Review for Restaurants in Dubai

1. Chelsea Gardens(in house restaurant of Chelsea Towers Apartment Hotels) – international selection of cuisine

The food is generally ok. The best would be the fruit juices(25Dhs) and the shisha is awesome(best would be Strawberry flavour). The tomato and basil soup is good too(18Dhs), so is the briyani(42Dhs). Other food includes pasta range, salads, breakfast options etc. The bakers basket is good too, with muffins, bread slices and croissant(17Dhs), which I believe is the most worth it buy here. The service is good too, and the restaurant plays really good music at night, with football running on the tv. They also have chess, draugts and backgammon sets, if you would like to play a game, while eating, drinking or shisha -ing. That was my regular nigth hang out spot!

2. Buddha Bar, Dubai Marina – mostly asian cuisine

This is an upmarket restaurant/bar. We got in by luck – just wanted to have a drink, but ended up eating some sushi(400+Dhs) and having wine, Riesling(300+Dhs). The cocktails costs 44Dhs and they have the normal selection as well as exotic choices which is very asian. Mixtures with ginseng, lychee, jackfruit can’t be found in a typical western bar, but it exists here in Buddha bar. In the middle of the restaurant, there is a huge Buddha statue and the whole place is pretty dark(kinda like London Opium’s brightness, from what I recall). The Japanese section seating is uniquely Japanese, where you sit on the ground and your feet goes below ground level(London’s Hi Sushi seating style).

3. Food Court, The Mall of the Emirates

I had a turkish shawarma style, and it came with fries and soft drink(28Dhs) and Sara had some Indian food. As usual, food at the food court is not good(but it’s pretty cheap though). We were so hungry that it actually didn’t matter.

4. Teatro, Hotel Rotana(Syeikh Zayed Road) – international cuisine

Recommended by friends to be pretty good and it was just 2 minutes walk from the hotel – so went there with Sara’s colleagues. They have a huge selection of mainly Asian food. We went for Riesling wine(300Dhs), Buddha noodles, which has seafood and huge prawns(85Dhs), Sara had Malaysian curry laksa(90Dhs). The laksa was not good as it was to think that you would ‘naik muak’ after a while, but the Buddha noodles and wine were good. Other took pizza, sushi and chicken tikka (shows the variety of cuisines available).

5. Shangri la Hotel, Syeikh Zayed Road – international cuisine

Buffet cost us 195Dhs each and this includes wine and beer. This was after the Iftar buffet. We only had half a glass of Merlot each I think – as the wine was bad. The selection was good – from middle eastern grills, to sushi to salads, fruits, chocolate fondue and a huge variety of mini sized dessert. The best were the grills, where they do it on the spot, the cheesecake was good too. The sushi was not that fresh and most of the other desserts are very sweet.

6. Gazebo, Bur Dubai – Indian

Went there with Shivangi and Sid. Although they are vegetarians, they recommended a few dishes which their friends likes. So we ordered Malai chicken(not Malaysian, but Malai means yogurt) – very rich and thick sauces. The lamb I got was a spicy one, with chilli padi in it. Dishes like this cost about 30-40Dhs. We had to order naan and roti separately to accompany the dishes. Just when we thought everyone was full, the dum vegetarian briyani comes along – can’t believe they could still eat! but we were very full, as usual in the end. Sid was kind enough to pay for dinner – welcome for me This place is definitely recommended – except you should order less than your normal capacity as it fills you up instantaneously.

7. Dinner on Dhow Cruise, Dubai Creek – by Hormuz Tourism

Dinner was good – mostly indian food, but the selection was pretty limited. Alcohol was not included in the menu. Cost us 140Dhs each, which inclkudes pickup and drop off at our hotel. The cruise was ok – with mostly Indian music(with all waiters being Indian) and two Indian groups were having their birthday celebration on the boat. Overall – good view of the creek and good food. But, if you are not Indian, it might not be the best experience. Good to check with the operators as there are many cruise operators in town!

8. Yahala Restaurant, Karama

Lebanese cuisine – typical shawarma, grill etc. The food is so-so and it is cheap. A meal for two cost us about 104Dhs. Not really recommended though. Although the service was good and it came with complimentary bread and salad at the beginning  and mint tea at the end of the meal.

9. Sheesha at Le Meridien, Deira city

This is the best shisha I have ever tasted and it was recommended by a local. The shisha pipe was from Egypt – it was bigger than usual and we took a combination of flavours – cherry and mint as well as grape and mint. It was cold, minty and smooth. Absolute bliss for any sheesha lovers out there. Each cost us 35Dhs but worth every penny as it lasted long – about 2 hours that we were there and also the taste was still there until we left it. The juices are good and fresh too…highly recommended. According to Zubir(the local in Dubai who took us there), if you know this place, you know Dubai! hahaha

10. Automatic – Lebanese cuisine (chain)

Sound the shawarma normal, despite being recommended by people to be not a bad place. For decent food at a decent price, this is a good place to go to. The one we visited was in the food court of Ibn Battuta Mall.