Chimes is an unassuming restaurant tucked away in Al Barsha, beneath the Seven Sands Hotel. It is relatively easy to get to from the Mall of the Emirates but like everything in Dubai, only if you know where it is.... The restaurant does provide a map on the back of their takeaway menu, but that’s provided that you have been delivered one of course! If not, phone ahead and ask the friendly staff for directions.
 

The appearance of the restaurant is modern with a warm, funky colour scheme, authentic wooden furniture and retro-style, cream chairs. When sat at your table, you do overlook the main road, although the wooden bamboo blinds, clever lighting and even an illuminated tree outside help to detract from this. Chimes is a small venue but with great food and even for a Monday night, it seemed quite busy.
 

Shenika, one of the partners of Chimes, says that the concept behind Chimes is to offer a range of Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian food to their customers. When she moved here 17 years ago, there were not many far eastern restaurants and she really struggled to find food that she really liked, all those years ago. Well, here it is!
 

Together with the Head Chef, a wide selection of authentic food have been chosen to create an extensive menu of over 70 choices. And what a choice it was to make! Being quite a huge fan of far eastern cuisine, I did struggle to decide.
 

As an indecisive couple, we decided to sample the Chimes Starter Sampler (Thai spring rolls, deep-fried prawns and fish cakes), Kaeng Keow-Wan Kai (Chicken in Thai green curry sauce with eggplant and bamboo shoots), Kai Pad Kra Pho (Stir-fried mince chicken with garlic, red chilli and basil) and Pad Thai Kung Sod (wok-fried noodles with prawns, dried shrimp, peanuts, bean sprouts and tofu). 

The food was served promptly and we soon tucked in. Needless to say, me and partner did not talk much as we tasted each dish, which is always a good sign of good food! My personal favourite was the Kaeng Keow-Wan Kai (Thai green curry) and my husband was particularly taken with the fish cakes from the Chimes Starter Sampler -when I dived in with my fork, they were all gone! Portions were generous and not surprisingly, we could not finish all the dishes and we wanted to leave a little space for dessert. 
 

For dessert, I opted for the Banana Ice Cream and the deep-fried batter for the fritter was perfect! Yum! Even though typical chocolate laden desserts were not on offer, my chocoholic-husband was very impressed with the Kaow Ma-Mwong -a generous portion of sweet, sticky rice with a slice of mango, topped with sugar syrup and coconut milk.
He could not stop talking about it-saying it was a weird combination but it really worked. Try it!

Upon our departure, we were presented with the customary comment card. Happily I completed this, swiftly ticking all of the ‘good’ boxes. Chimes is a friendly restaurant, ideal to go there with friends. They provide excellent food, good value for money and a nice feeling in your tummy. As I left, I took one of their takeaway menus and you’ll be happy to hear that if you can’t get down there in person, they deliver to Greens, Tecom, Al Barsha, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Dubai Marina! So get dialling!

 

 

 

Seven Sands Hotel Apartments/Al Barsha (near Mall of the Emirates)
For reservations, call +971 4 323 4211
  or log on to www.chimesdubai.com