speciality of the day, Neeru Dosa – literally water crêpe – and Pesarattu Dosa, made of mung beans. Served with three varieties of chutneys and sambar, it carries with it the flavour of the sub-continent.
700BZ

Biryani House: 24488478
Al Khuwayr

Don’t even venture into Biryani House if you can’t handle hot food – the much-touted mutton biryani is only for the strongest stomachs. You can go Chinese if you prefer to skip the heavy-handed spice approach, or order a raita to go with your rice. The helpings are generous, although we found little meat when we ordered a delivery home.
RO2.500

Copper Chimney: 24780207
Fairtrade House, CBD

Indian food is almost synonymous with spice and heat, but Copper Chimney’s light touch will remedy such clichés.

You will find solace from the blazing heat outside in the little cup of mint-infused curd that you can dip your papad into, in the sweet lassi, the chicken fried with sesame seeds, and the reshmi kebab.

This last offering gets its name from the succulence of the meat after prolonged marinating and light braising. It is an easy dish to get wrong, but this one melted in the mouth.

Another delicacy is the gosht badami, mutton with almonds in a rich gravy – the meat was so tender we didn’t need a knife. Copper Chimney has been around for 18 years. With its softly coloured walls and subdued lighting, it has an appealing atmosphere.

Does Not Serve Liquor
 
RO5

Curry House: 24564076
Wattayah
Located just off the highway near Hatat House, Curry House serves north Indian Mughlai food. It is open 12–3pm and 6.30pm to midnight.

Kamat

Al Khuwayr 24479243
Rex Road 24793355
Ruwi 24783300

This down-to-earth restaurant serves its food so quickly that it could almost double up as a fast-food chain.

Kamat has become such a dependable staple that it is now a household name. We recommend the puri bhaji, the medu vada and the idlis; and a great idea for a long Thursday lunch are the excellent thalis.

The menu was diversified a while ago and the management has come up with brainwaves like the Paratha Festival and other good food festivals.
RO4

Khana Khazana: 24813466
Ruwi

Try Khana Khazana’s famed tandoori chicken and fish.
RO4 l

Khyber: 24781901
CBD, next to NBO HQ

At Khyber, try hara bhara and reshmi kebabs, the Travancore fish curry, bhuna gosht, butter chicken and kadai jinga. To end your meal, sample the gulab jamun and ice cream.
RO5

Koliwada: 99421778
Off Rex Road

Located off Rex Road opposite BankMuscat, Koliwada’s specialities include fried fish and prawns. It also recommends its rawas fish, pudina chicken and such Punjabi dhaba delights as makai ki roti and sarson ka saag. The restaurant is open from 6.30pm to midnight.

RO1.200

Mirchi: 24564443
Ramee Guestline Hotel

This new restaurant serves food from Magadh, Awadh and Rajasthan.

Richly decorated in blue and gold, it has a sultry atmosphere redolent of an old Indian palace.

First courses are good – try the Lasooni Jheenga (garlic-flavoured prawns) and Murgh Malai Kebab (cumin-flavoured chicken) – as are the main courses, which include Chicken Tikka Makhani, a boneless chicken dish cooked in the tandoor with tomato gravy, and Mutton Roganjosh, a delectable curry.

Chef Sandeep Thakur previously served royalty in Rajasthan, which no doubt explains the calibre of Mirchi’s food. The restaurant is open daily, 7–11.30pm.

Omar Khayyam
Ruwi roundabout: 24703035
Al Khuwayr: 24600667
As Seeb: 24539718
Thumrayt: 26810375

Omar Khayyam’s branch in Ruwi is one of the oldest restaurants in Muscat. Some of the food isn’t at all bad, but don’t come here for a romantic dinner – the food is delivered to you piping hot just minutes after ordering.

The meat is meltingly tender and delicious.Try the Madras mutton with naan. All this cooking comes at a price, however – lots of oil.

RO2

Palm Restaurant: 24707090, 99201452
Darsait

This multi-cuisine restaurant, opposite the Muscat Muncipality, aims to ‘tickle the taste buds’ of food connoisseurs with its Indian and Chinese cuisines.

Palm Restaurant has reopened after a total renovation and intends to open a new banquet area.

Passage to India: 24563452
Behind Hatat House

This excellent restaurant serves delicious north Indian food, specialising in Indian Mughlai cuisine, as well as crowd-pleasers such as butter chicken. We started with a dish of stuffed mushrooms, slowly cooked in a clay oven and served with a hot sauce. The large, juicy prawns that followed went superbly with butter naan. We also recommend the chicken tikka, dal tadka, bhuna gosht (tender morsels of lamb simmered in a thick gravy) or jhinga masala (prawns in a tomato gravy). Passage to India is open at lunchtime and in the evenings, from 7pm to 11.30pm.
RO7

Princess Restaurant: 24482213
Al Khuwayr, opposite Zawawi mosque

Muscat’s branch of Princess stands just round a corner from the Al Khuwayr slip road, which itself is host to an unending line of restaurants with everything from fast food to Moroccan cuisine on offer.

Does Princess offer a reason to choose it over the competition? Yes and no. Come here for its creamy Princess Special Mutton and eat it with thin cuts of butter naan. Princess also offers Chinese and Continental food, but you should stick to Mughlai. The chicken with pineapple was a good alternative to spicy Indian food. The interiors of the Muscat branch are worn round the edges, but Princess is good for a change, and the quality and price of its food will draw you back.
RO2.500

Punjabi Dhaba
Darsait, opp Municipality: 24787755
Wadi Kabir: 24818255

Punjabi Dhaba is one of the few places in Muscat that specialises in food from the north Indian state of Punjab and has been successful enough to open another outlet at Wadi Kabir.

The first hint of anything extraordinary is the trompe-l’oeil truck outside the Darsait restaurant, a tribute to the cargo drivers of Punjab who would roam the country spreading a culture of good, hearty food mixed generously with song and dance.

There isn’t anything subtle about this restaurant – it is blue, pink, gold, bright and shiny. And the food, which is excellent, comes in large helpings and is served quickly.

We started with buttermilk, which arrived in traditional clay cups, with spices and garnishing. Sarson ka saag is a smooth dish of mustard greens, cooked with mustard oil, spinach and ghee, and should be had with Punjab’s most famous bread, the makki ki roti, which is made with cornflour and comes slathered in butter, like most other things Punjabi.

In fact, this restaurant offers an extensive selection of breads: try the luccha paronthas, which are layered (and buttered), and missi roti. The dal Amritsari (‘Amritsar’ translates as ‘nectar of immortality’) was dark and spicy, terrifically tasty if you can survive the heat.

The perfect, cooling counterpoint to this spice is boondi raita, made mainly with yogurt. RO2
Veg-friendly

Rajdhani: 24811888

MBD

Rajdhani in the MBD area offers Rajasthani food. Though it offers only thalis (meals), Rajdhani boasts a total of 22,464 dishes, all of them vegetarian, in its 72 menus, which are rotated to provide variety.

Its thali has starters such as dhokla or samosa, Indian breads such as rotla or chapatis, accompaniments such as lentils and shahi paneer, khichdi or plain rice, and a sweet dish.

Varieties of salad, pickle, papad and buttermilk constitute the rest of the meal. Rajdhani in India was responsible for providing the food for the famous Rajasthani feast in the Bollywood blockbuster Jodhaa Akbar, in addition to catering for the entire unit during the shooting of the movie.

Open from 12pm to 3.30pm and then again from7pm to 11pm, the thali costs RO2.7 during weekdays and is RO3 on weekends, with unlimited sweets.

Spicy Village
Al Khuwayr: 24475518
Ruwi: 24700175
Rusayl: 24510120
Sohar: 26843238
Nizwa: 25431694
Sur: 25544594

The Spicy Village branch in Al Khuwayr offers Chinese, Indian and Thai cuisines. The restaurant recommends bhuna gosht, reshmi kebab, paneer tikka, malai kofta, roomali roti and gulab jamun. Its Oriental specialities include Dragon chicken, vegetable chilli balls, Sichuan fried rice and fried ice cream. It is open from 12.30pm to 3.30pm and again, 7–11.45 pm.
RO4

Taj Samarkand Restaurant: 24582040
Bausher, Muscat Oasis Residence

The Taj Samarkand Restaurant serves a range of food, as well as juices and desserts. 

Tawa Magic:   24703300
Opp Ruwi clock tower, CBD area
This recent addition to the CBD area has found an enthusiastic welcome from lovers of Indian cuisine. Tawa Magic serves a wide range of stuffed parathas for breakfast and dinner on weekdays, with a sumptuous buffet for lunch (RO2.200). With a bright, relaxed ambience, the restaurant also serves a host of south Indian dishes and a variety of dosas and mocktails.
RO2 veg-friendly           

The Bollywood: 24565653
CCC, Qurm

The Great Kabab Factory: 24478373
Al Khuwayr

The Great Kabab Factory is a stylish and modern brand with four outlets in India and one in Bahrain. The new Muscat branch has a capac-ity of around 100 and specialises in kebabs from northern India.

Its signature dish, the Galouti Kabab, melts in the mouth, and other kebabs along with the naans, biryanis and dals, are also good. The Great Kabab Factory is open daily, 12–3pm and 7pm until midnight.

The Taj: 26795545
Al Sawadi Beach Resort

The Taj offers Indian cuisine from 7pm until 11pm, with live band Sitare, an added draw.

Trivandrum Fried Chicken: 24816388
Ruwi, near Centrepoint

Extremely spicy and authentic Kerala food is available at Trivandrum in Ruwi, behind the old Indian Embassy.

Its fried chicken is excellent, the curries are superlative and the hot, soft appams are perfect.

You could try the buffet lunch, but we think dinner is better.

This isn’t a place to watch your cholesterol, however, nor for people who can’t stomach liberal quantities of spice – even the fried chicken is served with crisp curry leaves on the side.
RO5