This Dublin restaurants location in a homely but unfussy basement space off busy Baggot Street belies the quality of the food at Mantraa, an Indian restaurant offering superior Indian cuisine at very reasonable prices.
What sets Mantraa apart is the fact that they do all their own roasting, smoking, pickling and grinding of spices, lending a freshness to the flavour of the food that has won them much praise.
Proprietor Avinash Mohan hails from Southern India, so there is a Southern flavour to the food at Mantraa, but all regions are well represented on menus, notably on the reassuringly compact à la carte menu.
In addition to their excellent à la carte menu, they give outstanding value with an Early Bird Menu offering three courses, plus tea or coffee which would seem keenly priced at any time, but is especially so considering the generous choices offered.
A list of six starters on the Early Bird includes their popular signature Mantraa samosas, Murgh Malai Tikka (mild tandoor cooked chicken, flavoured with cardamom, fenugreek, dry mango and fresh ginger) and the delicious Squid Churmura (crisp fried calamari with black pepper and piquant tamarind sauce).
This is followed by a choice of no less than eight mains to include: Chicken Madras (moist chicken cooked in the Southern Indian Chettiyar style flavoured with caramalised red chilli and fennel); Kashmiri Rogan Josh (lamb cooked in a tomato sauce, flavoured with mace, fennel and clove) and Jhinga Mulagu (home style prawns cooked with fresh green chillies, tomatoes, coriander, kokum and ginger).
A choice of rice or naan is included with the mains and to finish you can opt for the dessert of the day or a selection of ice-cream.
For such carefully cooked, flavourful fresh food, the set price for this menu is an absolute steal. And you won’t get stung for the wine here either – with a short but well-balanced list also offering great value.
The choice offered on the à la carte is even wider, and includes some unusual dishes. From the nine starters, for example, you might try Uttappam pancakes done 3 ways – a traditional Keralan dish which includes three tasty rice pancakes, one topped with onion and tomato another with fresh coconut and the last with curry leave, all served with a small bowl of tasty daal on the side. Another interesting dish is Squid Churmura, with zingy, palate-appealing flavours - a plate of this is ideal for sharing.
The manageable selection of mains on the à la carte is sensibly listed under the headings of chicken, seafood, lamb and Biryani and are all very keenly priced. Vegetable lovers are also in for treat at Mantraa, with eight mouthwatering meat-free main courses to choose from.
You could mix and match with a dish of delicious Mustard Cabbage (cabbage lightly stir-fried with black mustard seeds, onion, curry leaves and asafoetida), a platter of grilled sea bream cooked in the tandoor and flavoured with black pepper, coriander stem, fresh ginger and crushed fennel, and a dish of melt-in-the mouth, slow cooked lamb Haryali Gosht served in a creamy sauce flavoured with fresh spinach, chillies, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, tomatoes and home blended garam masala. In the Guide’s experience, these are excellent dishes, with the lamb particularly standing out.
You could round of your meal with two fingers of chef Bhupal Singh’s homemade egg-free Kulfi ice cream - and you’re sure to be delighted with the modest bill that accompanies such a first-class dining experience.
: L & D Mon-Fri 11-3pm & 6-10pm. Sat D only 5-11pm. Early D €14.50. A la carte starters €4.95-€9.95; mains €13.95-€17.95. House wines from €18.50; wines by the glass from €4.95. Closed Sun
