Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

Nisheeth Tak has been celebrating the 21^st Birthday of his Rasam Indian Restaurant in Glasthule, having received the key of the door way back in November 2003, and thereby creating one of the most popular restaurants in Dublin, where the food is always top notch and I’ve never had a bad meal in all those years.

Before coming to Ireland, over 30 years ago, Nisheeth, a graduate of the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology, had worked in the world-famous Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. The Taj has hosted Heads of State and Royalty, including Jackie Kennedy, the now King Charles, Hillary Clinton, and so on. It was also the subject of a terrorist attack in 2008, which saw one of Nisheeth’s friends, the Executive Chef Vijay Banja, losing his life. This tragic episode was later made into the film Hotel Mumbai.

Rasam soon attracted celebrities to its tables. It has been a longstanding favourite of Pat and Kathy Kenny, Miriam O’Callaghan, Christ de Burgh and his daughter Rosanna Davison. It even attracted the Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson, who loved the beetroot curry, and the Eastenders Stars, Shane Ritchie and Jessie Wallace, not to mention top sports names, media and tecchie moguls.

On my recent visit to try the new menu, ten starters included Dahi Bhalla lentil fritters with cumin and honey yoghurt, tamarind & mint chutney, ginger, while Tawa Chanp lamb chops are with ginger and stone flower. A good way to get a variety is the Rasam platter which includes sweet & sour pork, Chettinad murgh tikka, duck roll, calamari, and kasuni jhinga – in other words a sampling of pork, chicken, duck, calamari and prawns. I had the duck rolls, rich and dense but not heavy, with star anise, fig, tamarind, peppers and fried onion, while my friend had Masala scallops with turmeric, chilli and pea mash which were absolutely divine.

There’s a wide selection of mouthwatering mains including a family favourite, Chemmen Mango Curry, Awadhi Lamb Curry, Old Delhi Butter chicken etc, and as Indian restaurants in general are great for vegetarian dishes, at Rasam there’s a superb selection including palak kofta – spinach & potato dumplings with raisins and pistachios, in a creamy tomato and garlic sauce – one of my favourite dishes. Mansahari Thali for the friend was selection of lamb, chicken, prawn dishes, with two vegetarian sides plus pulao rice, naan and raita, sublimely served on a showstopping silver platter. There’s also a vegetarian version. I had another starter, my favourite Kasundi jhinga jumbo prawns cooked in the tandoori oven with mustard, lemon turmeric, and chilli. I paired the prawns with sides of Bhindi Achari  – okra, onion, tomato, ginger, lemon and pickle paste; Kalonji paneer cottage cheese cubes, onion seed, tomato, onion and peppers; and Aloo Podimas - potato, asafoetida, turmeric, curry leaf, coconut and mustard seed.

To finish, I had Kesar Kulfi - Indian Ice-cream with saffron, caradamom, basil seed, vermicelli and a rose petal compote, while my friend had a gorgeous almond and dairy free coconut, dark chocolate, and almond extract mousse. With a great wine list that has something for every pocket, we had a Spanish Maruxa Godella, Virgen del Galir 2022.

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