If you are dining at Al Dawaar, the scrumptious buffet comes with a bonus: the view.
The only revolving restaurant in Dubai atop the Hyatt Regency offers spectacular views of the city, the creek and the Arabian Gulf to complement the amazing food it serves.
The buffet will spoil you for choice, with not just the typical Ramadan specialities (hummus, baba ghanoush, kibbeh, sambousek, harira and lentil soups, grills and curries, served with a variety of rice preparations, including makhboos, biryani and two ouzi of hammour and lamb), but also Asian, Indian and European food. Don’t be surprised to find crispy shrimp rolls and crème brulee on the menu in the same evening.
Starting, as always, with the mezzeh, I stuck with my favourites hummus, tabouleh and baba ghanoush, while my companion, who was fasting, helped herself to stuffed herb eggplant salad and vine leaves. It’s hard to go wrong with these staples and we relished every bite.
On an ordinary day, this would have been dinner. So we sat back, washing it down with aerated drinks — we aren’t particularly fond of Ramadan drinks — chatting about past family dinners at Al Dawaar and enjoying the views as the sun set and city lights came up. I could recollect the time when just the thought of a “revolving” restaurant had fascinated a child who had just arrived in the UAE. Not only were we enjoying the revolving views but often spotted a construction which wasn’t there in the 80s or 90s.
More than salads
We were brought out of our reverie by a friendly server who came to remind us that there’s more on the buffet than salads.
Laughing, we headed back to the food. While my friend was on a no-carb diet, she preferred to stick to the grills and curries while the ouzi and biryani proved too tempting for me — and it’s hard to resist when you have roasted poppadum on offer. As was expected, the chicken and meat were grilled to juicy perfection, and the ouzi and biryani were flavourful.
Dessert came, but much later — we had space only for a couple of spoonfuls of umm ali, ignoring the extensive dessert buffet. Neither of us wished to leave the restaurant. Oddly, as the restaurant revolved clockwise, we were only happy moving back in time.
