A guilt-free dinner

DUBAI Looking at the menu at Mövenpick Hotel Apartment’s Fountain restaurant, I couldn’t help but smile. The menu opens with one of my favourite quotes: Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.

Already, the evening had started well.

It was a Wednesday night. And at Fountain, Wednesday spells health. Between 7 and 10.30pm each week diners are treated to an array of health food. With buffet style starters and an a la carte main course, the Food For Life menu at Fountain surpassed my expectations. Because, if truth be told, I didn’t expect much more than Arabic mezzeh and dry salads. The buffet that lay ahead of me, however, had me impressed enough to declare that this may be one of my favourite meals of the month.

We began with a spicy straw mushroom, kaffir lime galangal and prawns soup: Spicy enough to have me down my mango smoothie in one go to rinse my palate of the chilli. But once that fiery start was out of the way, the rest of the evening was smooth sailing. For starters we hit the buffet, piling our plates high from the Salad Bench. While I loaded up on the crab, mango and avocado salad, a beetroot rocca, lotus stem crisps for that extra bite, and the Thai Som Tam Salad (a green papaya salad); my partner enjoyed the quinoa-infused tabbouleh, sako tuna rolls wrapped in cucumber instead of the traditional sticky rice, a sesame and chive encrusted square of tofu, and raw salmon chunks.

Despite the lightness of each bite, we were careful not to overstuff ourselves, defeating the entire purpose of a night such as this. So skipping the naughty bites (namely, a prime beef burger with steak fries), we moved on to our mains. My partner’s lean tenderloin cooked in a yellow spice with a side of bok choy came as a bit of a surprise to him. Instead of a lean cut of tenderloin, what he was presented with was the Asian version of the dish, with the meat chopped into small bite-size pieces, marinated in a spicy yellow sauce. While the Malaysian-influenced dish may not be for everyone, it would do wonders for a chilli-lover’s palate. As for me, I wasn’t in the mood for Asian or Indian that night. So surpassing the Japanese Yuki Udon noodles and the Tandoori Pomfret, I opted for the extremely healthy whole baked local fish with fresh herbs. For those who don’t enjoy staring into the eyes of a dead fish, I’d recommend asking the chef to give you only the deboned fillet, immersed in his secret marinade of lemon and herbs.

Mains down, dessert was the ultimate test. How healthy can an overload of sugar be, right? Well the chef was about to prove me wrong. His green tea cake, soya pannacotta, whole meal and yoghurt chocolate cake and honey and upside down peach cobbler were all sinful calories converted to natural wholeness.

The highlight of our evening however was the steaming hot Salzburger Nockerln. A German pudding that we ordered in honour of the month of Oktoberfest. Served straight from the oven with a generous dusting of icing sugar, the soufflé, made entirely of egg yolk, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and milk, was soft and light enough for us to wipe the plate clean, despite being served a potion large enough for four!

And the nicest part of indulging in each spoonful of the soufflé was the guilt-free pleasure associated with wolfing down what could otherwise have been a gluttonous end to a healthy meal.

Details

Cost: Dh120 per person

Location: Mövenpick Hotel & Apartments Bur Dubai and Mövenpick Hotel Apartments The Square, Oud Metha

Parking: Paid parking outside hotel

Timing: 7pm to 10.30pm

Contact: 04-336 6000