Uncle Tea | Barsha
How often have you craved for chai and snacks and found the places offering these are either overpriced or too fancy, or just don’t get the taste right? Enter Uncle Tea. Answering almost every chai time lover’s cravings, this petite restaurant located on one of the bylanes in Barsha behind MOE offers so much variety, you’ll need atleast 15 minutes just trying to decide how much you can possibly eat in one go.
Their menu covers everything you’d want from day to night – so you have a variety of tea (of course), including bubble tea, and a selection of coffee, breakfast favorites and evening snacks, sandwiches, parathas, juices, milkshakes and so much more.
After a long look at the menu, our confused faces gave up, and we decided to go all out with the suggestions of our server. When I say ‘all out’, I really mean we ordered pretty much from every section on the menu. But as always, everything left over came back home with us and we equally enjoyed it the next day.
Anyway, moving on to the experience at Uncle Tea. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by their Marketing Manager Aradhana, who introduced us to the concept of Uncle Tea, recommended her favorites from the menu, and indulged in friendly conversations throughout the evening – the perfect stuff over a cup(s) of tea.
Since it was pretty hot when we arrived, we first cooled down with Icy Peach iced tea. (AED 12) That was really refreshing, and set the perfect palate for all the food we were about to try.
Our first dish was the most classic of them all – the Parsi styled Bun Maska & Chai. (AED 10) Generously lathered with butter, the buns were super soft, and the portion good enough for someone like to me survive for half a day. The tea, in all honesty, was really really good. I am not into the zaffrani, elaichi and masala tea and all those varieties. I like my tea simple and straight and this one was to the point. Of course, if you like the other tea flavors, you can definitely opt for those – Uncle Tea has everything on their menu.
Next up was another tea time classic – Uncle’s Samosas (AED 5). Highly recommended by Aradhana, the best thing about these pair of samosas were that they were freshly made – not stale, stored in a counter and re-heated before serving. Crisp, doughy and filling at the same time, the hot hot samosas quickly made their way into our hungry and by that time, highly anticipating tummies.
One of my choices from the menu, the Bombay Kebab Pops (AED 10) instantly took me back home, where we usually have these for breakfast sandwiched in square buns. Very flavorful and lipsmacking, these mince kebabs had the perfect amount of spiciness and tasted bomb when dipped in the green chutney. I would love to try these with bread next time.
One of the famous grubs from back home, the Kheema Ghotala Pav (AED 14) was next on our table. A breakfast favorite, this featured kheema and egg mixed up together with spices (in a rather different green hue) and served along with toasted buttered bread. The dish was quite filling and would make a great morning meal or a dinner substitute.
Another recommendation from Aradhana was the Famous Chicken Paratha (AED 8). Almost like a quesadilla, this no-fuss paratha was filled with grilled chicken, cheese and sauces. The chicken was so good, and the paratha didn’t feel oily at all.
Next up was the Chicken Grill toastie (AED 14). Very simple but full of flavor, this totally reminded me of chicken sandwiches sold at my school canteen. Much more stylish than my humble school lunch, this was filled with creamy chicken and cheese and sandwiched between grilled bread. The toastie was served with a generous portion of their signature crinkled Ziggy Fries.
Finally, we ended with The Shredder burger (AED 16). This was the one of the two dishes we took only a couple of bites from, because all their food was so so filling. This burger packed slow braised shredded beef tossed with spices and sauces, loaded with onions and cheese. And of course, just like the sandwich, this one came with lots of Ziggy Fries on the side.
Uncle Tea
- Food
- Drinks
- Ambience
- Pricing
- Service
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I cannot tell you what I loved the most, because I am sure the more dishes I try from this place, the more things I’ll end up falling in love with. And I’ll also become really fat, but that’s another thing. There’s so much more I wanted to try like the vada pav, pakoras, bubble tea, etc. but I just didn’t have the capacity to eat anymore.
The only tiny thing that I would really like them to work on is adding more branches across the city, especially in outer Dubai areas where food like this is fairly uncommon. With two outlets in Barsha, which is great for a residential area, and one outlet at Last Exit Khawaneej, they definitely have way more potential in this city that loves tasty, affordable food that can be eaten all day, everyday!
Location: Behind City Max Hotel, Al Barsha, Dubai
Contact: 04 3993007
