Twenty Twenty Phwoar!
Getting back into the swing of things
Are we still saying Happy New Year one week in? Happy New Year, if so! New Year’s Eve was a very low-key affair in my house where we prised open two bottles of champagne before looking at our watches and calling it a night by 10.30pm. Rock n roll! Oh well, here’s the week that was!
DubaiEye 103.8FM 📻
I was BACK on the radio for Farmer’s Kitchen with Helen Farmer talking about:
2024’s upcoming restaurant openings in Dubai (58 new restaurants already?!)
Must watch food in movies and TV (hello The Bear and The Menu)
Crazy food news like TasteAltas’s top 100 dishes in the world & food waste in the UAE … and more.
🎧 Listen here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify from the 29-minute mark 🤘🏽
Prato, DAMAC Hills🍴
Prato is not a restaurant I frequent due to a near incurable allergy to anything Trump and, alas, Prato’s overlords planted the restaurant within the bowels of the Trump Golf Course Clubhouse. The good news is that my morale quandary about returning is unlikely to be roused. I could talk about the 90-minute wait for main courses (in a practically empty restaurant), or the curious decision to hurl blackberries and raspberries into an unseasoned tomato salad (AED75), OR even their remarkable ability to render a stuffed pasta dry (AED98), but - even with some modest adjustments - I cannot bring myself to come back to a restaurant in a Trump-branded property.
Xu, Kempinski Mall of the Emirates🍴
A trip to the Mall of the Emirates is seldom by choice. Usually, Mrs EatGoSee wants me to pay for carefully consider some furniture. Thursday evening, however, I found myself with my usual food trust plus guest at Xu (pronounced: “Kuh-Su”, I am told), a relatively new Cantonese restaurant on what used to be the tennis courts of the Kempinski Mall of the Emirates #invited. Xu comes from the team behind Ninive, Lana Lusa, Gohan and Mimi Kakushi - the latter two drawing a clear line towards Xu (click the underlined for reviews). Think lush Macau-like decor in the kind of space suitable for upmarket date nights, group get-togethers or corporate expense accounts. Standout dishes? A meaty Xu Cherry Wood Peking Duck (half starts from AED265), the black pepper beef tenderloin (AED170) and the banana brûlée with red bean paste and vanilla ice cream (AED48). I sense a full review will be in the works soon.
21grams and IKEA 🌭
Helping to welcome a friend to Dubai ushered my first pilgrimage to 21grams in 2024 (review here). The usual spectacle of goat cheese, thyme and honey phyllo pie (as is protocol), wagyu cabbage sarma, cevapi with acidulated onions, slabs of grilled polenta carpeted in kashkaval cheese and a chicken bone broth soup ensued. After a quick once around IKEA for things no one arguably needs, we sated ourselves with IKEA beef hot dogs crusted in fried onions - my guiltiest of guilty pleasures, never mind they’re probably made of ground unmentionables.
Wine of the Week 🥂 I pushed the boat out for NYE with a chilled Ruinart Rose Champagne. It's an outstanding aperitif. A long fine mousse, beautifully balanced strawberry, pomegranate, brioche and cranberry. It’s AED462 in MMI or closer to AED320 in Windmill (where I bought it)
Next week? 🤢 I’m having some surgery, so I will likely be out of action for a while. A few press trips are lingering around the corner, and I’m hoping to be able to travel for those. Watch this space!
An excellent choice to ring in the new year! Looking forward to travels and meals with you in 2024.