The chefs at Table 9 are good. They have excellent technique, understand which flavours go well together, care about their ingredients — but their restaurant concept doesn't work.
When Nick Alves and Scott Price announced late last year that they would take over the space at the Hilton Dubai Creek formerly occupied by Gordon Ramsay's Verre, I was very happy to see two young chefs coming up with their own concept and then having the courage to pitch it.
And, brave of the hotel to take on the proposal, in a city where hotels either go for soulless, flat-pack restaurants or celebrity names.
Their idea sounded simple: break away from the three-course tradition and have more flexible dining options where portion sizes are different and you can order what you like.
But I was troubled by this from the start; there's a reason why the three-course concept, in Western dining, exists: because that's how people want to eat, especially when they are going out for a meal.
Tapas/grazing-style menus are very popular these days, but Table 9's dishes aren't quite tapas, but aren't quite full portions either, so we weren't quite sure how much to order. The waiter indicated two starters per person and one main each, which felt a bit strange.
We ended up taking three starters with the intention of sharing them. And here's where the concept really faltered: the kitchen sent one starter at a time.
Agonising
If you really want to irritate a hungry couple, send them a series of little portions, one by one, very, very slowly. Sadly, we weren't alone in finding the wait for our food agonising — three tables in our vicinity loudly complained — was it an especially bad night? The restaurant was quite busy; I can't imagine it would be if this was the norm.
Service wise, staff were friendly but there appeared to be a management issue: we waited to be asked for drinks, and had to ask for bread (of which we ate masses of in between portions) before digging into our starters: scallops with thyme and onion; rabbit with quince piccalilli and scotch egg and lobster with mango. Each starter is priced at Dh80, which to me was an expensive proposition — at least Dh240 to get going?
Everything was perfectly cooked and delicious, if small, with each dish a polite battle of "you have this piece", "no, you only had one piece of mango, go on". This made for an exhausting meal. The stand-out was the scallop, a very nice dish. The scotch egg I really enjoyed, but again the complaint from across the table was that it was too small (I think it was a quail's egg).
Nearly all of the small dishes on the short menu sound tempting, which I think is the attraction — that you can try more dishes than usual.
Our two main courses (which we asked to be brought quickly, and they were) again were on the small side, and didn't come with sides. Why the aversion to carbs?
Again, it all was tasty — quail comes with layers of artichoke and truffle, and broccoli baby florets and bright puree. So pretty, so quickly polished off. I would have loved a nice pile of mashed potato here. After all, while it's fine dining, the intention as I understood it was also supposed to be more relaxed. I'm sorry guys, but I wasn't relaxed. I know several food reviews have given glowing opinions of Table 9 and the concept. I cannot, and I think the people grumbling that night would not either.
Here's my suggestion: you cook well and have a nice outlet.
Just give people regular portions of your food to eat, making it simple for the patrons — and for your staff to serve them.
Where: Table 9, Hilton Dubai Creek
Tel: 04-2271111
Atmosphere: An air of confusion reigns.
Decor: The restaurant decorates with art from local galleries, a nice touch.
Must-haves: Scallops with thyme; lobster with mango
