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MINT LEAF RESTAURANT DUBAI AND LONDON

Review of Mint Leaf of London with Mint Leaf of London Dubai.

Mint Leaf London

Dubai seems to be THE city for the opening of branches of successful restaurants from all over the world. But how do they compare with the originals?

This review compares the newish Mint Leaf restaurant in Dubai with the original Mint Leaf restaurant of London in St James, near Piccadilly Circus.

Recently there has been a trend for restaurants to make sure their customers know that their Dubai outpost was born in LONDON. As we see with Leopolds of London in the Marina, a café from Knightsbridge in Jumeirah and now Mint Leaf of London in DIFC.

The Location

Mint Leaf restaurant Dubai is located in DIFC but in a lesser known building than Gate 5. The restaurant is on the 15th floor of Emirates Financial Towers, take the elevator, very useful for DIFC based people who also get a  15 percent discount off a la carte food and drink, but tell them that first. Being located on a high floor combined with floor to ceiling windows translates into spectacular views of the city. There is nothing that needs to be said about the Mint Leaf being located in St James in SW1 in London, it’s near everything that matters.

 

The Ambience

Both restaurants scored highly on the ambience. Large spaces with clearly delineated bar areas and tables; not too close together either. Mint Leaf Dubai would be a clear favourite for those end of term mums night outs where you need to meet for snacks and drinks and want to mingle rather than be placed at one end of a long table. Mint Leaf London seemed to be a popular choice for birthdays, perhaps to do with their happy hour? I noticed the Mint Leaf Dubai had a set of modern dj decs and a dance floor so maybe some Bollywood to work off the crispy Bhindi?

 

The Food

I loved the duck tikkas with drinks at the Mint Leaf restaurant in London and haven’t eaten duck Indian style before, but overall I think the food is more authentic at Mint Leaf in Dubai.

I liked all our starters, the tandoori prawns, succulent chicken tikka and seekh kebabs.

Mains were all good too. I especially liked the lamb curry and tilapia tawa fish; a difficult dish to get right.

So if you’re looking for good quality authentic Indian food and don’t want to go to a hotel, then Mint Leaf restaurant Dubai is a great choice with a very conjusive set up to linger at either before or after dinner. Great choice of wines and spirits too.

It was quiet when we visited during Ramadan and summer holidays but I’m sure the Mint Leaf Dubai will  become a popular DIFC eaterie. Service at both Mint Leaf restaurants was excellent.

Mint Leaf DIFC

If you would like DoinDubai to review a London original restaurant and compare it to its Dubai branch, then let me know and I’ll do my best, back in London later in September.

Thanks for sharing on Facebook and Twitter, videos available on DoinDubai’s Instagram

Click here for what you need to know about making a booking at Mint Leaf Restaurant in Dubai.

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BEST KIDS CAMPS: ART AT DIFC DUBAI

UPDATE FEB 2015

Although this is an old post, it gives you an idea of what the Art Camp is all about. I will update it with summer schedules as soon as they come out. Thanks Monica. It’s also worth calling to see if there are places for summer interns for the older kids as well! 

jArt_Camp_Dubai

The Farjam Collection art gallery’s summer camp (in Dubai’s DIFC) for kids aged roughly 7-10 still has places for the rest of the summer. This is the 3rd summer the camp has been running and it manages to incorporate a range of art activities inspired by art works in the well established and professional collection.  The kids are typical of Dubai, a mix of nationalities but all of whom are comfortable with English instruction. A typical day may comprise of creating art that incorporates painting, clay, drawing, collage and more. Class sizes are small with a high ratio of qualified internationally trained staff who interact with the children and encourage them at all stages of their creations.  Prices are very reasonable at Dhs 100 per day that INCLUDE all materials, unlike some classes I have come across where you need to shell out a fair amount of money before any tuition starts.

Art_Camp_Dubai_Summer

And the icing on the cake ? It’s based in DIFC, so for those of us who are not fasting, you can have a coffee with friends, or meet up for lunch at any of the range of fab restaurants in DIFC while the kids are educated and entertained at the same time. (Click here  for a link to a review of Royal China, a great Chinese chain with branches in London and Hong Kong as well as DIFC)

Call Marjan on    Tel: + 971 (0) 4 323 0303

to find out more or to book a place for your child any day this week starting from Sunday 29th of July or email   marjan@farjamcollection.org to find out more. Do mention you heard about the camp from Monica at www.doindubai.com and as usual do like and share the post on Facebook.

Send me in some pictures of your youngster’s creations and I’ll update the post with the images in August. Who knows maybe they’ll exhibit at Art Dubai next !

www.farjamcollection.org  at Dubai’s DIFC is at Gate Village 4.

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ROYAL CHINA DIFC DUBAI

Update December 2014: This restaurant is still very good and one of my favourite Chinese places in Dubai. The duck pancakes are the closest I have had to the ones in London! GO soon!

Royal_China_Dubai

What’s special about Royal China Dubai?

Royal China restaurant has finally arrived in Dubai ! For those of you who know it from London, Singapore or China,  Royal China’s dimsum are a regular feature of many weekend family lunches whatever the weather. And now Dubai can sample the very same dishes in the ever swish DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) an obvious choice for the location of yet another in crowd (Zuma, La Petite Maison) restaurant.

The Ambience at Royal China Dubai

The setting is definitely more lavish (think red and more red) than it’s understated China Club in Baker Street but then it is Dubai, and by 1pm on a Monday a few weeks after opening, it was entirely full.

What to drink at Royal China Dubai?

They opt for large glass mugs rather than delicate Chinese cups for tea, but the blossoming flower wouldn’t work in those small cups so a sensible choice.  At Dhs 15 per head the evolving flower tea was cheaper than most coffees in Dubai.

The Food at Royal China Dubai

The prawn and chive dimsums were excellent, just how they should be, fresh chopped up prawns and chives in a thin, steamed pastry skin. I liked the fluffy chicken buns and the spicy, Singapore noodle. In fact all the dim sums were good, we ordered whatever we felt like and ate till we were full. The baked fresh egg custard tarts really are worth trying even if you don’t regularly do puddings.

All in all 8 types of dim sums, Singapore noodles, ever flowing blossom tea and an egg custard tart each cost all 5 of us Dhs 90 per head including a 10% DIFC authority  fee.  So now business lunches on week days cost either Dhs 88 (soup and a main course) or Dhs 128 for soup, starter – like duck pancakes and a main course. 

Dim_Sum_in_Dubai

They also have good value set lunches starting from Dhs 200 for two if you prefer. Parking wasn’t that easy and they do not as yet have a redeemable valet stamp system so we paid another Dhs 50 for the car.

They now have valet parking and you get a stamp when you dine that entitles you to park for free. 

Link to their website : The Royal China  

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