Claw BBQ Crabshack and Grill: It’s Texas in Dubai

Dubai: Of all the restaurants in Dubai, few offer the kind of fun-filled, noisy and delicious American fare as Claw BBQ Crabshack and Grill at Souk Al Bahar. The place promises to overwhelm your palate with some lip smacking BBQ grilled meat, speciality steaks and authentic seafood buckets.

There’s one caveat though: leave all your good manners at the door. A live band belting out classic rock tunes, screams of wannabe cowboys and cowgirls trying to break the rodeo record on a mechanical bull, a bunch of boisterous diners in front of the bar watching their favourite sports channel on wide screens ... this is just some of the excitement you will see at Claw BBQ.

As for the menu, there are plenty of show-stoppers: like the wide selection of fresh crabs, crawfish and shrimp, grilled alligator, sizzling fajitas, fresh oysters, buffalo wings and killer burgers, among others.

Don’t forget to wrap your plastic bib when you order any of these because you are going to need some protection when you start crushing those crabs with a wooden mallet.

As we settle in, my colleague and I start with an authentic Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail (Dh70) of five icy cold jumbo shrimps on a gigantic glass of ice. We also ask for authentic pan-seared Louisiana Crab Cakes (Dh65), served with celery and blue cheese and a dipping sauce. The icy jumbo shrimp is a tad bland for me. But the crab cakes go down well with the cheese and sauce. It is seared perfectly and is a good way to start your meal.

‘From the legendary bucket list’, we order a Snow Crab (Dh160) and the Crabapalooza (Dh185) – a mixed basket of blue crab, snow crab, cluster and king crab legs. It was nothing short of a crab feast. As the waiter set up the dish, we were handed a plastic bib and a wooden mallet to crush the crabs. A ‘crab cracker’ and a ‘lobster fork’ to scoop the meat made the whole process a lot more exciting.

But then Claw is not just about crabs, there’s the grill section too. My colleague went for Wagyu ribeye (Dh180) while I opted for Smoked Barbecue Chicken (Dh80). The ribeye, my colleague said, was one of the best he has eaten in a while. As for me, I was mighty glad the barbecue chicken, served with coleslaw and BBQ beans, lived up to my every expectation.

Details:

Meal for two: Dh400

Location: Souq Al Bahar

Timing: Sunday-Thursday 5pm–2am

Friday and Saturday: 12pm–4pm

Call: 04-432 2300

We recommend: Louisiana Crab Cakes, Crabapalooza, Wagyu Ribeye, Smoked BBQ Chicken