An Amazing Experience With Indian Food at Begum's in Muscat - Restaurant Review

“It’s absolutely unfair for women to say that guys only want one thing: sex. We also want food.”
― Jarod Kintz, $3.33

And as a total foodie, food for me is happiness and dining out is an experience for the palette and the soul. So, as a boy who was born and raised in India, I always crave for some real good Indian food every now and then and after reading reviews about Indian Restaurants in Muscat online, I had to visit Begum's at Al Khuwair after all it was rated the number one restaurant in Muscat by TripAdvisor.com.

The Dining Area at Begum's, Al Khuwair

Hence, suddenly last evening I was passing by the Al Khuwair Sultan Qaboos Road, hungry and starving so an idea of dropping by at Begum's for some Indian food seemed to be quite a good one. The restaurant is located just by the side of Al Zawawi mosque, which seems to be a prime location for lots of restaurants like T.G.I.F., Golden Spoon, Palayok, Burger King, Mc Donalds and many others.

That Delicious Kulcha

Aloo Paratha with Yoghurt

On entering the restaurant, a gentleman at the table gave me a smile and asked me for what table I would like and escorted me and my friend, Anthony, to a table upstairs. The restaurant had few tables at the ground floor and few at the first floor and wasn't a big restaurant as such, but was quite clean with a warm ambiance. The server arrived quickly to the table, as I sat and gave me the menu and took the order for water. Well, I had missed some really good Indian food and seeing the menu with a wide variety of Indian foods, I was quite in a dilemma for what to order and what not to order. I quickly scanned the menu and started off with some Indian bread. We started off with some Khulcha which is a North Indian bread which was really good, that I actually ordered for one more after eating the first one. It came for just 500 baisa. I also asked for Aloo Paratha which wasn't there in the menu but they had it made for me. The Aloo Paratha was cut into triangular pieces like a pizza with a small bowl of' 'Dahi' (Yoghurt) which actually reminded me of the delicious parathas we get in New Delhi and gave it a really Indian feel out of it.

Chicken Tikka Masala with the Chinese Sauce
(Begum's Chef Special)

It was really great to see the servers actually carrying an iPad or a tablet, whatever it was, while taking the order and punching the orders in it while asking for the order in the table, which was really cool, even if Begum's wasn't such a high end restaurant. The prices in the menu was also quite cheap especially with the sort of food, service and ambiance it had. One of the items in the menu, which was Begum's Chicken Tikka Masala gained my attention as it had a chef's special tag in it so I ordered for that one as well. It was basically Chicken Tikka Masala in a sauce, more like a Chinese sauce with soy, capsicum and large onions, which actually became quite good a combination and the food was good. The price for the Chicken Tikka Masala was about 2.8 Riyals. Adding to that, some rice wouldn't be bad , so initially the so popular Begum's Chicken Biryani was in my mind but I went for a vegetable pulao instead, which came for about 1.8 riyal and it was good too, though it wasn't like a peas pulao or a spicy Kashmiri pulao, but with a right mix of lots of vegetables with the rice which came out as a huge portion enough for two.

Vegetable Pulao in the pot

Some Thandi Lassi

I didn't want to miss some really good Indian drinks so I went for lassi. The server suggested me to try their special Mango lassi but I wanted something plain, simple but delicious so we ordered for that one as well and after sometime, it was on the table. Well, the lassi was served in a tall glass, and as a big lassi lover, it was totally awesome to get to drink that in Muscat, especially when it is so hot outside in here. I saw a list of accompaniments too in the menu, with some raitas and papads but I hadn't much space for that and went for desserts.

I wanted to go for something Indian too when it came for desserts, so after thinking for a minute, I went for a Phirni and my friend went for a chocolate ice cream. The phirni was served in a really traditional way in a 'Matka' (Small Clay Pot), garnished with some nuts and saffron. The phirni was good, with the correct flavour of saffron and nuts, though I've had better phirnis than that one I would say. The chocolate ice cream that my friend had order on the other hand was a little disappointing because the ice cream was actually already half melted when it arrived in the table, even though the chocolate ice cream was good.

The Saffron Phirni

The Half Melted Chocolate Ice-Cream Scoop

But never mind anyhow, eating and dining at Begum's would not be regrettable at any cost, and the experience eating some real good Indian food in Muscat when you're at Begum's is a must for all Indian food lovers. After eating so much for two person, the bill was 10 riyals which was relatively cheap, for such a good meal and the very hospitable servers there.