Lobsters are pretty fascinating creatures, if you take the time to read about them, and not just eat them.
However, the point of the new Burger and Lobster restaurant in Dubai’s DIFC is just that — with massive tanks of the crustaceans greeting you as you walk in, only to be dispatched once your order is placed.
“The lobster itself is quite an amazing thing, says restaurant founder George Bukhov. “Researchers have analysed lobster DNA and have found that they are technically immortal. The lobster can regenerate any part of its body and so they are always the same age — young. They also change their shell every year whilst they’re growing. Not many creatures can do that.”
Big lobsters are also really old. “No one knows how old exactly, 40, 50, even 60 years old.”
But big lobsters have the same flavour as small ones, Bukhov adds. “The biggest lobster we have ever had in our restaurants was nine-and-a-half kilograms.”
For the restaurant’s opening night on February 17, they had a five-and-a-half kilogram one.
“Served with nothing, it has an amazing sweet flavour of the sea. It has zero fat and is 100 per cent protein. If you eat it once a week, it’s very healthy. Lobster also contains lots of omega acids and a decent amount of calcium because the shell is completely calcium.”
“What is really important to us is that the lobster is 100 per cent natural, 100 per cent organic. It lives on the bottom of the ocean where there is no oil spillage, no nothing. It is very clean and the temperature is between three and five degrees Celsius all year round. It’s one of the most sustainable food items in the world.”
If it doesn’t have claws, by the way, it’s not a lobster, even if it has “lobster” in the name.
