Dubai appears to be on a New York trip right now, dining-wise, and therefore, so are we. Only last week I was raving about my favourite new NYC-style bar and grill (of course you remember, dear reader... right?) and here I am trying out yet another new joint with a Manhattan address: The Palm Jumeirah's West 14th, a reference to the American city's streets.
It's a steakhouse, through and through: with an in-house butcher, according to restaurant manager Brenton Coghlan. "We offer an option for guests to purchase a steak at the size they request, and the butcher will cut that," said Coghlan.
Beyond the seafood-based starters and desserts, the menu is built around steaks, from the US and Australia, although there are three vegetarian options, it can feel a little limited if you're not in the mood for meat. The intention here is beef: we were surprised when our waiter's first recommendation for a starter was the beef carpaccio. Do I look like Fred Flintstone?
Curious chowder
The second recommendation was Pacific crab cakes, which I took him up on and was not disappointed by: three chunky cakes stuffed to the brim with crab meat, crisply fried and topped with a sweet and spicy corn and onion relish. Loved the mustard seeds in there. The other starter we chose was the interestingly styled "Clam: Garnished with the flavours of New England Chowder". We were expecting a deconstructed chowder. What we got was: chowder. A rather weak one at that -- the clams certainly were on the singular side, and the soup tasted firstly of cream, rather than seafood and potato. It needs some more work, although the dish itself is something I welcome on a menu.
Our second disappointment of the night came in the steaks on offer, and this was rather troubling: of the seven on the menu, three were out of stock — and those were my three first choices. No ribeye, no Porterhouse (also known as T-bone) and no "cowboy steak", which apparently is a ribeye with the bone in. Sounded fantastic. That left, strangely, several versions of the tenderloin (the most snooze-worthy of steaks in my opinion) and the Australian Wagyu striploin (Dh190) and the New York Strip (Dh160) — luckily for my dining partners, that was their first choice. But if there's a butcher in-house, why isn't he cutting such flavourful steaks as the rump or flank steak — chewy but so tasty?
"We are looking at flank and rump," Coghlan told me on Thursday. "We're bringing in hanging steak from time to time, which is very tender and juicy, too."
The steaks were perfectly cooked, however — chargrilled, crosshatched and to our desired doneness. My dining partner proclaimed his steak spot on and very tasty, and the accompanying creamed spinach, fat chips and mushroom sauce were happy partners. We all tucked into a salad of iceberg lettuce cut into a wedge, topped with blue cheese dressing, walnuts, green apple and shavings of celery — a great combo that puts to good use the sometimes undervalued lettuce's crispness. But we simply could not work out what had happened to two shrivelled, skinless tomatoes on the side — unnecessary.
A great cheesecake followed, light and fluffy. The restaurant itself boasts great views over the south side of The Palm and an outdoor dining area that will be lovely in a month.
A small, specialised menu can be a very good thing, but the food needs to stand up to it: if a dish is on there, it must earn its place — and its price.
- Where: West 14th, Oceana Beach Club, The PalmTel: 04-4477601
- Must-have: Crab cakes, Wagyu striploin and iceberg wedge
- Decor: Red brick against sultry seaviews.
- Ambience: Aims for New York chic, but a no-beachwear dress code should be enforced in that case.
- Total bill: Dinner for three, excluding beverages: Dh792
