Tacos (€9 for two) in an Indian restaurant is a bold move. At Kiisaan in Ballsbridge, they come as yellow shells, standing upright on a slate, like something destined for Deliveroo photography. The shells are brittle, filled with a smooth lamb paste, a little bit of tomato chutney and a scattering of microgreens. The €9 price promises cumin, chilli, lamb fat hitting clay, tortilla smoke. What arrives is dull, the shells half-filled, crying out for salsa and more interest. It’s more stunt than sustenance.
Kiisaan opened in July 2024 upstairs at 174 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge. Husband-and-wife team Amit Tehlan and Reena Dahiya run the place, and they’ve dressed the room neatly – velvet-backed chairs, polished tables, a decorative metal tree and floral arches. There’s effort in the presentation and warmth in the service: water arrives without fuss, three dips and poppadoms set down to start. The green dip is particularly good, with coriander with a sharper kick of heat than expected. A strong opening, quickly undone by those tacos.
The aloo samosa chaat (€7) reads like a safe correction. Potato-filled samosas crushed under yoghurt, tamarind, mint chutney and a dusting of sev (crunchy noodles). It looks the part – sauces spread across the plate – but the pastry is too thick and hard, the sauces a shade too sweet.
Everything is redeemed with the bhatti ka lamb chops (€23), which are excellent. Four thick chops, marinated in tandoori spices and cooked in the clay oven, are displayed across a slate with dots of beetroot purée, and rice, naan and a pot of sauce on the side (all included in the price). Beautifully charred without drying out, the chops are mottled with thick gnarls of spice that beg to be gnawed to the bone. The sauce is thick and tangy – good enough to spoon up on its own.
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The Goan-style seafood curry (€25) is built on tiger prawns, sea bass and scallops, simmered in tomato, fenugreek and tamarind, and finished with coconut milk. It has just enough heat to keep it interesting. The rice on the side is topped with ready-made fried onions to add crunch. The naan is crisp and buttery on one side, soft on the underside.
The side of dal makhani (€9) is exactly what you hope to find in an Indian restaurant. Black lentils, slow-cooked in a tomato base for 38 hours, emerge dark, dense and velvety. Enriched with Irish butter and finished with a swirl of cream, they arrive in a small pot – deceptively simple and deeply comforting. Piled on to rice and scooped up with naan, this is Punjabi cooking that needs no slate or flourish.
Dessert is gulab jamun cheesecake (€7), an Indo-Irish mash-up: the Indian milk sweet studded into a familiar favourite. It’s heavy. Gulab jamun buried in cream cheese and sugar, on a biscuity base with a swipe of coulis is a clever idea, but it doesn’t quite come off.
Drinks are straightforward. Cobra on draught (€7.95 a pint) is the natural choice. There is a wine and cocktail list, but for me it’s lager that stands up best to chilli and spice.
There are flashes of what this kitchen can do, but also reminders of how easily it can go wrong. The tacos are a gimmick – pretty on a slate, but dull in the mouth. The samosa chaat should be a sure thing, but arrives with pastry that is too hard. The cheesecake is fusion for the sake of it, adding weight rather than flavour. On the other hand, the chops come off the grill thick with spice and smoke, easily among the best in the country. The seafood curry, although not particularly exciting, is generous, while the dal makhani is excellent.
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And that is the problem here – Kiisaan is inconsistent. The answer is probably simple: more dal, fewer tacos. More attention to basics and less distraction with cheesecake gimmicks. Kiisaan is run by people who clearly care, and it shows in the service and the effort. But effort is not enough.
Would I come back? Most definitely – for the dal and the lamb chops. You could eat here very reasonably, with a variety of starters to begin and a main course to share, which makes it particularly attractive. What the restaurant still lacks is a confident backbone. It shows its strength when it sticks to the classics, and that is where the focus should stay. The distraction of gimmickry only gets in the way.
Dinner for two with three beers was €103.85.
The verdict: Flashes of mastery, weakened by novelty.
Food provenance: Gahan Meat & GB poultry, chicken not free-range; fish, Wrights of Marino (prawn and seabass farmed), and Keelings.
Vegetarian options: Spinach and mango tikki, onion bhaji, samosa topped with chickpeas, and kadhai paneer.
Wheelchair access: No accessible room or toilet.
Music: Bollywood hits and Hindi film classics.
