The Food Byte: Iftar At Barbecue Delights, Downtown Dubai

Among other things, Ramadan in the city is reflective of massive air-conditioned tents hosting lavish food spreads. It's also a month where people genuinely begin to understand the significance of the month and why we fast. It also gives us an opportunity to sit down and break bread with them. And most of it happens in those air-conditioned tents, some of which are the size of ballrooms.

While majority of the hotels host tents, it's easy to miss out on certain venues that have a different cuisine. There are some restaurants that welcome guests to special Iftar (and Suhoor) menus that check off all the right boxes. One such restaurant is Barbecue Delights located in Downtown Dubai. This place never fails to impress when it comes to food or service. The restaurant specializes in Pakistani, Indian and Afghani cuisine and is a food lovers delight.

For Ramadan, they launched their special buffet menu featuring a host of appetizers, main courses and desserts.

For quick bites, there are samosas, flavored chick peas, savory fruit salad, to name a few. The salad station has a variety of garden salad, tabbouleh, chick pea salad along with Arabic cuisine's popular appetizers hummus and moutabel, among others.

For meat lovers, there are freshly made succulent kebabs- Mutton Chello Kebab, Beef Kebab, Vegetable Kebab, Afghani and Reshmi Kebab. The meat is cooked to perfection and the tender yet flavorful meat melts in your mouth. You can't afford to miss the Malai Chicken Tikka dish- chicken marinated in a medley of yogurt and spices. The main course menu isn't quite complete without the traditional Haleem and it tastes best when consumed with flat bread.

The chicken and meat curries tantalize the taste buds while the fragrant rice pulao and chicken biryani have quite the royal taste.

If you'd like to give seafood a try for iftar, pop the flavorful prawns and satisfying pieces of well cooked fish on your plate.

No meal is complete without desserts. From the ever delicious Kheer to the warm Gulab Jamuns to the Shahi Tukdas, Creme Caramel and the Banoffee Pies, there's something for everyone.

I particularly liked the Banoffee Pie. While it wasn't quite made like the classic English dessert, Barbecue Delights' take on this was pretty delectable.

I quite liked the buffet and it had several different dishes when compared to last year's iftar menu.

The service is up to par, ambience is pleasant and the venue is parking-hassle free. The place does get full during Iftar, hence it is mandatory to book your table beforehand.

The Iftar buffet at Downtown Dubai is reasonably priced at AED 99 for adults and AED 50 for kids while the Suhoor buffet is priced at AED 60 for adults and AED 30 for kids (prices are reflective of location).