There is no Zafran Kitchen on Talabat, Deliveroo, Careem or Noon, and there is no driver either. We do not deliver. That is worth saying plainly at the top rather than letting you find out at the end of an order.
What we do is cook to order for a table, and hand food over at the counter to anybody who would rather take it away. This is how to make the second one work properly.
Why there is no delivery, honestly
Two reasons, and neither of them is that we have not got round to it.
Aggregator apps take a quarter to a third of the order. That money has to come from somewhere: the price goes up, or the portion goes down. Most restaurants on those platforms quietly do both, and run a separate inflated "delivery menu" to cover it.
Most of what we cook is worse after twenty minutes in a box. A karahi is cooked dry on purpose and steams itself soft in a sealed container. Charcoal kababs are at their best in the ninety seconds after they leave the skewer. Naan goes leathery. A delivery operation would mean either cooking differently for the box or shipping a worse version of the same dish, and we would rather do neither.
The upside for you is simple: the price on the menu is the price you pay. A small chicken biryani is AED 10 at the table and AED 10 at the counter.
How to order ahead
Send a WhatsApp message to 050 720 8707 with three things:
- What you want, with sizes. "Half mutton Charsi karahi, four roti, two salty lassi."
- When you will arrive. This is the one most people leave out and it is the most useful thing in the message.
- Table or collection. We will put tables together if you are a group.
We will reply with a real time rather than an optimistic one.
How long things actually take
Everything cooked to order starts cooking after you order it. That is the whole point, and it is why the timings below are what they are.
| Order | Realistic time |
|---|---|
| Breads off the tandoor | With the order |
| Weekly menu plate, daal, salan | About 10 min |
| Biryani or pulao | About 10 min |
| Snacks, samosa, shawarma | 5 to 10 min |
| Chicken karahi, half | 15 to 20 min |
| Charcoal BBQ | 15 to 20 min on the coals |
| Chargha | 15 to 20 min in the fryer |
| Mutton karahi | 30 min and up |
Send the message before you leave the house and the thirty minutes a mutton karahi takes happens while you are driving rather than while you are standing at the counter.
What is worth collecting, and what is worth staying for
Collects well. Biryani, pulao, the handi, nihari, paya, daal and anything off the weekly menu. Wet dishes hold their heat and the handi in particular settles slightly on the drive. Ask for the breads last so they go in at the end rather than steaming in a box.
Stay and eat it here. Charcoal BBQ, without question. Also the chargha, whose whole character is skin that has just come out of the fryer, and any karahi you care about, which is a dry dish that turns into a wet one in a sealed box.
If you are collecting BBQ anyway, order a karahi or a handi with it so there is something wet on the table at the other end.
Where to find us
Shop 8/1, ground floor, Amman Street, Ajman Industrial Area 2, near Nesto Hypermarket. Free street parking directly outside, ground floor, step free from the pavement.
Open 7:30 am to midnight, every day, including Fridays and public holidays.
If you are coming from elsewhere in Ajman, there is a page for each area with the route in, the landmark to aim for and what that part of the city comes for. We answer in English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic.
Common questions
- Does Zafran Kitchen deliver in Ajman?
- No. Zafran Kitchen is a dine in restaurant on Amman Street in Ajman Industrial Area 2, near Nesto Hypermarket. You are welcome to eat here or to order ahead and collect at the counter, but there is no delivery service and no delivery app.
- Can I order ahead and collect?
- Yes, and for anything cooked to order you should. Send what you want to 050 720 8707 on WhatsApp with a rough arrival time. A chicken karahi or charcoal BBQ takes fifteen to twenty minutes and a mutton karahi thirty or more, all of it starting after you order.
- How long does each dish take?
- Breads come off the tandoor with the order. Biryani, pulao and the weekly menu dishes are ready in about ten minutes because they are cooked in batches. Chicken karahi and charcoal BBQ take fifteen to twenty minutes. Mutton karahi takes thirty or more. None of that changes whether you are sitting down or collecting.
- Is there parking at Zafran Kitchen?
- Yes, free street parking directly outside on Amman Street. The restaurant is on the ground floor with step free access from the pavement. In the evening it fills up, but there is almost always something within a minute's walk.
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Hungry now
Order it instead of reading about it
The kitchen is open every day from half past seven in the morning until midnight.