Have you tried any of the Al Habtoor City restaurants as yet?
Do you know which of the Al Habtoor city restaurants are open as yet? What price points would you expect there? I’ve tried some British pub grub at the Rose and Crown as well as some very smart Korean Japanese food at the first W hotel in Dubai. Find out what you need to know about Al Habtoor City restaurants, and a brilliant new Turkish place at MOE plus a new menu at the relaunched Zafran Indian bistro, no molecular morsels here, I promise!
All with me, Stef Burgon, Mark Lloyd and Zahra Soar on this week’s Food News, Tuesday at 3.30 pm.
The Rose and Crown
Expect proper pub grub at the newish Rose and Crown pub space, the first restaurant to open in the Atrium bit of Al Habtoor City. Take exit 47 off Sheikh Zayed road and follow signs to Al Habtoor City. It’s actually located next to the W Hotel.
So to find the location drive past the St Regis entrance, carry on into the flags of the W hotel and then you can valet park your car here. Expect to eat decent cod and chips with mushy peas fresh tartar sauce AED 85. I really liked my scampi and chips as well though, a good starter portion for 2 to share or a great light meal for one.
There is also a selection of burgers as well as staples like steak pie made with real ale. Darts board and a pool table upstairs, a bit smoky though! Can’t wait to try the Blind Dragon and Flying Noodles and Zoco, opening at the Atrium soon!
Namu Korean Japanese
Namu Dubai is a really stylish Korean/Japanese restaurant on the 31st floor of the very modern W hotel, next to the Atrium in Al Habtoor city. Having just returned from the W in Bali I was expecting much more vibrant colours and an atmosphere that reflects the fact we’re by the sea, albeit located on the other side of Sheikh Zayed road.
But I was told that the W in Bali is a retreat whereas the W in Dubai is a city space, a more urban hotel so the design reflects that difference. So they have lots of linear motifs on the carpet and in the design structure that seem to go on forever, apparently that’s to reflect that Dubai never sleeps, and it’s got lots of intersections, highways, byways and is a modern well connected city!
Back to Namu, so it’s a fine dining Asian restaurant based on the 31st floor of the W hotel with spectacular views by day and night.
It’s got separate cooking stations for raw, steamed, grilled and fried food from what I could make out. We all loved the Mero Jim.
That was a very hearty bowl of perfectly spiced Chilean seabass in salty, tangy broth poured over thinly sliced courgettes and Korean cabbage. We loved it but it’s pricey at AED 220 although it’s be enough for 3 to share. It’s open for lunch and dinner, and I think I’ll wait till the nightclub on the 32nd floor opens, it’s got a heavenly name, Beat of the Angels! I’m going back to this Urban W.
Zafran Indian Bistro good quality food sensibly priced unpretentious
Although the restaurant itself isn’t new, home grown Zafran has recently relaunched with a brand new menu and feel at their Mirdiff City Center branch. I had a big, tasty lunch there yesterday and I want to talk about this as a a bit of a foil or a come back to the very modern, contemporary, some might say gimmicky Indian openings we’ve had of late.
So what’s good to eat at Zafran? I liked everything I chose from the menu, the chefs are mainly from Northern India and their operations manager Gaurav has hand picked and vetted his staff based on his own very exacting standards. He gained a lot of his experience from his time working at the Maurya Sheraton in Delhi, so expect authentic North Indian frontier type cuisine cooked in traditional tandoor ovens here. I liked their lamb seek kebabs, but they have some excellent street food type starters like a papdi chaat and aloo tikki.
Points to note are they use no colouring other than turmeric or Kashmiri chilli powder, no preservatives, their condiments are made in house. They include things like papaya chutney, beetroot relish and home made mango pickle. Their portions are huge, so it’s great value for money for family eating or hungry couples!
I really like the fact they offer local water as well as imported water and also offer vegetables like saag paneer as a side or main. Fabulous to get a side portion of saag paneer at AED 17.00! A full blog post coming soon on this but find them for lunch or dinner or take away on the 2nd floor of Mirdiff City Centre, very near the Fitness First Health Club. Zafran would be on my list of places to take hungry visitors to when visiting Dubai, especially if you’re paying for everyone!
Besh Turkish Delightful restaurant
I think Dubai needs more restaurants like Besh, I really do. Why? Because not only is it reasonably priced, you’re sitting in an authentic but quite modern space in good locale being served quality food and you can order an alcoholic beverage if you’d like. Welcome to Besh located on the 5th floor of the Sheraton hotel Mall of Emirates.
Its only been open a week, so very new, staffed mainly by Turkish people, the manageress is Turkish as are some of the waitresses. I really liked the fact you could get 3 mezzes for AED 45, and an excellent Turkish pide, we had lamb and pepper varitey for AED 40.
Perfect for sharing, all cut up for you to take a fresh, hot slice. Plenty of veggie options as the Turks love their cheese and salads, and we all liked the hot, courgette fritters as a mezze course too. It’s also got a one page menu, that’s comprehensive, has all the dishes named in Turkish and English, and the cuisine provides a real taste of authentic Turkey.
So if you’re at MOE, this is the place for lunch or dinner! The menu has been overseen by established chef Vedat Basaran. Has all this Turkish food put you in the mood to find out more about Turkey? Get some ideas from our luxurious Turkish holiday there in the summer of 2014. We’re talking Copper Dog from Scotland and Miss Lills from Jamaica next time! If you’d like to listen to the PODCAST of this post then just click the link below:
PODCAST FOR FOOD NEWS SHOW TUESDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER
And there’s still a couple of days to WIN AN ARABIC COOKING CLASS at the Al Maeda restaurant at the Doubletree Hilton in Jumeirah Beach.
