Lanterns is exploring varied flavours
If there is one cuisine out there that is increasingly becoming ubiquitous around the world, it would have to be the succulent flavours coming from the Indian subcontinent from a place you may have heard of, called ‘India.’ A cuisine which has long been heralded by chefs, cherished by foodies, and even studied by food scientists, it makes food indulgence a journey of self-discovery. Be it south Indian delicacies, heightened with the use of coconut, curry leaves, a range of chillies, whole spices, or the North Indian spread that brings the charm of home churned butter, cream, regional spices, meat and chicken, there is plenty to satisfy your palate.
Interestingly there may be a number of Indian restaurants and food service providers in Bahrain, however not all of them are able to attain the needed satisfactory level for this exotic cuisine. Luckily for residents, we also have the standing epitome of Indian perfection called ‘Lanterns’. A name that has become symbolic to delectability, the exclusive high profile and award-winning restaurant has managed to establish itself strongly on the island with 5 branches, which include Budaiya, Adliya, Juffair, Amwaj and Riffa.
Better Savings & Tastier Cravings!
Creating a welcoming ambience with its authentic and traditional age-old setup, which reflects the culture of India, all restaurants have managed to ingrain a strong position, suiting to the needs and preferences of the diners to specific demographics. Each restaurant offers its own unique variations of food and entertainment, serving diners with an impressive menu that is now bringing in continental flavours as well. Among the branches, Juffair’s relocated branch from American Alley to a spacious location near Al-Najma Club (Juffair Drive) with free home-delivery, is giving residents a more colourful and economical serving style in its quaint and petite branch. With the exclusive combination of oriental Chinese and Indian combined.
Speaking to Weekender, Marketing Executive Elita Kapur shared more on what diners can expect from this renovated experience. “Lanterns always aims to give its diners what they crave. We have on board our new French Chef Olivier, who is majorly responsible for all the non-Indian dishes on the menu. Also due to the Juffair demographics, we have lowered our prices, ,making the dining galore more like Lantern express, where you have more cravings, better savings with a whole new menu.”
The ‘Good Dining’ is served
Weekender team went with rumbling tummies to try out a few of the exciting offerings from its Juffair menu. The menu was inviting, listing some of the signature dishes while allowing diners to please their taste buds with new Indian and ‘Non-Indian’ items. We started out with a serving of Jalapeno flavoured cheddar and emmental cheese balls which were rich in taste and texture. We then nibbled onto some ‘spring salad’- an enriching spread of green leaves, bean sprouts, edemame, cherry tomatoes, red radish with a light yet flavourful ginger onion dressing. There is a huge variety from the salad and appetiser section to choose from, which consists world favourites like calamari fritti, breaded shrimps, chicken wonton, dahi kebab and more.
Of course it wouldn’t be a winning experience if we had not devoured in Tandoori-BBQ style, but things were different and quite interesting when we tried some ‘tandoori mushroom’ which were spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms marinated in traditional tandoori masala. The tastes were in coherent and blended in consistency. But what really made our mouths water was the serving of the ‘fish pepper tikka’- we have had seasoned fish before but this lightly spiced fish with a beautiful seasoning with onion, garam masala and black pepper, was a joyful experience. Moving from thereon, biryani was our next stop and one of Lanterns most popular dishes the ‘lamb shank’ has been restyled and presented in a biryani form too. As Elita shared, “Our lamb shank has always been our best-seller due to the way it is cooked, nice and slow. The lamb shank biryani works over the same concept and is fairly high-priced because the meat comes from New Zealand directly.” Indeed it was the softest meat yet flavoursome complimenting the biryani. The portions were impressive too, as one serving could easily satisfy 2-3 persons.
Aside from that diners can very well choose from a detailed Chinese menu or if they prefer variety in modest pricing, Lanterns also serves ‘platters’, be it Indian or Chinese. We savoured both where you can actually choose 9 items, served beautifully to provide you a scrumptious overall experience. It also comes at value for money, priced at a mere BD2.9. The experience came to a profound conclusion as we satisfied our sweet tooth with a palatable serving of kesar kulfi falooda, and fried ice-cream. Treat yourself to great food and amazing prices as many dishes fall in the price range of BD1-3. For more inquiries, call 17224417, 17666517.
