Roasting hot jazz
The mesmerising panoramic view of the turquoise Gulf waters through the vast glass façade takes your breath away when you walk into St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort. But this is just the beginning of a spectacular afternoon of food and jazz at the Oléa restaurant.
With bubbly provided on arrival, going al fresco for this Mediterranean brunch is the best option. The live jazz and calming sea breeze that waft across the sophisticated clinking of cutlery and amiable din of conversation create an aura both exquisite and comfortable.
The food on offer complements the atmosphere. Concomitant with the live aspect of the event, the live cooking stations rustle up pan-fired prawns, sizzling steaks to your preference, fresh quesadillas and huge hunks of juicy lamb — just some of the choice cuts you can tuck into while soaking up the languid aroma of the sea intermingled with the rhythm of the jazz.
And don’t forget the dessert station. It’s more like an open-plan space-age sofa strewn with the most decadent mini cheesecakes, triple chocolate cakes and artistic lemon tarts.
Perhaps the only disappointment here is if you try to cram everything in. There’s so much on offer that you need to adopt the same attitude as the moody blues emanating from the saxophone. Sit back, relax and enjoy.
— Thomas Billinghurst/ Features Writer
Mellow, but bubbly
From the window, I can see the office across the street. Since I can also see the Burj Al Arab on the other side, I turn my back on it and spend the next ten minutes Facebooking the stunning view.
It’s a common enough reaction up on the 68th floor of the world’s tallest hotel, our waitress, the charming Denisa, tells us later. Brunch at Prime 68, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai’s boutique steakhouse, ticks the unusual box again and again. It’s all plated to cater to layabouts looking to as little exercise on a Friday as possible. It’s a grown-up afternoon out with French bubbles on tap, piped jazz throughout the lounge and no screaming kids in sight. And then, in keeping with its Gatsby-ish 1920s theme, all the cocktails come served in teacups — a nod to the Prohibition Era.
After all that, the food could be average and I wouldn’t complain. But the hotel, which has established itself as a fine dining powerhouse in the year it’s been open, doesn’t let the side down on that front either. Denisa brings us our starters on tiny plates — one for each of us, no sharing tapas-style slumming. Beetroot and goat’s cheese are exquisitely brought together in a salad, while air-dried Wagyu benefits from its pairing with spicy chipotle aioli and mature cheddar. The star here, though, is the foie gras torchon, which gets its name from the dish towel it is rolled and chilled in. A slice of this is teamed with toast and pickled strawberries — again, a contrast of textures and tastes. Like a good jazz riff, every ingredient in each dish here works spectacularly on its own, but melds into a beautiful whole.
For our main course, we get to choose from several cuts of prime USDA steak, the ubiquitous Friday roast, lobster, salmon, duck or cauliflower. Denisa recommends the five-spiced duck, so when my brunch partner picks the fillet, I’m happy to follow her lead. It’s a wise move: at medium, the duck is perfect, its sweetness reinforced by the accompanying blueberry compote. I dig into my friend’s steak; it’s rich, savoury and packs a bold wallop. A massive clove of baked elephant garlic on each plate provides any extra spice required, while the sides — creamed spinach, maple-glazed carrots and chunky chips — couldn’t be better.
When they need to roll me out at the end, I’ve thankfully forgotten all about the unbearable office.
— Keith J. Fernandez/ Editor — GN Focus
Intimate sharing
Most five-star brunch reviews are peppered with superlatives such as extravagant, sumptuous, fit-for-a-king and even as far as over the top — none of which apply to the Friday Tapas Brunch at The Oberoi, Dubai.
In a land where buffet tables groan under the weight of mounds of food, and the number of dishes rival the number of guests, the brunch at the newly opened Nine7One is modest, small and intimate — and therein lies its charm. It’s in no way overwhelming, the restaurant itself is almost generic but the highlight is the warm service and interactive cooking style. Chefs manning their various counters mingle easily with guests, and the bespoke service, coupled with a general air of casualness, makes it a perfect place to spend lazy Fridays.
“We don’t call it a coffee shop. Instead, we refer to it as a world cuisine restaurant,” says Mohamed Abdel Aziz, Senior Restaurant Manager. So you can nibble your way from the Far East with fresh dim sums, sushi rolls and crispy tempura to Europe, crossing over to the subcontinent with traditional Indian street food served with a twist and Middle Eastern meze done to perfection.
Then there are classic tapas dishes such as calamari con chorizo, fluffy Spanish omelettes, roasted meats and chilled gazpacho in glass bottles. All the breads are baked in-house, and while the cheese selection is not impressive, the dessert counter packs a punch. French, Indonesian, Japanese and Indian creations are a perfect way to end your meal. Particularly recommended are the Umm Ali and nitrogen-cooked raspberry spheres on chocolate soil.
— Sanaya Pavri/Features Writer
Crazy for chocolate
I was just recovering from my third round of gorging on the buffet brunch at Sanabel at The Sheraton, Mall of the Emirates, when the hostess came to me and said, “I hope you’re only halfway through. There are desserts, fruits, cheeses and the Chocolate Room next.”
Needless to say, I had a whale of a time. Starting off with freshly grilled prawns and chicken tikka at the restaurant’s open-air barbecue station, I chomped my way through delicious smoked salmon and prawns. The salmon was soft, and the subtle smoky flavour coming through was sheer delight, while the smoked prawns were juicy and amazingly fresh. There was a perfectly spiced Cajun shrimp salad too, which worked really well after the smoked food.
On my third round, I dug into chicken thighs cooked in tarragon sauce, herb-roasted potatoes, which were divine, chicken nuggets and grilled fish that just melted in my mouth. I would have gone on to have more had the Chocolate Room not been waiting, so I settled for a mint and lemon sorbet instead — the perfect palate cleanser.
Tantalising from the moment I set eyes on it, there were whole chocolate sculptures waiting at the door of the tiny room. A dozen or more pastries were laid out neatly on trays sprinkled with chocolate. The table too was strewn with dark chocolate pieces and I was popping them while deciding which pastries I was going to attack in the next few minutes. There was also a mini chocolate fountain at the back of the room with blissfully juicy strawberries on sticks ready to be devoured.
I loved the chocolate fondant. Its cherry topping was appropriately sour, while the pastry itself was just layers of thick gooey chocolate. The dark chocolate fudge cakes, baked chocolate tarts and melt-in-the-mouth chocolate mousse were stunning too — fresh, not-too-sweet and not very heavy on the stomach, considering they were so petite. At the end of it all, I was in a food-induced coma; the lilting jazz, blue skies, breezy afternoon and the Chocolate Room had worked their magic.
— Tania Bhattacharya/Staff Writer
